Duran Duran’s Halloween-Inspired, ‘Danse Macabre’ is First From New LP

Whether you were around in the ’80s or ’90s or not, you must have heard about Duran Duran, the British pop band that, at one time, was just as popular as the Beatles.

The group just announced their 16th studio album, Danse Macabre, and have teased it with the title track which you can listen to below. What is interesting about this LP is that it was inspired by Halloween and all the weird things that happen during that holiday.

“The song ‘Danse Macabre’ celebrates the joy and madness of Halloween,” said Nick Rhodes, the band’s keyboardist and vocalist. “It is the title track of our forthcoming album, which gathers together an unusual mix of cover versions, reworked Duran Duran songs and several new compositions. The idea was born out of a show we played in Las Vegas on October 31st, 2022. We had decided to seize the moment to create a unique, special event…the temptation of using glorious gothic visuals set to a dark soundtrack of horror and humor was simply irresistible.”

He adds: “That evening inspired us to explore further and to make an album, using Halloween as the key theme. The record metamorphosed through a pure, organic process, and not only was it made faster than anything since our debut album, it has also resulted in something none of us could have ever predicted. Emotion, mood, style and attitude have always been at the heart of Duran Duran’s DNA, we search for light in the darkness and darkness in the light, and I feel we have somehow managed to capture the essence of all of that in this project.”

Danse Macabre doesn’t only have original material but contains some reworks and covers as well: Billie Eilish’s “Bury a Friend,” Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer” (feat. Victoria De Angelis of Måneskin), The Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black,” Siouxsie and the Banshees’ “Spellbound,” Cerrone’s “Supernature,” and The Specials’ “Ghost Town,” and a Rick James-inspired bop “Super Lonely Freak.”

The album is due out on October 27.

Drummer Roger Taylor hopes fans will listen and have a new appreciation of them, “I hope you take a journey with us through the darker side of our inspirations into where we’re at in 2023. Maybe, you’ll leave with a deeper understanding of how Duran Duran got to this moment in time.”