History Main / HellIsThatNoise

* Music/{{Converge}}, considered a founding father of the Metalcore genre, released their 2001 album ''Jane Doe'' to critical acclaim. The album was based off of songwriter & lead singer Jacob Bannon's [[CreatorBreakdown horrible, draining, and broken relationship with an ex-girlfriend.]] The tenth song, "Phoenix in Flames", is 42 seconds of Bannon [[CarefulWithThatAxe screaming his lungs out]] over mad drumming. It has to be [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNHudI42RQ0&ab_channel=EqualVisionRecords heard]] to be believed.

-->-- '''Powell''' describing the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVoU30ixHrM Reaper horn]], ''VideoGame/MassEffect''

* ''Fanfic/FromHarvestToTheArk'': [[spoiler: The skittering of [[TheVirus the Flood]] becomes this for Alley. It creeps him the hell out when he first hears it on Alpha Halo and when he hears it ''again'' in Voi, knowing [[BodyHorror exactly]] [[ParasiteZombie what]] [[OutsideContextProblem it represents]], he '''[[FreakOut FLIPS OUT]]''' to the extent that his behaviour is enough to convince his commander to [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere retreat immediately]].]]

* Music/BlindGuardian will make you fear both the song and the mere phrase "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfQPr6GChC8&ab_channel=BlindGuardian Mr. Sandman]]". In addition, the eerie jingle accompanying the "bung bung bung bung" will no doubt instill some fear into your dreams.

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv5asInJKkc&ab_channel=KrzysztofPenderecki-Topic Canticum Canticorum Salomonis]]" by the same composer sounds like souls crying out of the depths of hell, and Satan's wretches dragging them down again. Thrilling and terrifying.

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb-SgwOJjcM&ab_channel=PinkFloyd-Topic Careful with That Axe, Eugene...]]". There's a good reason why [[CarefulWithThatAxe a certain trope]] is named after this song.
** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oWOConfUV8&ab_channel=PinkFloyd-Topic A Saucerful Of Secrets]]" is full of this, especially the beginning of the second movement, which sounds like you're being chased through a dark castle by the legions of Hell.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW-lXjOyUWo&ab_channel=PinkFloyd-Topic Speak to Me]]. Seriously, it will go out of its way to make your hairs stand on end.

** It gets worse: Waters revived the Pict's vocal stylings for the schoolteacher from ''Music/TheWall'' ten years later, and that guy sounds ''[[UpToEleven even more]]'' deranged and hellish.

* Most of metal-bashing avant-garde group [[Music/EinstürzendeNeubauten]]'s early output is like this. The worst offender, however, is "Negativ Nein", which opens to a creepy beat played on PVC pipes over what sounds like a badly plugged toilet being plunged, topped by Blixa Bargeld's broken-steam-whistle scream and heavily overdubbed and echoing chanting. In German.

* Anything by Music/NurseWithWound will automatically qualify

[[caption-width-right:130:The OwO of doom!]]

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!!Examples:

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* In the song "Spooky Scary Skeletons" by Music/AndrewGold,[[note]] the remix by Music/TheLivingTombstone is a MemeticMutation [[/note]] the titular skeletons, despite being "shy" and "silly", are still considered scary because they "speak with such a screech", "shriek", and "shout startling shrilly screams".

[[quoteright:130:[[ComicBook/JourneyIntoMystery https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jim_noise.png]]]]

* [[VideoGame/{{SCP Containment Breach}} SCP-682’s]] [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1rggjRp-QV4 roar]].

[[caption-width-right:274:[[Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers(1978) Quite possibly the most famous example]]]]

* Anything involving HarshNoise and [[{{Industrial}} Power Electronics]] automatically qualifies as this. Music/{{Whitehouse}} and Music/{{Merzbow}} are the worst offenders.
* Music/AnaalNathrakh invokes this in their music ''frequently'', even by the standards of extreme metal. Have [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS3xmhxhKS8&ab_channel=ThatWeirdGuy a]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCTXqi7NObQ&ab_channel=Papirkurven listen]].
* Music/CrystalCastles. Dear ''lord'' do they fit this trope to a T.
* Music/{{Khanate}}. Dear God, KHANATE. Every "song" of theirs is completely demoralizing, especially on their first album. The worst examples of these would be the looping riff at the beginning of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIDP3-lPA_M&ab_channel=BeauJoshuaAmorDavidson Under Rotting Sky]] and the entirety of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo45E11AwsE&ab_channel=FreedomGrindFighter No Joy]]. This is as close to Hell as a human being will ever come to.
** It should come as no surprise that Khanate features Steven O'Malley of Music/SunnO fame.
*** [[CarefulWithThatAxe PLEASE PLEASE]] [[MadnessMantra NO MORE BREATHE]]
* Prepare for the most spine chilling 7 minutes you will ever experience. Prepare yourself for Battle of Mice. The vocals are psychotic and distressing, but the final two minutes of this [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1CkdF7uoKk&ab_channel=DarthYoda song]] is the horrifying cherry on top of this terrifying cake(You will be paranoid afterwards, guaranteed.)
* Music/BlindGuardian will make you fear both the song and the mere phrase "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfQPr6GChC8&ab_channel=BlindGuardian Mr. Sandman]]". In addition, the eerie jingle accompanying the "bung bung bung bung" will no doubt instill some fear into your dreams.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t92UkJkfb6g&ab_channel=nevermindip 22 Going On 23]] by the Music/ButtholeSurfers. The song is a sloshy bass and high-pitched electric guitar broken up by a woman describing her trauma since being sexually assaulted, which may hit hard for anyone who has survived rape or any form of sexual violence.
* Anything by Music/BlutAusNord will automatically qualify, specifically their later output
* Krzysztof Penderecki's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp3BlFZWJNA&ab_channel=PatricioApaez Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima]] is a freakish, atonal string piece that attempts to capture the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, with convincingly rendered air raid and emergency sirens, bomber noises, and even screams of the burning bomb victims. The opening note alone is one extended, unidentifiable piercing screech.
** Actually, it's the other way around. It was originally titled as "8'37", and only after he heard the piece performed did he decide to dedicate it to the victims of Hiroshima. Originally, he'd just written it as an experiment and had nothing specific in mind.
** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv5asInJKkc&ab_channel=KrzysztofPenderecki-Topic Canticum Canticorum Salomonis]]" by the same composer sounds like souls crying out of the depths of hell, and Satan's wretches dragging them down again. Thrilling and terrifying.
* Music/PinkFloyd's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpWJv7alqQE&ab_channel=PinkFloyd-Topic Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving With a Pict.]] The whole song is unsettling despite the innocuous name, but toward the middle they do this whispering/heavy breathing sound and cap off the song with a long-winded and completely incomprehensible speech in a dramatic tone of voice with an unidentifiable accent that may indeed by from Hell itself.
** The song is orders of magnitude worse played in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD4r1KIrnu8&ab_channel=MooMoo reverse]]. Almost everything is eerier, but the long, shrill animal howl in the background sounds far more like a reedy, human voice in intense distress or pain, rising in pitch and volume instead of fading off.
** It gets worse: Waters revived the Pict's vocal stylings for the schoolteacher from ''Music/TheWall'' ten years later, and that guy sounds ''[[UpToEleven even more]]'' deranged and hellish.
*** Speaking of ''The Wall'', the noises at the start of Empty Spaces, and the bridge in Hey You (with buzzing, dental-drill like noises) deserve an honourable mention, as does the absolutely batshit-insane megaphone speech at the end of "Waiting for the Worms." It's like a dramatic reading of WebOriginal/TimeCube that deteriorates into incoherent garble.
** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb-SgwOJjcM&ab_channel=PinkFloyd-Topic Careful with That Axe, Eugene...]]". There's a good reason why [[CarefulWithThatAxe a certain trope]] is named after this song.
** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oWOConfUV8&ab_channel=PinkFloyd-Topic A Saucerful Of Secrets]]" is full of this, especially the beginning of the second movement, which sounds like you're being chased through a dark castle by the legions of Hell.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW-lXjOyUWo&ab_channel=PinkFloyd-Topic Speak to Me]]. Seriously, it will go out of its way to make your hairs stand on end.
* Most of metal-bashing avant-garde group [[Music/EinstürzendeNeubauten]]'s early output is like this. The worst offender, however, is "Negativ Nein", which opens to a creepy beat played on PVC pipes over what sounds like a badly plugged toilet being plunged, topped by Blixa Bargeld's broken-steam-whistle scream and heavily overdubbed and echoing chanting. In German.
** Speaking of Einstürzende Neubauten...never listen to "Halber Mensch" if you still want to sleep at night. It's probably one of the scariest songs ever.
* Music/{{Converge}}, considered a founding father of the Metalcore genre, released their 2001 album ''Jane Doe'' to critical acclaim. The album was based off of songwriter & lead singer Jacob Bannon's [[CreatorBreakdown horrible, draining, and broken relationship with an ex-girlfriend.]] The tenth song, "Phoenix in Flames", is 42 seconds of Bannon [[CarefulWithThatAxe screaming his lungs out]] over mad drumming. It has to be [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNHudI42RQ0&ab_channel=EqualVisionRecords heard]] to be believed.
* Music/AphexTwin: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWDAtMPoBHA IIIII WANNNNT YOUR SOULLLLL! I WILL EAT YOUR SOULLLLL!]]
* [[Music/OzzyOsbourne Ozzy Osbourne's]] voice on the first two Music/BlackSabbath albums, especially on the self-titled album's title track. Before he became a caricature of himself, Ozzy sounded like the lost soul he actually was at the time. This is especially notable on the pre-album demo track of "War Pigs" featured on the ''Ozzman Cometh'' collection, which is far creepier than anything Sabbath actually released.
** Just the first two? Ozzy's vocals on the third album, ''Master of Reality'', are just as creepy, especially on "Lord of This World".
** First 30 or so seconds of Iron Man can qualify.
** "ALL ABOOOAAAAAAAAAARD, [[EvilLaugh HAHAHAHA!]]"
* [[Music/TheBeatles Number nine...number nine...number nine...]] and everything thereafter
** The chaotic orchestral buildup that's played twice in "A Day In The Life" from The Beatles Sgt. Pepper" album. You get used to it eventually, but the first time you heard it's frightening. Especially through headphones.
** On the subject of "A Day in the Life", that goddamn 15khz tone near the end of the track. Dear lord, that tone!
* Music/{{Tool}} ''loves'' using this, and quite a few tracks on any of their albums are comprised of dissonant noise and sound effects. Special mention would have to go to "Disgustipated" and "Faaip de Oaid" though. [[LastNoteNightmare Both are the closing tracks from their respective albums, and both manage to be]] ''[[LastNoteNightmare completely fucking terrifying.]]''
** [[MadnessMantra THIS. IS. NECESSARY. THIS. IS. NECESSARY. LIFE, FEEDS ON LIFE, FEEDS ON LIFE, FEEDS ON LIFE, FEEDS ON, THIS. IS. NECESSARY...]]
** Arguably even creepier than "Faaip de Oaid" is "Viginti Tres", the final track on 10,000 Days. Sure, it sounds kind of cool when synced with "Wings For Marie, Pt 1", but on its own, it is extremely creepy. Barely even a song, it is 5 minutes of unnerving synth noises and terrifying ethereal sounds.
* Anything by Music/NurseWithWound will automatically qualify

** It should come as no surprise that Khanate features Steven O'Malley of Music/SunnO))) fame.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* It doesn't really matter how pleasant a sound you choose, the sound of your alarm clock will become this before long. Some people even refuse to choose a favorite song as their alarm as they know they will inevitably grow to hate it.
* Any [[EmergencyBroadcast Emergency Broadcast System]]. Various countries have different tones for theirs, but they all mean the same thing: an emergency, and your potential death. If it's a test, however, these tones become more annoying than scary.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFSPG4gbekU The United States Emergency Broadcast]] in particular has very scary yet annoying tones.
** Initially subverted with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbgOt2esdhs Japan's Emergency Broadcast]]. When you first hear the Japanese Emergency Broadcast System tones, they are surprisingly calming, especially when compared to other Emergency Broadcast systems. Double subverted once you learn to associate the noise with danger.
* Switzerland's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxF6aEiVH1M KTG-10 civil defense siren]] is... something, to say the least.
[[/folder]]

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t92UkJkfb6g&ab_channel=nevermindip 22 Going On 23]] by the Music/ButtholeSurfers. The song is a sloshy bass and high-pitched electric guitar broken up by a woman describing her trauma since being sexually assaulted.

** Actually, the other way around. It was originally untitled, and only after he heard the piece performed did he decide to dedicate it to the victims of Hiroshima. Originally he'd just written it as an experiment and had nothing specific in mind.

* Music/PinkFloyd's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpWJv7alqQE&ab_channel=PinkFloyd-Topic Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving With a Pict.]] The whole song is scary as hell, but toward the middle they do this whispering/heavy breathing sound. Also, the guy delivering a long-winded and completely incomprehensible speech in a dramatic tone of voice with an unidentifiable accent that may indeed by from Hell itself at the end of the song.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW-lXjOyUWo&ab_channel=PinkFloyd-Topic Speak to Me]]
* Most of metal-bashing avant-garde group [[Music/EinstürzendeNeubauten EinstürzendeNeubauten's]] early output is like this. The worst offender, however, is "Negativ Nein", which opens to a creepy beat played on PVC pipes over what sounds like a badly plugged toilet being plunged, topped by Blixa Bargeld's broken-steam-whistle scream and heavily overdubbed and echoing chanting. In German.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFSPG4gbekU The United States Emergency Broadcast]] in perticular has very scary yet annoying tones.

* Any [[EmergencyBroadcastEmergency Broadcast System]]. Various countries have different tones for theirs, but they all mean the same thing: an emergency, and your potential death. If it's a test, however, these tones become more annoying than scary.

* Any '''Emergency Broadcast System'''. Various countries have different tones for theirs, but they all mean the same thing: an emergency, and your potential death. If it's a test, however, these tones become more annoying than scary.

* Any Emergency Broadcast System. Various countries have different tones for theirs, but they all mean the same thing: an emergency (unless if its a test) and your potential death.

* This Troper had been a metal fan for years, even death, black, and other "extreme" genres and still wasn't prepared for the unholy FUCK that is [[Music/{{Slipknot}} Slipknot's]] ''All Hope Is Gone''. Then I heard their first album, which was almost creepier due to a tinge of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness. And then, oh dear god IOWA
** YMMV, as All Hope Is Gone is a relatively straightforward metal album by Slipknot standards, and largely free of the samples and sonic manipulation of early releases. The closing minutes of Iowa's title track, however, is almost entirely made up of this trope with a discordant bass riff for good measure.

* Music/AphexTwin: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWDAtMPoBHA IIIII WANNNNT YOUR SOULLLLL! I WILL EAT YOUR SOULLLLL!]]

* [[Creator/OzzyOsbourne Ozzy Osbourne's]] voice on the first two Music/BlackSabbath albums, especially on the self-titled album's title track. Before he became a caricature of himself, Ozzy sounded like the lost soul he actually was at the time. This is especially notable on the pre-album demo track of "War Pigs" featured on the ''Ozzman Cometh'' collection, which is far creepier than anything Sabbath actually released.

** It gets worse: Waters revived the Pict's vocal stylings for the schoolteacher from ''Music/The Wall'' ten years later, and that guy sounds ''[[UpToEleven even more]]'' deranged and hellish.

* Creator/Ozzy Osbourne's voice on the first two Black Sabbath albums, especially on the self-titled album's title track. Before he became a caricature of himself, Ozzy sounded like the lost soul he actually was at the time. This is especially notable on the pre-album demo track of "War Pigs" featured on the ''Ozzman Cometh'' collection, which is far creepier than anything Sabbath actually released.

On the subject of "A Day in the Life", that goddamn 15khz tone near the end of the track. Dear lord, that tone!

* Music/AnaalNathrakh invokes this in their music ''a lot'', which makes sense when you consider that they literally fuse BlackMetal with IndustrialMetal and {{Grindcore}} to make some of the most hellishly chaotic songs in existence. Have [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS3xmhxhKS8&ab_channel=ThatWeirdGuy a]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCTXqi7NObQ&ab_channel=Papirkurven listen]].

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb-SgwOJjcM&ab_channel=PinkFloyd-Topic Careful with That Axe, Eugene...]]"

** Just the first two? Ozzy's vocals on the third album, Master of Reality, are just as creepy, especially on "Lord of This World".
** First 30 or so seconds of Iron Man.
** "ALL ABOOOAAAAAAAAAARD, [[Evil Laugh HAHAHAHA!]]"