Two Disturbing Killers Named Dennis | Playlist 🎧

1. Steven Wilson, “Raider II”

💿 Grace for Drowning • 🏷 Steven Wilson • 📅 2011 

“Your mouth is driving me into distraction, you talk too much… / A plague inside your home, I’m raider / Defiling all you own, raider /A cat among the crows, I’m raider /The butcher and his prose, I’m raider.”  BTK. Bind. Torture. Kill.  Wow. Dennis Rader was one of those ‘model citizen’ types, yet he was living a completely different life behind closed doors. Shame on him.

“A fist will make you understand intention
To raise alarm is underhand, so I cut off the phone
I bind you up with tape and catch some TV
It’s getting late, the shadows in the street are watching us.”

🎙 Steven Wilson tackles the infamous BTK Killer on 🎵 “Raider II,” which appears on his 2011 album, 💿 Grace for Drowning.

“Check for fibers in the gaps between the teeth, the floorboards
Check the fingerprints, go through the trash
Maybe I just wanted some attention
Compulsion seeks its own way in rejection of the light
Every story needs to have an ending
We might as well give up all this pretending and clear the air.”

Also appears on 🔽:
🔗 🎧 Dennis Rader: 5ive Songs No. 58 (2021)

2. Swans, “Killing for Company”

💿 The Great Annihilator • 🏷 Young God • 📅 1995

“I couldn’t stop myself / I knew I’d do it again / But I could heal myself / If I could feel your skin.” Those lyrics, excerpted from the first verse of 🎵 “Killing for Company” (💿 The Great Annihilator) are disturbing 🎙 Swans – just saying. Nonetheless, disturbing is the right vibe for the serial killer at hand. Jeffrey Dahmer gets a hell of a lot of attention as he should – he was hellish to the nth degree. However, Dahmer had a disturbing British counterpart, Dennis Nilsen (1945 – 2018).

Like Dahmer, Dennis Nilsen was homosexual, targeting gay boys and men.  Also, like Dahmer, he enjoyed dismembering the corpses, necrophilia, and keeping trophies (aka “company”). As awful as Nilsen was to normal folks, he earned the nickname as “The Kindly Killer.” Don’t let the nickname fool you –  there’s very little “kindly” about killing between 12 and 15.

“And if I heal your wound
We will make love again...”

As for the lyrics featured above, arguably they seem to fit with Nilsen nearly killing Carl Stotter, but ultimately reviving him.  All for the sake of company?

“I know we'll never end
Now there is no beginning
And when it’s cold at night
I’ll kiss your velvet sleeve
I know we'll never end
I’ll keep you company.”

Also appears on 🔽:
🔗 🎧 11 Unsettling Songs About Gay Serial Killers
🔗 🎧 Dennis Nilsen: 5ive Songs No. 59 (2021)

3.Suffocation, “Bind Torture Kill”

💿 Suffocation • 🏷 Relapse • 📅 2006

“I’m damned to be disposed in perpetual fire / Dismantled youth forced and shaped my being / Deafening voices fuel my actions / And drive me to bind torture kill.” BTK. Bind. Torture. Kill.  Wow. 🎙 Suffocation are damn right about one thing – Dennis Rader certainly seems damned to be disposed in perpetual fire.  Rader’s arrogance caused him to be captured after evading it for years. Shame on him.

The New York death metal band serves up their own 🎵 “Bind Torture Kill.” It’s dark, but ask yourself, does this song really compare to the monster’s real-life actions?

“I bind to keep, Torture one to strengthen
And kill the weak who fail to meet the needs
Unstable diagnosis, detained to live a victim of myself
Predestined fate nurtures the act of sinning and drives me to
Bind torture kill.”

Also appears on 🔽:
🔗 🎧 Dennis Rader: 5ive Songs No. 58 (2021)

4. Macabre, “You’re Dying to Be with Me”

💿 Murder Metal • 🏷 Nuclear Blast • 📅 2003

“Sitting at my table, having some tea / Chatting with a bloke who’s dead from strangling…” Um, WTF? “I’m a lonely man in need of company / I only have to kill men to make them stay with me.” Jesus! Who is best equipped to capture a notorious serial killer? That would be doom metal gods, 🎙 Macabre! This satirical band is awesome at narrativizing deplorables, so, Dennis Nilsen is in good hands. 🎵 “You’re Dying to Be with Me” (💿 Murder Metal) is the perfect title, given Nilsen’s desire to be close with dead men… HOLY S#!T!

“You’re Dying to Be with Me” clocks in under three minutes in duration.  That’s enough time to construct a totally [bleeped] up tale.  The record is characterized by quick tempo, jagged guitars, pummeling drums, and wild, idiosyncratic vocals.  #Bad Ass! Of course, the chorus is disturbing – that titular line. Macabre being the darlings that they are aren’t the least bit subtle regarding Dennis’ actions:

“I love to be with you, but you’re now decomposing
The bloody smell so putrid
We must soon part company
A fire in my backyard should work sufficiently
My toilet also used to flush away dead men rotting.”

Also appears on 🔽:
🔗 🎧 Dennis Nilsen: 5ive Songs No. 59 (2021)

5. Suicide Commando, “Bind Torture Kill”

💿 Bind, Torture, Kill • 🏷 Metropolis • 📅 2006 

“Bind torture and kill.” 🎙 Suicide Commando soundtracks BTK with 🎵 “Bind Torture Kill” – fitting.   The Belgian electro-industrial act give “Bind Torture Kill” an incredibly foreboding sound, thanks to a dark, electronic sound palette.  That should be the case, right. Just imagine how the poor, innocent victims of Dennis Rader felt as he was imposing death on them.

“So pretty, so frail
I watch your body turning pale
So fragile, so weak
I didn’t want to be this creep
Soul stripper, soul ripper
I bind her legs, excruciate her
Start bleeding, stop breathing
I take your life, I am defeating.”

Also appears on 🔽:
🔗 🎧 Dennis Rader: 5ive Songs No. 58 (2021)

6. ACE, “Dennis Nilsen”

💿 Daddy Luvs You • 🏷 Ace of Spades Music • 📅 2021

“Bodies piling up every time I fall in love.” OMFG!!! Dennis Nilsen really set himself up for ridicule postmortem.  His legacy is forever tarnished given his desire to be close with dead men (have I already mentioned that).  🎙 ACE takes this idea and runs with it on the rap song 🎵 “Dennis Nilsen.”

“Dennis Nilsen” runs less than two-minutes in duration.  That’s enough to construct a disturbing vibe and reminds of how horrible Mr. Nilsen was.  Besides the excerpted lyric, add “I need to squeeze you to death” to the mix.  Ooh wee! Furthermore, “Dennis Nilsen” contains eerie production work, set in a minor key, as well as samples of news regarding the horrid happenings.

https://www.tiktok.com/@zoedove19/video/6965077812902513926?is_copy_url=0&is_from_webapp=v1&sender_device=pc&sender_web_id=6931549970541577734

Also appears on 🔽:
🔗 🎧 Dennis Nilsen: 5ive Songs No. 59 (2021)

7. Church of Misery, “B.T.K. (Dennis Rader)”

💿 Thy Kingdom Scum • 🏷 Rise Above • 📅 2013

Sometimes, a song about a deranged individual doesn’t require lyrics.  It’s safe to say, Dennis Rader was deranged to the nth degree – understatement.  While 🎵 “B.T.K. (Dennis Rader)” by Japanese metal band 🎙 Church of Misery features audio clips of Raider, the band themselves don’t sing.

Church of Misery doesn’t need to offer up any lyrics because the music simply speaks for itself on this opener from their 2013 LP, 💿 Thy Kingdom Scum.  “B.T.K.” is energetic, intense AF, and incredibly unsettling.  This provides the perfect soundtrack to someone known for a serial killing method of bind, torture, and kill.  Jagged guitars, pummeling drums and some Raider clips craft a hellish aesthetic.

Also appears on 🔽:
🔗 🎧 Dennis Rader: 5ive Songs No. 58 (2021)

8. Church of Misery, “Cranley Gardens (Dennis Andrew Nilsen)”

💿 Thy Kingdom Scum • 🏷 Rise Above • 📅 2013

🎵 “Cranley Gardens” is the title of 🎙 Church of Misery’s soundtrack to Dennis Nilsen.  So, what’s the significance? This is where Nilsen’s crimes came to an end – he was arrested following improper disposal of his victims’ bodies.  It’s gross, but even more troubling is the fact that this happened – it’s not fiction.

“Cranely Gardens” commences with clips of a reporter speaking about Nilsen, which is a common characteristic of Church of Misery serial/mass killer songs.  Bass appears as the first instrument, accompanying the news clip, and it’s awesome, awesome, awesome! Soon enough, drums and guitar enter the mix, creating some superb music. After the tone is set, the guitars get beefier, and the lead vocals enter in, gritty, unrefined, and wild AF.  I mean, any song about a guy as disturbed as Dennis Nilsen should be wild.

Also appears on 🔽:
🔗 🎧 Dennis Nilsen: 5ive Songs No. 59 (2021)

9. Exodus, “BTK”

💿 Blood in, Blood Out • 🏷 Nuclear Blast • 📅 2014

“Psycho / Serial Killer / Victim / BTK.” While 🎙 Church of Misery don’t pen any lyrics when sound tracking the monstrous Dennis Rader, fellow metal collective 🎙 Exodus don’t spare him. 🎵 “BTK,” from the thrash metal band’s 2014 album 💿 Blood in, Blood Out, commences with a lengthy intro, which sounds dark and ‘damned’ to the nth degree.  The guitars reek of stench, the bass line rhythmic and driving, while the drumming is athletic, characterized by tom runs and ample cymbal.

Of course, the vocals are something else, expressively capturing the despicable, deceptive person that Rader prove to be.  “Pillar of the community / Leader in the House of the Lord,” 🎙 Steve Souza sings, adding “Wichita giver of the Eucharist / While trolling for another reward.” True, and there’s even more, amplified by darkly poetic lyrics: “Psychotic hunter in orgasmic desire / Tighten the cord, watch the life expire.” Bind, torture, kill was Dennis’ jam… awful, awful, awful!  Exodus – well – they totally nail it right? 

Also appears on 🔽:
🔗 🎧 Dennis Rader: 5ive Songs No. 58 (2021)

10. Moth Wranglers “Turnabout (For Dennis)”

💿 Never Again • 🏷 Moth Wranglers • 📅 2010

“Someone else has played this game / Did something awful – though I’m not quite sure how / Someone hid behind his name / Did things unlawful – and you can’t stop him now.” Dennis Nilsen, the British counterpart to Jeffrey targeted gay boys and men and enjoyed dismembering corpses and necrophilia. Sexuality itself is NOT the problem but rather the perverted stuff Mr. Nilsen did – dismemberment and necrophilia.

“It’s just a lark, a little game / And darling, we’ve all felt the same / It’s just a fad, a passing stage / A product of this anxious age / Bad boy led the world astray / I can’t explain, but I can show you how / Sad boy sighed his life away / He felt no pain – well, not much anyhow.” Indie rock duo 🎙 Moth Wranglers tackle “The Kindly Killer” on the song, 🎵 “Turnabout (For Dennis)” which appears on their 2010 album, 💿 Never Again. And if I can’t make it clear enough, Nilsen was hardly kind, given his murderous escapades.

“It’s just a phase, perhaps a ruse
It’s nothing bad – he’s just confused
It’s just a shame, it’s just the truth
No, nothing serious – call it youth.” 

Also appears on 🔽:
🔗 🎧 11 Unsettling Songs About Gay Serial Killers
🔗 🎧 Dennis Nilsen: 5ive Songs No. 59 (2021)