Metal Martyr

Macabre: 13 Years Later And I Still Want My Money Back!

by Metal Martyr on October 15th, 2008

News has been really slow as of late, so I flipped open an old CD book I have and was diggin’ through, trying to find something to write about…and there it was. Like a turd in punch bowl. About 12 or 13 years ago I was at some record store in Jacksonville North Carolina when I came across a band with a cool name. Macabre: Behind The Wall Of Sleep EP. Macabre was on the Nuclear Blast label at the time and I thought I couldn’t go wrong. So I bought this 4 song EP with a cover of Black Sabbath’s Behind The Wall Of Sleep, which I thought was going to be really cool. I was wrong…I was very wrong.

I got on the Wikipedia and I really didn’t expect to find anything on this band. I never heard of them when I bought the EP and I never heard about them afterwards. I thought it was one of those things that just didn’t happen. I was wrong once again. I guess they are still around even since 1985, and do make their way around a bit still.

Macabre is a murder metal band from the USA. They were formed in 1985 in Chicago, Illinois, and have never had a line-up change. They blend thrash metal, death metal, and grindcore (sometimes with nursery rhymes and folk melodies) to form their own unique style dubbed murder metal. Lyrically, they have a strong focus on serial killers, mass murderers and a touch of sick gore humour. Most lyrics are based upon true stories and are about real infamous personalities. They also have a side project called the Macabre Minstrels that play acoustic camp fire songs. Their current label is Decomposed Records.

OK, so these guys are still around and must be an underground type act that doesn’t obviously have a mainstream following. Nothing wrong with that. But let me tell you why I didn’t and I still don’t like them. It mentions they have a sick gore humor about them. I dig that, it’s cool. I like Gwar among other ill humored acts and even if you listen to Cannibal Corpse, you have to have some kind of sense of humor when you read the song titles and hear the lyrics. But the thing about Macabre isn’t so much the music, because as a three piece, they do pretty well. You have "Dennis The Menace" on drums (Mr. Willllllson), "Nefarious" on bass guitar and vocals and "Corporate Death" on guitar and vocals.

The thing about this band that I could never stand was the lead vocals. The backing vocals are a deep throated death metal style growl, but the lead vocals is this weird, sometimes high pitch-shifting routine that I just don’t like. Even after searching around and finding out that they have been doing this for awhile, I still think it’s terrible. The Black Sabbath cover song that’s on my EP has got to be the worst BS cover I have ever heard. The vocals screw it all up royally. The only likable song on this EP is "Freeze Dried Man", but the singing screws it up for me again. "Freeze Dried Man" is a funny song because it has lyrics such as:

Jeffrey Dahmer wanted a freeze-dried man
So he could do things he enjoyed again and again
Jeff said he’d fondle, rub, and lay with his freeze dried man
And pose him for pictures if flexible, with his polaroid in hand

Jeffrey had a plan
To freeze dry a man
But the device was thirty grand
So the thought was quickly canned

He went to the taxidermist to enquire on how to freeze dry a man
He told the man it was for a rabbit, but that was just a lie
Instead Jeffrey wanted to freeze dry a man
But the device was thirty grand, So the thought was quickly canned

Jeffrey had a plan
To freeze dry a man
But the device was thirty grand
So the thought was quickly canned

Funny and entertaining, but I can’t get past the vocals.

You can check out the video below and judge for yourself…you’ll see, or check out more songs on their myspace.

Image Source: http://metal-archives.com

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