MACABRE (IL) — Dahmer (review)

Album · 2000 · Death Metal

3/5 · 2020-04-20
Nightfly

A strange one this for sure, quite unlike any death metal album I’ve heard before. Dahmer, the third album from Chicago band Macabre is a concept album based on USA serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. Pretty grotesque subject matter for sure but Macabre inject plenty of humour into their deathgrind/death metal. Having only heard one Macabre album that I don’t remember previously and that was some time ago, it certainly wasn’t what I was expecting.

The humour not only comes in the lyrics but also in the songs the band choose to bastardize from time to time adding their own lyrics to tunes taken from some unexpected sources. The Oompa Loompa song from Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory is Jeffrey Dahmer And The Chocolate Factory here. There’s She’ll Be Coming Round The Mountain which is Coming to Chicago and Jeffrey Dahmer Blues is…well… er… a death metal blues song. While this all sounds a bit silly the band are actually pretty good players though the vocals might be an acquired taste for some alternating between a typical death growl and high pitched screech. Most of the songs are pretty short with many under the two minute mark but they make up for this with quantity, there being twenty six tracks in total. Quantity doesn’t equate to quality of course and it’s a pretty mixed bunch. The afore-mentioned parody songs soon wear thin. I mentioned earlier that the band are decent players but some of the songs are a little over simplistic with their riffs lacking substance but then they’ll throw in a surprise by injecting some jazz touches into the pot. The albums at its best musically when they put the quirkiness to one side and play it straight, relatively speaking of course, like on How ‘Bout some Coffee and I like the dissonance on Bath House and Konerak as well as the jazzy touches they throw in from time to time.

Unfortunately the production is a bit on the thin side with a top end heavy drum sound though it is clear but lacks power. Something else that robs it of some of the power is guitarist Corporate Death when playing a solo often plays it with no rhythm guitar backing which momentarily causes it to lose some drive.

Overall then, full marks for originality, approaching it with humour and the concept flows well. What lets it down sometimes is simply that there are quite a few songs that just simply aren’t all that good, lacking strong riffs that have to rely on the humour to carry them. Whilst it’s not an album I’ll be in a hurry to return to, though everyone should hear this at least once, I am curious to check out their other albums to see if they display the same humour and originality as this one.

more than 2 years ago
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Nightfly wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I'm not necessarily against the rhythm guitar dropping out during the solo's, as you say it worked for Pantera. Eddie van Halen was another who did that but here I just felt like it sometimes fell flat to my ears. I can definitely see how they could easily play this exactly as it is live though which is no bad thing. As for the production, that snare is very highly tuned which didn't help. Because of the limited instrumentation a bigger drum sound could have filled it out more. One of the reasons I found Grim Scary Tales better was because although they were working in the same way on a musical level the production was much better.

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I´m a bit surprised you find the production to be on the thin side. This is a Neil Kernon production man...the man responsible for productions on Nile and Nevermore albums (and Cannibal Corpse if I´m not mistaken). I think it´s a heavy as fuck sound production. As you mention there´s no rhythms guitar during the solos (not completely unlike the guitars solos on most Pantera songs actually), but that´s Macabre´s trio format being heard. You´ll hear very Little on this album (or any of their albums) that they can´t perform live. I´ve seen them twice and I can attest to that. Great live band by the way, and I can highly recommend seing them if they come to town.

Nightfly wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Been listening to Grim Scary tales and I do like that one a lot better.

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

This one is probably a top 5 death metal album for me (I have a backlog review written with a 5 star rating). I absolutly adore Macabre and especially this sick piece of Work...

Vim Fuego wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Yes, all their albums exhibit the same sick sense of humour, and you'll find lots of nursery rhymes thrown in for good measure. I'd recommend Grim Scary Tales for it's take on historic serial killers, or Sinister Slaughter, just because.