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Halloween Special 2012 & Converge Review

Jim and Greg comb their record collections for the best tracks about Monsters for this year's Sound Opinions Halloween Special.

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Halloween Monster Songs

Every Halloween Jim and Greg like to celebrate with music. And this year they focused on monsters. From vampires to werewolves to Jim's favorite, zombies, here are a selection of tunes for your next monster bash.

reviewAll We Love We Leave Behind (Deluxe Edition)All We Love We Leave Behind available on iTunes

Converge All We Love We Leave Behind

How could we not end the Halloween special with a band from Salem, Massachusetts? Metal group Converge has a new album out called All We Love We Leave Behind, and it continues their successful two-decade run. Converge is often referred to as“smart metal,”but Jim thinks“ambitious metal”is more apt. This especially applies to the drummer's range of almost jazzy rhythms. Greg says few bands combine aggression with virtuosity better than Converge. The soundscapes are dreamlike and the guitar bursts mind-boggling. All We Love We Leave Behind gets two Buy It ratings.

JimGreg

Featured Songs

  1. Bobby“Boris”Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers, Monster Mash, The Original Monster Mash, Garpax, 1962
  2. New York Dolls, Frankenstein, New York Dolls, Mercury, 1973
  3. The Cramps, Human Fly, Gravest Hits EP, Illegal, 1979
  4. The Five Blobs, The Blob, single, Columbia, 1958
  5. The Fall-Outs, Zombie, Sleep, Super Electro Sound Recordings, 1994
  6. The Decemberists, Shankill Butchers, The Crane Wife, Capitol/Rough Trade, 2006
  7. Warren Zevon, Werewolves of London, Excitable Boy, Asylum, 1978
  8. Roky Erickson and the Aliens, I Walked With a Zombie, Roky Erickson and the Aliens, CBS, 1980
  9. TV on the Radio, Wolf Like Me, Return to Cookie Mountain, Interscope, 2006
  10. Concrete Blonde, Bloodletting (The Vampire Song), Bloodletting, I.R.S., 1990
  11. OutKast, Dracula's Wedding, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, LaFace, 2003
  12. American Werewolves, Teenage Ghouls Out for Blood, We Won't Stay Dead, Superhero Records, 2005
  13. Oingo Boingo, Dead Man's Party, Dead Man's Party, MCA, 1995
  14. Blue Oyster Cult, Godzilla, Spectres, Columbia, 1977
  15. Donovan, Season of the Witch, Sunshine Superman, Epic, 1966
  16. Converge, Vicious Muse, All the Love We Leave Behind, Epitaph, 2012
  17. Converge, Empty on the Inside, All the Love We Leave Behind, Epitaph, 2012
  18. Converge, Coral Blue, All the Love We Leave Behind, Epitaph, 2012
  19. Vitalic, The March of Skabah, Rave Age, self released, 2012
  20. The Beatles, Any Time at All, A Hard Day's Night, Parlophone, 1964
  21. Elvis Presley, Burning Love, Burning Love and Hits from His Movies, Volume 2, RCA Camden, 1972
  22. Passion Pit, Sleepyhead, (Live on Sound Opinions), Manners, Frenchkiss, 2009

Footnotes

convergecult.com Converge chicagotribune.com Greg's Converge review