10 Darkest Rock Music Masterpieces

4. Permafrost - Magazine

Often overshadowed by their 1978 debut album, Real Life, English post-punk band Magazine's second studio release, 1979's Secondhand Daylight, although not packed with as many memorable hooks as its predecessor, still makes for a potent listening experience. Magazine formed in 1977, with ex-Buzzcock Howard Devoto at the helm.

Devoto recruited John McGeoch on guitar, Barry Adamson on bass, Dave Formula on keys and Martin Jackson on drums. The band's debut album brought a modest hit with the single, Shot By Both Sides but, for their follow-up effort, Magazine upped the synthesizer quotient and aimed, in part, for more slow-burning, introspective material.

Permafrost is a great example of the latter. A glacial chunk of smoldering power, the track drifts like an iceberg pre-destined to collide with a cruise liner. Snarling guitar riffs add tension, minor synth chords appear like storm-clouds, and the song's unsettling, ambiguous lyrics are delivered with icy detachment. “As the day starts dead, at the place where we're lost...”