Reggae music fans help; re: Scary Reggae Music

Black Uhuru's "The Dub Factor" might fit your description. I don't if the ballad-like description applies however.

Peter Tosh had some pretty mellow stuff.

It could easily have been Maxi Priest.

Perhaps the Mighty Diamonds. Don't see them as being scary though.

Once one takes an interest and starts digging into the world of reggae it's amazing how deep the genre truly travels...certainly FAR past the 'upbeat reggae' that is typically more familiar. There are probably thousands of recordings that barely got out of the isles but, thanks to dedicated labor-of-love labels like Blood & Fire, Auralux, Pressure Sounds, Soul Jazz, etc., much of this music is seeing the light of day. The atmosphere and vibe that some of these vintage recordings conjure is, at times, pretty amazing. As for what you heard...? Hard to say. Typically, the 'scary' musical description would be attached to the deep, dubbed out 'dread' recordings. A lot of the early (though definitely not ballad-y) DJ stuff or some of the particularly subterranean Lee Perry recordings would fit this bill. Some of the dub oriented stuff that Horace Andy did or the Lee Perry produced Congos and Heptones records could fit your description as well. Don't know...could have been a number of things. If you feel so inclined, I'd suggest you start digging into the output of some of the labels I mentioned above and see what you come up with. The Soul Jazz 'Studio One' series of comps are highly recommended and could be a good starting point.

Might of been Scientist's, "Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires" (1981). A dub album mixed at King Tubby's. Released on the Geensleves label. Available on Greensleeves CD GRELCD 25.

Might have been "Untouchable" from the album by the same by Anthony B. You can listen to that song on amazon. If you like "scary" reggae, check out some of the records by the late Keith Hudson or the late Price Far I (the voiced stuff although the dubs are equally good).

Scary, slowed-down reggae is actually called dub, as someone noted. It's also electronically augmented with deeper bass. You want some dub? Try then Bill Laswell, Scarab, Rhythm and Sound(classic, even though they are German). A good place to start is legendary Macro Dub Infection 1 & 2 complilations. Do a search for dub music on Amazon.