FROM THE CRYPTS - CELEBRATING PAST ALBUM RELEASES in the HISTORY of HARD ROCK & HEAVY METAL…
Yesterday, the MACABRE album Dahmer celebrated the 22nd anniversary of its release.
On October 31, 2000, Grind/Death legends Macabre released their ninth full- length studio album Dahmer via Century Media / Olympic Records.
Background:
A concept album, the songs comprise a biography of the life of Jeffrey Dahmer; therefore they are in chronological order.
Several songs take the tune of popular American songs and attach different lyrics to them:
• When Johnny Comes Marching Home (In the Army Now)
• Over the River and Through the Wood (Grandmother's House)
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Jeffrey Dahmer and the Chocolate Factory)
Many of the songs also allude to aspects of American popular culture, examples being how McDahmers refers to the McDonald's Corporation and its use of McWords as well as its former slogan of being "a happy place".
Critical Reception:
In his review for AllMusic, Jason Birchmeier wrote of Dahmer;
“As on its infamous Nuclear Blast classic Sinister Slaughter, the trio known as Macabre turns to morbid comedy that isn't so much hysterical as it is juvenile. Based entirely on the legendary life story of psycho Jeffrey Dahmer, this 26-track album plays almost like some perverse Andrew Lloyd Webber Death Metal production. Just the concept seems a bit uncanny; in fact, it's downright disturbing. What drives a band to devote so much time and effort toward such a distasteful theme? Well, surely there is a niche market for this sort of art, as the group proved with Sinister Slaughter (an album full of odes to various psychopaths), which attracted the same sort of people who take a perverse interest in bands such as Cannibal Corpse or films such as the Ed Gein biopic Deranged. And the fans in this small niche market, who have been following Macabre since its first underground releases in the late '80s, should adore the imaginative lengths that the band has gone to with its ode to Dahmer. While the lyrics are a treat indeed, especially since they are annotated, they ultimately take away from whatever musical potential that the trio shows on the album.
Like the self-important rants/songs of post-Pink Floyd Roger Waters and also Henry Rollins, the lyrics and vocals take center stage here, eliminating the prospects for strong musical accompaniment. There are a few times when the Speed Metal guitar riffs grind like effective Death Metal, but far too often the music gets eclipsed by the laughable vocals. The group's best-known effort, Sinister Slaughter, effectively balanced vocals with music, never letting one overshadow the other; that, unfortunately, isn't the case here. So, in the end, Macabre has no doubt released yet another infamous album; unfortunately though, any noteworthy status is attributed toward the perverse theme rather than any sort of musicianship.”
Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells
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