Review Summary: One of the greatest Death Metal albums ever made, far overlooked, far underrated, Macabre's Dahmer is a summary of everything that makes Metal good, but will likely continue to be misunderstood by many who hear it.
Macabre's Dahmer is so good that a review doesn't do it justice. But it'd be unjust to not try to call attention to it. And since there aren't many reviews to begin with, I thought I'd try my hand at it.
Dahmer is, like most Macabre albums, very bizarre, but also very good. It contains elements of Death Metal, Grindcore, Folk Music, Nursery Rhyme, Pop Culture, and Thrash Metal. Such a weird mix turns off many potential fans, and the aesthetics of the album, such as the vocals and lyrics, will cause many people to completely ignore them.
But let's finally talk about the material within. Dahmer is a concept album about the life of Jeffrey Dahmer, starting from his childhood until after his death, and contains the most important events of his life, most of the time within single songs. They detail his dabbling in animal cruelty, rape, murder, cannibalism, medical experiments, eventual capture and arrest, conversion to Christianity, death, and the preservation of his brain for study.
Next up, we deal with the music in a wide scale sense. The music is mostly Thrash influenced Death Metal, with occasional punk, blues, NWOBHM, Grindcore, and Folk influences. Songs like "Coming To Chicago", "In the Army Now", and "Grandmother's House" are very well written parodies of well known songs, in ways that relate directly to the subject matter of those songs. The songs range from relentlessly fast to slow, nearly on the level of Doom Metal. And most importantly, the music flows exactly along with the lyrics, so it all feels like one coherent story - listening to the album once and you get a very strong feel of what Jeffrey Dahmer's life was like.
Now we'll go through each aspect of the instruments and vocals themselves. First up is the vocals. Corporate Death's vocals on this album are not the kind that anybody can immediately like, but his range presented on this album is second to none. Songs like "Exposure" showcase his traditional high pitched shriek voice, while songs like "Hitchhiker" take it to new lows similar to that of Demilich. He'll occasionally do clean vocals, although most of the time with a snarly tone. These vocals are best shown on songs like "Temple of Bones" or "Grandmother's House". His clean vocals aren't that of Freddy Mercury, but they aren't supposed to be. His vocals overall are supposed to be chaotic and bring a morbid sense of humor to it. The high pitched shrieks will especially deter many people, but they suit the music and subject matter beautifully. The vocals are flawlessly done, but just a little too weird for mass appeal.
Next up, the guitars. The guitar work on this album is top notch, as Corporate Death once again delivers. His playing is slightly sloppy, but that's part of Macabre's nature, so if you don't like sloppy, then there's really nothing to say. The riffs on this album are some of the best I've ever heard, and there's different riffs for everybody. For those who like really fast, Thrash style songs, "Dog Guts" and "Konerak" will deliver. "Hitchhiker" has very percussive riffing with some Thrash influence later into the song. Punk influence is shown on songs like "Blood Bank" and "McDahmer's", which both contain repeating power chord riffs and chanting vocals over them. "Jeffrey Dahmer Blues" is entirely blues sounding in it's riffs. So the range of riffs is very high, and if you don't like some of the riffs, others are sure to make up for it. The leads on this album aren't very many, but where they are, they work. At some times non-melodic, and at some times shredding, most of the time, the leads make more of a chaotic nature than anything else, although leads such as in "Jeffrey Dahmer Blues" and "Apartment 213" will show what they're capable of (side note, the solos in "Jeffrey Dahmer Blues" are all done by their producer, Neil Kernon, who also produced Nile's Annihilation of the Wicked and multiple Hall and Oates albums).
Next is the bass. The bass work on this album isn't particularly outstanding, but Nefarious does his job well. The bass stands out on the slower songs where Nefarious is able to stray from Corporate Death's guitar parts. You'll notice interesting bass rhythms on "McDahmer's", "Dog Guts", "Apartment 213", "Scrub a Dub Dub", and "Baptized", but for the most part Nefarious plays back up to Corporate Death, which is alright because the album doesn't require any more from him. But he still delivers his bass performance with excellence.
Finally, I'll mention the drums, which might be my favorite thing about the whole album. Dennis The Menace is just that, a menace, and his drum work here is the best he's ever done. If "Hitchhiker" doesn't convince you of how great of a drummer he is, I'd be surprised. But his drum work on here is fantastic. He has a habit of writing the perfect drum part to every song. Sometimes that means playing slow, minimal drumming like in "Scrub a Dub Dub", sometimes that means double bass mania like "Coming to Chicago" and "Dog Guts", sometimes that means going absolutely insane on songs like "Hitchhiker". What makes him such a great drummer is that he knows exactly what to do to keep the repeating riffs from growing stale. He'll suddenly switch a traditional thrash beat into a double bass beat, or into a mid tempo beat. He'll switch from the hi hat to the ride in just the right way. He knows when to be slow or when to be fast. He knows exactly what fill to play to make you ready for the next beat. Every single thing on this album that he does makes you want to hear the next thing. Even the less active drum songs like "Jeffrey Dahmer and the Chocolate Factory" still have the perfect amount of style to turn what was originally a short spoof of a happy musical song into full blown metal masterpiece. It's one of those cases where you can hear any random song off the album (minus "Media Circus", which doesn't have drums), and it immediately sucks you in.
This is one of those albums that will be endlessly appreciated by the few that heard it, but if you don't like it, nobody will really be able to persuade you otherwise. I hope I was able to persuade you to at least decide for yourself if you think this is right for you. Each aspect of the album is perfect in my eyes, and maybe some songs won't be the instant masterpiece that you wanted, but if you give the whole album a listen, by the end you'll likely have found a few songs that tickle your fancy. Everybody I know took immediate liking to "Hitchhiker", so I suggest that song as a starting point. Macabre's got it all, except the recognition. Help spread good music, and support them by GETTING THIS ALBUM!
