5 Albums To Listen to if You’re a Fan of Horror Franchise ‘Silent Hill’

Halloween is around the corner and spooky season is in full swing. Quite a few fans of the season are already queuing up their favorite horror video games, and one popular franchise that people still love playing is Silent Hill. This psychological horror video game series is going to experience a massive resurgence soon, too. But before then, let’s take a look at a few music albums that fans of Silent Hill might enjoy! Just keep in mind that some of these records are not for the faint of heart.

1. ‘Async’ by Ryuichi Sakamoto

This experimental electronic release from Ryuichi Sakamoto has a similar energy to Silent Hill. Basically, the album is an unconventional interpretation of different musical instruments: nothing is played or used as it should on this album. Async creates an anxious ambiance centered around a central theme of the fear of death, which is an important part of the Silent Hill games. This album would have been killer as a soundtrack for one of the games, in our opinion.

2. ‘Horse Rotorvator’ by Coil

This experimental album from Coil was released back in 1986, and it still sounds way ahead of its time. If you told us that “Slur” was on one of the early Silent Hill games’ soundtracks, we would have believed you. The instrumentation, the vocal style, the themes, the dreaminess of it all… Horse Rotorvator is a very spooky post-industrial album. Their cover of “Who By Fire” by Leonard Cohen is particularly interesting.

3. ‘Soundtracks For The Blind’ by Swans

In need of a good post-rock drone album? You can’t beat Soundtracks For The Blind by Swans. This album is made up of audio collages, tons of texture, and lots of samples recorded over the span of 15 years. It’s a little bit haunting and very much fascinating, and the vibe of the record is quite similar to Silent Hill.

4. ‘Plays The Music Of Twin Peaks’ by Xiu Xiu

This entry on our list of albums to listen to if you like Silent Hill is less horrifying and much more beautiful, due in part to Jamie Stewart’s hauntingly vulnerable singing style. This whole album is an ode to a completely different horror series, though its “horror”-ness is often debated. 

Plays The Music Of Twin Peaks is Xiu Xiu’s tribute to David Lynch’s famous series Twin Peaks, but the vibe is very similar to Silent Hill. In a way, the series and the game are two sides of the same coin: Something very strange is going on in their respective towns, and there’s a woman named Laura involved.

5. ‘Silent Hill 2 Original Soundtrack’ by Akira Yamaoka

If we’re going to explore albums to listen to if you like Silent Hill, we might as well throw in the best original soundtrack from one of the best games in the franchise. Composer Akira Yamaoka had a hand in the music for the vast majority of the franchise’s games, and they would probably not be nearly as scary without his compositions. But even without the context of the game, Yamaoka’s soundtrack for the second game is entrancing to listen to.

Photo via Julia Brokaw

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