13 Great Songs About Death

If you wanted your songs about death to be more metal, then look no further than Slayer. One of the 'Big 4 of Thrash' Slayer have made a career of pushing the envelope when it comes to religion, whether through album artwork (see the covers to God Hates Us All and Christ Illusion), interviews with guitarist Kerry King (who's known to have an opinion or two) or through lyrical content.

Case in point, arguably Slayer's biggest song from their 1986 album Reign in Blood. Songwriter Jeff Hanneman has explained that the song describes a man who has been cast out of heaven and is currently stuck in Purgatory. "He's waiting for revenge and wants to f*ck that place up" before King adds "the rest of the song explains what happens when he starts f*cking people up." The "raining blood" of the song (which can be heard at the end of the ditty) is in fact the blood of stricken angels raining down onto him.

While the song won't be a part of any school discos any time soon, it did catch the attention of singer-songwriter Tori Amos. In one of the most bizarre covers in rock and metal, the classically-trained Amos performed a slow, broody version of the soundtrack to actual angel murder for her 2001 album Strange Little Girls.