{"id":3961,"date":"2014-10-03T09:11:15","date_gmt":"2014-10-03T13:11:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/millheiser.com\/hokeyblog\/?p=3961"},"modified":"2022-11-01T16:04:27","modified_gmt":"2022-11-01T20:04:27","slug":"buttkickin-halloween-songs-the-thing-that-should-not-be-metallica-1986","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/millheiser.com\/hokeyblog\/2014\/10\/03\/buttkickin-halloween-songs-the-thing-that-should-not-be-metallica-1986\/","title":{"rendered":"Buttkickin’ Halloween Songs: “The Thing That Should Not Be” — Metallica (1986)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"blgshadinnsmouth2\"“That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die.”<\/em>
\n— H.P. Lovecraft<\/p>\n

What… you thought another October would arrive without Hokeyblog’s annual Buttkickin’ Halloween Songs<\/strong> coming into the forefront?<\/p>\n

Forsooth! Fooey! and Fiddlesticks!<\/p>\n

Welcome back to our yearly celebration of all things Creepy-Crawly, darkly frosty, and chillingly spooktopic. Halloween approaches and in my recalcitrant man-child sort of way, I greet the oncoming darkness with all the gusto and aplomb of the same 11 year old kid who used to watch Universal Monster flicks, devour sci-fi, fantasy, and kaiju like it was going out of style, and sneak peeks at as many slasher movies as I could  manage.<\/p>\n

But H. P. Lovecraft<\/em> <\/b>— now there was an author I had heard entirely too much about, but never really got into until I was around college age. Tales of elder beings, ancient races and civilizations, human\/monster hybrids, screaming madness, dimensional portals, visions from beyond, predestined apocalyptic futures… all wrapped up in a spooky early-1900s veneer. This was good stuff, often great stuff, and I couldn’t get enough of it.<\/p>\n

Apparently neither legendary metal band Metallica, whose landmark 1986 album Master of Puppets<\/i> solidified their position as the reigning masters of thrash at a time when cheese metal, hair ballads, and wimp rock was all the hard-rock rage on MTV. The stalwart album track The Thing That Should Not Be<\/strong> is their take on Lovecraft’s “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”, in which a New England coastal town harbors a dark secret filled with underwater ruins, ancient beings waiting underneath the sea for his children to return, uncontrollable madness, dark secrets, and a longstanding tradition of human\/alien hybrids populating the town residents.<\/p>\n

(Apropos of something but remember The Innsmouth Rowing Club<\/a>? There you go…)<\/p>\n

The subject matter is creepy enough but the song is extraordinary. You want your creepy Halloween metal served dark and dripping with a large side of ominous and inescapable dread? Here you’ll find it served in abundance…<\/p>\n

Fearless wretch, insanity
\nHe watches
\nLurking beneath the sea
\nTimeless sleep has been upset
\nHe awakens
\nHunter of the Shadows is rising
\nImmortal
\nIn madness, you dwell…<\/em><\/p>\n