Ricky Eat Acid Premieres Horror-Inspired “Death Without Reward”

It's that time of year again. There's a haunting chill in the breeze, the leaves are turning colors, and everything is pumpkin spiced, whether we like it or not. Also Ricky Eat Acid is back in the mix, this time with an eerie tune full of ominous tones and arpeggiated chirps. "Death Without Reward," premiering below, makes the Maryland electronic artist sound like a legitimately scary version of Dracula who thought an organ was too old-school and bought a synth instead. This track is a part of The Chiller IV – Night of the Living Chill, a compilation put together by Chill Mega Chill and Forged Artifacts.

"Horror is by far my favorite genre, and horror films inspire me constantly when working on music, any time of year," Sam Ray, aka Ricky Eat Acid, told FADER via email. "Though this song doesn't really go for the 'horrible atonal dread' feeling that a lot of my favorite soundtracks accomplish, it does manage to be very, very tense and sustained and I like that. I wrote it by recording that one looping arpeggio off one of my keyboards & stretching it out, speeding it up, distorting it, affecting it every way I could to make a whole lot of new sounds. It was very fun, even if the finished thing kind of reminds me more of a particularly unbearable Perfect Dark level soundtrack than something from Carpenter or Argento."

The Chiller IV – Night of the Living Chill is out October 30th on double cassette, with limited-edition trick-of-treat tote bag, stickers, and classic-horror trading cards. Pre-order here. In the meantime, revisit The FADER's deep-dive on Ricky Eat Acid here.