It seems like there are two H.M.’s that go together effort­lessly in music: Horror Movies and Heavy Metal.

You can hear plenty of both in the songs of Springfield, Mo., metal group The Filthy Thirds when they perform with Cognitive Overload at 10 p.m. Aug. 16 at Cagney’s. Cover is $3.

When it’s time to write, Filthy Thirds singer, songwriter and guitarist Trent Wilson goes to any of his 1,000 horror titles in his collection for musical inspiration.

“A lot of times, when I’m writing, I’ll be watching an Italian horror movie,” Wilson says. “It’s ingrained in my being.”

It’s also all over the lyrics, with references to werewolves on “Cursed” and “Friday the 13th”-inspired tracks featuring blood-curdling screams like “Jason Lives.” The music itself draws from the punk-inspired, thrash metal innovators of the late '70s and early '80s, like the Misfits, Motorhead and Manowar; the kind of music that breeds aggression.

“It takes the best part of punk and what most people came to realize as heavy metal,” Wilson says. “There’s something very visceral about it and primitive.”

But some of the other Filthy Thirds members, which include Toad Wyrick (guitar), Jeb Stuart (bass) and Mike Rumsey (drums), don’t have Wilson’s horror/metal background. Before joining the band for their current tour, Stuart was a touring Nashville musician with Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses. Rumsey used to be in a straight-forward pop rock band, but he definitely gets his kicks by playing Filthy.

“It’s kind of a different style of playing for me. It’s a lot of a challenge,” Rumsey says. “I love playing it, though.”

If you go check out the band live, Wilson says he feeds off the energy of the crowd, whether it’s positive or negative. He has come to expect both considering the music The Filthy Thirds tries to create is not for everybody.

“I think right now, the style of music that we’re playing is very unpopular. The type of music we’re playing has no commercial appeal whatsoever,” Wilson says. “We’re not death metal, but we’re not Def Leppard either.”