Macabre - Dahmer (2000)

Macabre's a band I never get around to revisiting often, but don't let that fool you, I think they're a fairly interesting and quietly influential act that had a pretty big impact on the deep-dive serial killer studies that other bands like Church of Misery have continued with. They also occupied a niche seemingly to themselves, where numerous genres combined, no one of the thrash, death metal, punk or grind really dominating the rest, and then the insertion of humorous elements into the music also transforms them into a carnival of Midwest extremity. The first four albums in particular have the most to offer, with these sprawling track lists, few ideas left on the cutting board, and though the tongue-in-cheek qualities can become distracting, they can mete out some mean fucking metal on your ass.

Dahmer is the band's exploration of its titular serial killer and it spends equal time tackling this topic, comprised of 26 tracks, most hovering around the 1-2 minute mark, a few beyond that, but that's where a lot of the grind aesthetic comes in here, because the band isn't always playing a million miles a minute with the splattering vocals and accelerated hardcore you'd expect. Many of them take a punk rock approach with gang shouts, accessible riffs, and then this is alternated with hyper-thrashing pieces that catapult themselves into the death metal spectrum. But they also delve a little deeper, with some more dissonant thrash riffing that even reminds me of Voivod, like in the opener "Dog Guts", and they'll bust out these solid leads that also seem pretty ambitious compared to the surface level of their style. So the idea that one could ever write Macabre as some group of gory goofballs would be misinformed. They are crazy motherfuckers who put an emphasis on exploring different sounds and then unifying them behind a chosen theme, which is conceptually impressive, even when it's something really zany like the thrashing surf rock of "Do the Dahmer" (something Ghoul might have picked up on).

Ironically, it's this variation that can both work FOR and AGAINST an album like Dahmer, because the shorter track lengths mean a lot of the stronger, evil riffing ideas will be broken up and you never quite get enough if you're digging them. Like the churning caveman death metal of "Hitchiker" ceding to the "In the Army Now" anthem, or the blasting, chaotic "Bath House" giving way for the "Jeffrey Dahmer and the Chocolate Factory" tune, which is essentially a twisted cover of the Oompa Loompa song from the old Gene Wilder film. However, by that same argument, every time I think I've gotten my laughs in and am about to phase out, they'll shift back into some more intense and interesting, so I can imagine that the scattershot inspirations and execution of this album might be an attempt to dive into the psyche of a character like its own subject. But I do think overall this might be an aspect of Macabre that has held them back from greater success, it's not like Mr. Bungle where the musical freakshow is the entire DNA of the writing, but something they swap on and off. It doesn't always land for me, either, but this and a few of their older full-lengths hit more often than not.

The vocals of Nefarious and Corporate Death are impressive in their versatility, from gutturals and sneers to higher pitched wails that you might not expect, and then the gang vocals I mentioned before. The guitars have a nice, organic tone to them which seems to work well across the constituent genres, frilly enough for the crisper thrashing riffs, fluid enough for the punk chords, and then some solid effects on some of the leads. The bass playing is quite busy and plunky, and this is a component which can even be highlighted within the sillier tunes, and I could say the same for the drums, these guys are just an overall, musically impressive act even if they only exhibit briefer bouts of technicality among the more simplistic, accessible writing. All told, there's not a lot I can really compare this with, or maybe just too MANY things to compare it with...some of the faster, thrash/death parts recall some Deceased of the same era, and there are obvious punk and hardcore references, but say what you will, Macabre is quite unique, and if you can pull yourself away from the Netflix documentaries, this is quite a bat-shit but well-rationed exploration of the infamous cannibal and necrophile.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

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