10 Darkest Rock Music Masterpieces
2. Seventh Seal - Scott Walker
Setting aside the later albums of unique singer-songwriter, Scott Walker (many of which could fill every slot in this list on their own), 1969s Scott 4 (actually his fifth studio release) is home to one of Walker's most-celebrated and most interesting numbers.
Seventh Seal, inspired by the astonishing 1957 Ingmar Bergman film of the same name, charts the story of a disillusioned knight, returned from the crusades, as he journeys through a land decimated by plague. In both the film and the song, the knight plays, and loses, a literal game of chess with Death.
Walker was an innovative song-writer from the start, tackling subjects and themes few, if any, of his peers ventured to cover. Scott 4 was his first album to consist entirely of original compositions, and Seventh Seal marks an early high point in the artist's long and controversial career. With it's Spanish/Mexican horns, rolling rhythms and beautiful strings, the song makes this list thanks to its doom-laden lyrics and unnerving undertones.