Macabre is an American

extreme metal Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tran ...

band from Chicago,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockfo ...

, United States.Birchmeier, Jason
Macabre Biography
, AllMusic. Retrieved April 1, 2015 Since their formation in 1985, the band has featured the same three members with no lineup changes. The group's style blends

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, featu ...

, and

grindcore Grindcore is an extreme fusion genre of heavy metal and hardcore punk that originated in the mid-1980s, drawing inspiration from abrasive-sounding musical styles, such as thrashcore, crust punk, hardcore punk, extreme metal, and industrial. ...

(sometimes with

nursery rhymes A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. From t ...

and folk melodies). Lyrically Macabre have a strong focus on serial killers,

mass murderer Mass murder is the act of murdering a number of people, typically simultaneously or over a relatively short period of time and in close geographic proximity. The United States Congress defines mass killings as the killings of three or more pe ...

s and humorous elements. The group is currently signed to

Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label mo ...

Influences

Macabre's music was strongly influenced by US and UK hardcore, grindcore, and death metal acts, ranging from Venom,

The Accüsed The Accüsed is an American crossover thrash band from Seattle founded in 1981. The band was a progenitor of the crossover style that bridged the gap between thrashcore and thrash metal, later influencing grindcore and some crust punk bands; a ...

Suicidal Tendencies Suicidal Tendencies is an American crossover thrash band formed in 1980 in Venice in Los Angeles, California by vocalist Mike Muir. Muir is the only remaining original member of the band. Along with D.R.I., Corrosion of Conformity, and Stormtr ...

, and

Cryptic Slaughter Cryptic Slaughter is an American crossover thrash band based in Santa Monica, California, and originally formed in 1984. Biography Cryptic Slaughter was formed in 1984 by Les Evans (age 17), Scott Peterson (age 14), and Adam Scott (age 15), wh ...

to Possessed and

Napalm Death Napalm Death are an English grindcore band formed in 1981 in Meriden, West Midlands. None of the band's original members has been in the group since 1986. But since ''Utopia Banished'' (1992), the lineup of bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mitch ...

. Macabre's dark

sense of humor Humour (Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humoral medicine of the ancient Greeks, which taught that the balance of fluids in t ...

alienated casual metal listeners, however it helped to gain a small but strong cult status. Some of the serial killers mentioned in their songs are: *

David Berkowitz David Richard Berkowitz (born Richard David Falco, June 1, 1953), also known as the Son of Sam and .44 Caliber Killer, is an American serial killer who pleaded guilty to eight shootings that began in New York City on July 29, 1976. Berkowitz ...

(''Son of Sam'') *

Ted Bundy Theodore Robert Bundy ( born Cowell; November 24, 1946 – January 24, 1989) was an American serial killer who kidnapped, raped and murdered numerous young women and girls during the 1970s and possibly earlier. After more than a decade ...

Vlad the Impaler Vlad III, commonly known as Vlad the Impaler ( ro, Vlad Țepeș ) or Vlad Dracula (; ro, Vlad Drăculea ; 1428/311476/77), was Voivode of Wallachia three times between 1448 and his death in 1476/77. He is often considered one of the most im ...

Ed Gein Edward Theodore Gein (; August 27, 1906 – July 26, 1984), also known as the Butcher of Plainfield or the Plainfield Ghoul, was an American murderer and body snatcher. Gein's crimes, committed around his hometown of Plainfield, Wisconsin, ...

(''The Butcher of Plainfield'') *

Charles Manson Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934November 19, 2017) was an American criminal and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California, in the late 1960s. Some of the members committed a series of nine murders at four loca ...

Jeffrey Dahmer Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer (; May 21, 1960 – November 28, 1994), also known as the Milwaukee Cannibal or the Milwaukee Monster, was an American serial killer and sex offender who killed and dismemberment, dismembered seventeen men and boys ...

(''The Milwaukee Cannibal'') *

John Wayne Gacy John Wayne Gacy (March 17, 1942 – May 10, 1994) was an American serial killer and sex offender who raped, tortured, and murdered at least 33 young men and boys. Gacy regularly performed at children's hospitals and charitable events as " ...

(''The Killer Clown)'' *

Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in the autumn of 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer w ...

Edmund Kemper Edmund Emil Kemper III (born December 18, 1948) is an American serial killer who murdered a total of 10 people, including a 15-year-old girl, as well as his own mother and her best friend, from May 1972 to April 1973, following his parole for m ...

(''The Co-ed Killer)'' *

Peter Kürten Peter Kürten (; 26 May 1883 – 2 July 1931) was a German serial killer, known as "The Vampire of Düsseldorf" and the "Düsseldorf Monster", who committed a series of murders and sexual assaults between February and November 1929 in the city o ...

(''The Vampire of Düsseldorf'') * Herman Mudgett (''H.H. Holmes'') *

Richard Ramirez Ricardo "Richard" Leyva Muñoz Ramirez (; February 29, 1960 – June 7, 2013), dubbed the Night Stalker, the Valley Intruder (as his attacks were first clustered in the San Gabriel Valley), and the Walk-in Killer was an American serial kill ...

(''The Night Stalker)'' *

Gary Ridgway Gary Leon Ridgway (born February 18, 1949), also known as the Green River Killer, is an American serial killer and sex offender. He was initially convicted of 48 separate murders. As part of his plea bargain, another conviction was added, brin ...

(''The Green River Killer)'' *

Zodiac The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north or south (as measured in celestial latitude) of the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. The path ...

Members

* Nefarious (Charles Lescewicz) – bass, vocals (1984–present) * Dennis the Menace (Dennis Ritchie) – drums (1984–present) * Corporate Death (Lance Lencioni) – guitar, vocals (1984–present)

Discography

* ''Shitlist'' (1987) * '' Grim Reality'' (1987) * "Shitlist" (1988, 7") * ''

Gloom Gloom is a low level of light which is so dim that there are physiological and psychological effects. Human vision at this level becomes monochrome and has lessened clarity. Optical and psychological effects Light conditions may be considered g ...

'' (1989) * "Nightstalker" (1991, 7") * ''

Sinister Slaughter ''Sinister Slaughter'' is the second full-length album by American death metal band Macabre and was released in 1993 by Nuclear Blast Records. The cover artwork is a parody on the Beatles album ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' featuring ...

'' (1993) * '' Behind the Wall of Sleep'' (1994, EP) * ''Unabomber'' (1999, EP) * '' Dahmer'' (2000) * ''Capitalist Casualties / Macabre''(2001, split with

Capitalist Casualties Capitalist Casualties were an American powerviolence / hardcore band. They formed in Rohnert Park, CA around 1986 and had their first concert in 1987 in Santa Rosa, California They have released multiple records, including many splits with othe ...

) * ''Morbid Campfire Songs'' (2002, as the Macabre Minstrels) * ''Drill Bit Lobotomy'' (2002, 7") * ''Murder Metal'' (2003) * ''Macabre Electric & Acoustic Two CD Set'' (2004, 2-CD set including the CDs ''Murder Metal'' and ''Macabre Minstrels'') * '' True Tales of Slaughter and Slaying'' (2006, DVD) * ''Grim Reality'' (2008) _{− re-issue featuring the remastered 1980s version and a Neil Kernon remix version} * ''Human Monsters'' (2010, EP) * '' Grim Scary Tales'' (2011) * ''Slaughter Thy Poser''(2012, EP) * '' Carnival of Killers'' (2020)

References

External links

* Heavy metal musical groups from Illinois American death metal musical groups Deathgrind musical groups American grindcore musical groups American thrash metal musical groups American musical trios Musical groups from Chicago Musical groups established in 1985 Season of Mist artists 1985 establishments in Illinois {{US-metal-band-stub