Headbangers’ Brawl is a weekly column where Metal Insider’s Bram and Zach take a moment to debate and analyze two opposing sides of a topical issue occurring in the world of metal and/or the music industry.

Halloween and metal simply go so well together. What other holiday can you celebrate gore and death while also dressing up and eating candy? Maybe Purim, but not so much the gore part. So with Halloween just around the corner, Bram and Zach discuss in this week’s Headbangers’ Brawl which metal band scares the shit out of them the most.

Zach: You’re all probably sick and tired of hearing us talk about GWAR lately, but you can’t really mention horror and metal in the same sentence without mentioning them. I still have vivid memories of seeing them live during the Viva La Bam tour in 2007, with my jaw literally on the ground during the entire set. If you told me that a band could kill President Bush, feature a half Jesus/half Hitler figure jerking off into the audience, and destroy an evil Jewish robot all within an hour set, I would pray to God you were lying. Sadly, you wouldn’t have to tell me for I saw it with my own eyes… still haven’t been able to watch WW II specials the same way since.

Bram: You can have GWAR. They’re fun, but the only thing that truly scares me is that while their stage show gets better and better, they haven’t grown as musicians in 25 years. But at the end of the day, they’re tongue in (ass) cheek. You want scary? Give me Mayhem. When Dead was in the band, he’d cut himself onstage. Then when he shot himself, instead of calling the cops, Euronymous took a picture of his body that wound up being an album cover. And depending on whether you believe it or not, dude made a stew of his vocalist and gave out necklaces made with fragments of his skull. That’s some shit right there, and scarier in real life than a gang bang between GWAR and Lordi. I mean, if you’re talking performance, I remember being a little freaked out kid seeing Alice Cooper on The Muppet Show.

Z: Ok, I’ll give it to Mayhem in regards to being f’d up in real life. But performance wise, GWAR takes the cake. Though good point about musical growth. That’s what I always loved about Alice Cooper (it was actually The Muppet Show that got me first into him). Not only does he deliver an over the top, theatrical show, but has the music to back it up. I got the chance to see him recently with Rob Zombie on the Halloween Hootenanny tour and despite his age, and Cooper still has it!

You know who I would say is the least shocking? Marilyn Manson. Well, maybe he’s still horrifying but for all the wrong reasons. When I saw him at Mayhem Fest in 2009, I was more shocked by how drugged up and bloated he was. Ever seen a drugged up clown in a car crash? More awkward than scary.

B: I can’t think of anything funnier than a drugged up clown in a car crash. In fact, that’s the only way a clown would make me laugh.