Nihilistic music?

[The Glyphstone]

Anyone have some suggestions for a song or music appropriate to the sort of person who 'just wants to watch the world burn'? Bonus points if it has a female vocalist and/or a fire-related theme, but pretty open-ended here.

[Razade]

Anyone have some suggestions for a song or music appropriate to the sort of person who 'just wants to watch the world burn'? Bonus points if it has a female vocalist and/or a fire-related theme, but pretty open-ended here.

I think the most appropriate song you're going to get from this entire thread will be Dead Eyes See No Future (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZHMLTrV2KI). Female vocalist, pretty Nihilistic. No fire but with lyrics like


Giving our blood
To the doomsday machine
Fighting for ravaged land
A worthless gain
Marching on a dead end road

A violent new disorder
Feeding off mistrust
Forgot what we were fighting for
A worthless aim
A victory stinking of despair

I think that can be forgiven. The song absolutely shreds and even throws in some really epic violins by the end.

[Frozen_Feet]

Tarot: Pyre of Gods

Insomnium: Every Hour Wounds

Before the Dawn: Deathstar Rising

Before the Dawn: Pitch-Black Universe

Ensiferum: One Man Army

[The Glyphstone]

Honestly, I never would have known that first song was sung by a woman if you hadn't said so. The lyrics are good, particularly the first stanza, but hyper-growly death metal grates on my ears a bit too much. (and yeah, finding nilistic songs outside the death-metal genre is likely going to be difficult).

Pyre of the Gods looks like the best candidate so far - the character in question is an Ur-Priest leading an Elder Evil cult, so it's actually quite appropriate.

[druid91]

Universe on Fire by Gloryhammer is pretty much exactly this. Though, Male Vocalist.

Also, it's Powermetal, so it's oddly upbeat for a song about turning the universe into a never ending atomic bonfire.

[Razade]

Honestly, I never would have known that first song was sung by a woman if you hadn't said so. The lyrics are good, particularly the first stanza, but hyper-growly death metal grates on my ears a bit too much. (and yeah, finding nilistic songs outside the death-metal genre is likely going to be difficult).

Pyre of the Gods looks like the best candidate so far - the character in question is an Ur-Priest leading an Elder Evil cult, so it's actually quite appropriate.

Angela Gossow is one of the greatest vocalists in Death Metal, female or otherwise. She has a fairly decent non-growl voice when singing too though it's really hard to find examples.

[The Glyphstone]

Dang, that's also an excellent candidate. I think Pyre of the God is still eking out ahead, but not by much.

Universe on Fire is definitely going into my workout playlist, though. I've listened to it three times now, and I'll have to check out the rest of Gloryhammer's songs.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Is nihilistic really the right word for 'just wants to watch the world burn'? Because a few lyrics come to my mind that fit that aesthetic, but I wouldn't really describe any of them as 'nihilistic'. Similarly, a lot of the music I listen to is nihilistic in theme, but doesn't include that 'watching the world burn' bit.

Anyway, this is what I have on the 'watching the world burn' theme. All of them male vocalist, I'm afraid, but not all are metal (for a change):


When the sky is streaked with plumes
Know that it's my signature
Upon this wretched f****** city


You said I'm gonna buy this place and burn it down
I'm gonna put it six feet underground
You said I'm gonna buy this place and watch it fall
Stand here beside me baby in the crumbling walls
Oh I'm gonna buy this place and start a fire
Stand here until I fill all your hearts desires
Because I'm gonna buy this place and see it burn
And do back the things it did to you in return


Kill all the tourists, and we'll all sleep sound
Cash for their fillings, we'll blow it in town
Yeah we'll blow it on rifles, blow it on drinks
Head for the corner, head in the sink yeah

(The guitar solo that follows this is very nihilistic :smallsmile:)


Cause I swear I'd burn this city down to show you the light


The skyline was beautiful on fire
All twisted metal, stretching upwards
Everything washed in a thin orange haze


Let's conspire to ignite
All the souls that would die just to feel alive

And yes, I am appropriately ashamed that I know some of those.

[Battleship789]

The Pretty Reckless - Make Me Wanna Die (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txBfhpm1jI0) might fit. Female vocalist, relatively nihilist lyrics, slight burning theme in the chorus.

[JoshL]

You want Swans. All Swans, but particularly The Great Annihilator (My Buried Child (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2UnfLlZmrM), Killing For Company (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqRt34Yf-b0)) or White Light From The Mouth of Infinity (Failure (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWStaRmuXzY), Song for Dead Time (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zoS8c_8hLQ)). Male and female vocals, both equally bleak. Jarboe (the woman who sang 84-96) solo has some equally bleak solo stuff; the album "Anhedoniac" is a favorite of mine (I'm a Killer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruKtccafdVo), Burnt (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BynbdtkgyfI), there's your fire). Diamanda Galas is also worth checking out (This Is The Law of the Plague (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEKuX8arORc)). Lycia might also work (again, male and female vocals, Goddess Of The Green Fields (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJiIruRNDlI) is a favorite) or Lustmord (ambient/instrumental, ANYTHING, but Stalker (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na240E0d-w8) with Robert Rich is a favorite album). Select Current 93 (mostly male vocals though, and pretty off-putting, love it or hate it sort of stuff, but riverdeadbank (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Mkz9pJnF5I) with Rose from Strawberry Switchblade, Sorrow and Coil might be what you're looking for). TyLean is amazing (she used to sing for Attrition, Rosalyn (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-cwLlUJ54Q) is a good starter) and black tape for a blue girl can get that note (the song "tear love from my mind (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC4ooR5JAU4)" is amazing. In 97 I saw them do For You Will Burn Your Wings Upon The Sun (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfDYB1LO_hc) with a woman singing and it was way more intense than the studio version...wish there was a recording of that).

In my local scene, O Heidrun is pretty awesome https://soundcloud.com/shy-kennedy

You might just need to borrow some of my cds.

[KillingAScarab]

Chris Cornell's solo album after Soundgarden's breakup was underrated, in my opinion. Euphoria Morning (which Cornell later stated should have been "Mourning," but waffled on it) featured "Preaching the End of the World (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDhh3DfbiCo)." Ignore the inverted colors stock footage in the music video and understated-lip synching. The lyrics are about the anti-bunker mentality; embracing humanity in acceptance of an age of destruction, rather than abandoning it to survive. Accomplished through a personals advertisement.



Hello,
I know there's someone out there
Who can understand
And who's feeling
The same way as me
I'm twenty-four
And I've got everything to live for
But I know now
That it wasn't meant to be

'Cause all has been lost and
All has been won
And there's nothing left for us to save
But now I know that
I don't want to be alone today
So if you find that
You've been feeling just the same

chorus
Call me now it's alright
It's just the end of the world
You need a friend in the world
'Cause you can't hide
So call and I'll get right back
If your intentions are pure
I'm seeking a friend
For the end
Of the world

I've got a photograph
I'll send it off today
And you will see that
I am perfectly sane
Not for a lifetime
Or forever and a day
'Cause we know now
That just won't be the case

chorus

Be no commitment and
No confessions and
No little secrets to keep
No little children or
Houses with roses
Just the end of the world and me

'Cause all has been gone and
All has been done
And there's nothing left
For us to say
We could be together
As they blow it all away
And we could share in
Every moment as it breaks

chorus x2

[Serpentine]

Maybe a bit more detail on what you're wanting to put it with would help, but maybe "Handlebars" by Flobots? Starts hopeful, but ends... not.

[dps]

I'll agree with Ninja_Prawn that "nihilism" might not be exactly what you're looking for--nihilism isn't so much "wants to watch the world burn" as "everything is pointless, so why care if the world burns or not". That said, let me go old school here:

"Fire" by Arthur Brown (maybe more vengeful than nihilistic, depending on how you interpret the lyrics, or maybe just the POV of a firebug)

"Paint It Black" by The Rolling Stones

A lot of Bruce Springsteen's downbeat songs can be seen as nihilistic, and even some of his upbeat songs ("Cadillac Ranch, for example), though in many the (usually first-person) protagonist is more beaten down into hopelessness than nihilistic per se

A lot of Pink Floyd's catalogue would fit

[Kitten Champion]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gPwf4vMzNE

It's minimalist.

[KillingAScarab]

Perhaps a bit further than the intent of the topic, perhaps not. I think "Elegy for a Ruined World (http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR03094)" is noteworthy. It is a rearrangement of Nobuo Uematsu's "Dark World" for the soundtrack to Final Fantasy VI. No spoilers, but the song is extended enough to feel like a protracted discovery of just how much of a dark world the original track represents.


Maybe a bit more detail on what you're wanting to put it with would help, but maybe "Handlebars" by Flobots? Starts hopeful, but ends... not.Off-topic, but your inbox seems to be full. Found out while trying to notify you of using one of your avatars up for adoption.

[Serpentine]

Off-topic, but your inbox seems to be full. Found out while trying to notify you of using one of your avatars up for adoption.
Ugh, again? Should be fixed now.

[Ninja_Prawn]

A lot of Pink Floyd's catalogue would fit

Yeah. If it's pure nihilism you want, I probably have hundreds of examples across a dozen genres in my library... a lot of Radiohead stuff could fit the bill, for starters.

My first suggestions, off the cuff, would be Some Day by Blackfield and Lookout Mountain by Drive By Truckers. Maybe Stop Swimming by Porcupine Tree.

Show a smile
They'd like to have you in their members' club
They'll buy you drinks and tell you lies
Paper umbrella with sunrise (maybe I misheard that one, but I like my version better...)

And no one cares
About that f****** pretty face you have
It means nothing much this life
So find the highest cliff and dive

[Corlindale]

The Future by Leonard Cohen fits this theme well, I think.

A lot of A.J.J. songs have a somewhat nihilistic vibe as well, although they also put a quite funny/silly twist on things.
People 2: The Reckoning is a highlight and quite nihilistic in its lyrics.

None of the ones mentioned are female vocalists, though.

[Bhu]

I second the Future.

Also the Country Death Song by the Violent Femmes is pretty nihilistic.

Maybe "Slim Pickens Does the Right Thing and Rides the Bomb to Hell" by the Offspring

[Razade]

Another song fairly on the "Nihilist" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXFK82TGh7c) bent I'd pick would be Drink The Water by Justin Cross.

[Khedrac]

What about "Burn" by Ellie Goulding?


We, we don't have to worry bout nothing
'Cause we got the fire, and we're burning one hell of a something
They, they gonna see us from outer space, outer space
Light it up, like we're the stars of the human race, human race

Full lyrics here (https://play.google.com/music/preview/Thogsqjrammftvxzgmk7b64muse?lyrics=1&utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=lyrics&pcampaignid=kp-lyrics).

[Frozen_Feet]

Deus in Absentia by Ghost.

[Marillion]

You want Swans. All Swans, but particularly The Great Annihilator (My Buried Child (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2UnfLlZmrM), Killing For Company (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqRt34Yf-b0)) or White Light From The Mouth of Infinity (Failure (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWStaRmuXzY), Song for Dead Time (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zoS8c_8hLQ)). Male and female vocals, both equally bleak.

Underrated post. I'll also specifically recommend No Cure For The Lonely (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfFAj_Dilks)



Cut down the preacher, he just lies
Burn all the books that closed my mind
Destroy it all, it's all untrue
How can I even breathe without you?


and God Damn The Sun (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jpVtYQIols)



But then we grew old
And I lost my ambition
So I gained an addiction
To Drink and Depression
They are mine, my only true friends
And I'll keep them with me
Until the very end
...
God damn the sun
God damn the sun
God damn anyone that says a kind word



The aptly-named Song Of The Nihilist (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KVXIjLUUYM) has nihilistic viewpoints as well as an inspiring refutation of that hopelessness.



Nothing lasts forever but the hope that it would
Nothing you endeavor ever shines like it should
Look to the mirror, look to the dawn
All that you see will soon be gone
...
If nothing is forever, we are roaring stars
All that we endeavor is all of who we are