![Macabre End – Consumed By Darkness [Demo / Re-Release] macabre end – consumed by darkness [demo / re-release]](https://www.vm-underground.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Macabre-End-Consumed-By-Darkness-Cover.jpg)
Info
- Band(s): Macabre End
- Label(s): Xtreem Music
- Release Format(s): 10" vinyl, Demo, EP, Re-Release
- Release Year: 2021
- Review Date: January 23, 2023
- Author(s): FelixS
The only Macabre End recordings are the three tracks from the 1990 ‘Consumed By Darkness’ demo tape, released a year later by Corpse Grinder Records on a 7″ EP under the same name. This 7″ EP is one of my favourite items in my personal singles collection and with me many others, over the years these recordings have proved to be of great historical and economic value. Not only were/are the singles sold for considerable amounts of money, many of the more recent (Swedish) Death Metal bands cite Macabre End (and its successor God Macabre) as one of their main sources of influence. These three songs would eventually form the stepping stones for what would later become ‘The Winterlong…’, God Macabre’s sole album, which has reached almost mythical proportions among Swedish Death Metal fans.
If we look into what Macabre End/God Macabre was, at the time, then it is not so much about a story of great success, it is rather one that’s about missed opportunities. Already as early as 1991 the band folded for the first time, only to resurface a few months later, but they failed to follow up on the great ‘Consumed By Darkness’ demo/7” EP. By the time their one and only full-length album appeared, the aforementioned ‘The Winterlong…’, in 1993, the band not only quit for a second time (in 1992), but the musical climate had been changed quite a bit. Black Metal already started to take over the extreme territories of the metal genre, so, imply put: the momentum for (Swedish) Death Metal was gone and the album ended up hardly noticed.
Over the years there was a silent following that kept praising the album’s unparalleled and in the end the band (re)gained some of its well-deserved credits. It was Relapse Records who first reintroduced the ‘The Winterlong’-album (now released without the …) in 2002, a rerelease that included the three ‘Consumed By Darkness’ tracks as well. In the years that would follow, the album would be repressed several times on both CD and vinyl by Relapse Records and Blood Harvest. Ultimately, the band even returned for another go in 2013, which would lead to only one new song (that would be added to some of the ‘The Winterlong’ reissues) and several, mostly disappointing live shows.
But, drilling things down to its deathly core, the ‘Consumed By Darkness’ demo songs had so much potential, that is fully justifies the ‘classic masterpiece’ label. They had so much depth and restrained aggression in their ultimately riff-heavy and very extreme guttural vocals, it was indeed one of the highlights of the booming Swedish Death Metal scene. Not only then, but it still very much is. Yet, it is not only without the pummelling drums, deep vocal attacks and those riffs, ahhh those riffs, but they also knew how to embed a certain melodicism to their songs. It was almost delicately added to the mix of blistering Swedish Death Metal, which in tone, was very much akin to Grave’s 1991 epic, ‘Into The Grave’.
With all that in mind, one of the pinnacles of Swedish Death Metal and a failed mission to bring that to the highest stage, I always cherished these three tracks and while I already own a copy of that 7” EP, I felt the need to also purchase this nicely designed 10” EP version. A demo that undeniably belongs in a series called ’10 Inches Of Death Cult’, because this is definitely Death Cult.
Xtreem Music
- Country: Spain
- Style: Black Metal, Death Metal, Thrash Metal, Other
- Links: Homepage, Facebook, Instagram, Bandcamp, Youtube
Related Articles
Reviews
- Abaddon Incarnate - Dark Crusade {2004}
- Abythic - Conjuring the Obscure {2019}
- Ade - Carthago Delenda Est {2016}
- Adramelech - Psychostasia [Re-release] {2014}
- Adramelech - Grip of Darkness [Demo / Re-Release] {2020}
- Aggression [CAN] – Fragmented Spirit Devils {2016}
- Aggression [CAN] – The Full Treatment [Re-release] {2016}
- Altar / Cartilage - Ex Oblivione / The Fragile Concept Of Affection [Split / Re-Release] {2022}
- Amputory - Ode to Gore {2015}
- Anialator - Rise to Supremacy [EP] {2018}
- Aposento - Aposento {2014}
- Aposento – Bleed to Death {2017}
- Aposento - Conjuring the New Apocalypse {2020}
- Ashcloud - Abandon All Light {2015}
- Ashcloud - Children of the Chainsaw {2016}
- Ashcloud – Kingdom of the Damned {2017}
- Asphyx - Crush the Cenotaph [Demo / Re-Release] {2020}
- Atomic Aggressor - Bloody Ceremonial [Demo / Re-Release] {2021}
- Aurora Borealis - Worldshapers {2014}
- Avulsed - Carnivoracity [Re-release] {2014}
- Avulsed - Altar of Disembowelment [EP] {2015}
- Avulsed - Stabwound Orgasm [Re-release] {2015}
- Avulsed - Eminence in Putrsescence [Re-release] {2016}
- Avulsed – Deathgeneration {2016}
- Benefactor Decease - Anatomy of an Angel {2015}
- Bizarre - Inner Necropolis [EP] {2016}
- Blazemth - The Return of Lucifer {2022}
- Bloodhunter – The End of Faith {2017}
- Canker - Physical [Re-Release] {2014}
- Canker – Earthquake {2017}
- Canker - Exquisites Tenderness [Re-Release] {2021}
- Carnifex [FIN] - Pathological Rites {2018}
- Catacomb - When The Stars Are Right {2023}
- Christ Denied - Christopsy {2024}
- Coffinborn - Beneath the Cemetary [EP] {2014}
- Corrosive Carcass - Forsaken Lands {2015}
- Cruentator – Ain’t War Hell {2018}
- Cryptic Brood - Wormhead [EP] {2015}
- Cryptic Brood – Brain Eater {2017}
- Cryptopsy - Ungentle Exhumation [Demo / Re-Release] {2021}
- Daemoniac - Lord of Immolation [EP] {2015}
- Daemoniac - Spawn of the Fallen {2017}
- Daemoniac - Dwellers of Apocalypse {2019}
- Dead Sun - Night Terrors {2021}
- Death Vomit - Gutted by Horrors {2014}
- Deathevokation - Blood [Demo] {2005}
- Deathevokation - Chalice of Ages {2007}
- Deathgoat - Dragged into Realms Below {2025}
- Decrepid - Endless Sea of Graves {2020}
- Deimler - A Thousand Suns {2021}
- Desecresy - The Doom Skeptron {2012}
- Desecresy - Chasmic Transcendence {2014}
- Desecresy - Stoic Death {2015}
- Desecresy - The Mortal Horizon {2017}
- Desecresy - Towards Nebulae {2019}
- Desecresy - Unveil In The Abyss {2022}
- Détente - Recognize No Authority [Re-release] {2014}
- Deteriorot - In Ancient Beliefs [Re-release] {2016}
- Deteriorot - The Rebirth {2023}
- Dråp - Roten Till Allt Ont {2017}
- Eruption - Cloaks of Oblivion {2017}
- Eternal Darkness - Ceremony Of Doom [Demo / Re-Release] {2021}
- Famishgod - Devourers of Light {2014}
- Famishgod – Roots of Darkness {2016}
- Famishgod - Rotting Ceremony {2021}
- Fleshcrawl - Festering Flesh [Demo / Re-Release] {2021}
- Frozen Dawn - Those Of The Cursed Light {2014}
- Fuck Off - Hell on Earth II (Revisted and Faster) {2015}
- Funebre - Children of the Scorn [Re-Release] {2004}
- Funeral Vomit – Monumental Putrescence {2023}
- Funeral Vomit – Funeral Vomit [EP / Re-Release] {2024}
- Goat Worship - Blood and Steel {2016}
- Goat Worship - Shore of the Dead {2018}
- Golgotha [ESP] - Erasing the Past {2019}
- Gravecrusher - Morbid Black Oath [EP] {2014}
- Gravecrusher - Resurrection Of Deathly Visions [EP] {2022}
- Gravesite - Horrifying Nightmares... {2015}
- Gravesite – Neverending Trail of Skulls {2017}
- Grim Fate – Perished in Torment {2020}
- Grisly - The Spectral Wars {2018}
- Grond - Worship the Kraken {2016}
- Holycide - Toxic Mutation [EP] {2015}
- Holycide - Annihilate... Then Ask! {2017}
- Holycide - Fist to Face {2020}
- Holycide - Bazookiller [EP] {2023}
- Human Waste - Harvest Remnants {2015}
- Impetigo - Giallo [Demo / Re-Release] {2021}
- In Thousand Lakes – Age of Decay {2017}
- Incantation - Demo 1990 [Demo / Re-Release] {2020}
- Infest - Cold Blood War {2014}
- Infestus - Origen {2017}
- Itnuveth - The Way of the Berserker {2014}
- Killing Addiction - Omega Factor [Re-Release] {2018}
- Körgull the Exterminator – Sharpen Your Spikes {2020}
- Korpsesoturi – Korpskrist {2020}
- Macabre End - Consumed By Darkness [Demo / Re-Release] {2021}
- Malevolent Creation - Demo 1990 [Demo / Re-Release] {2021}
- Massacre - Aggressive Tyrant [Demo / Re-Release] {2020}
- Master - Demo 1985 [Demo / Re-release] {2020}
- Misanthropic [GER] - Soulreaver {2003}
- Moondark - The Shadowpath [Re-release] {2015}
- Mortal Scepter - Where Light Suffocates {2019}
- Mortician – Demo #1 1990 [Demo / Re-Release] {2020}
- Nailgun Massacre - Boned, Boxed and Buried {2015}
- Nangilima - The Dark Matter {2014}
- Nasty Surgeons - Exhumation Requiem {2017}
- Nasty Surgeons - Infectious Stench {2018}
- Necrophile - Dissociated Modernity [EP / Re-Release] {2021}
- Necrophiliac - Maze of Forking Paths {2016}
- Necrophiliac - No Living Man Is Innocent {2020}
- Necropsy - Buried in the Woods {2015}
- Necropsy - Exitus [EP] {2020}
- Neocaesar - 11:11 {2017}
- No Amnesty – Psychopathy {2017}
- Obscure - Back To Skull {2016}
- Onirophagus - Endarkenment (Illumination Through Putrefaction) {2019}
- Oppression - Scars 1988-1990 {2015}
- Ossuary Anex - Holy Blasphemition [EP] {2018}
- Purtenance - Sacrifice the King [EP] {2012}
- Purtenance - …to Spread the Flame of the Ancients {2015}
- Purtenance - Paradox Of Existence {2017}
- Purtenance - Buried Incarnation {2020}
- Putrefied Corpse - Left to Rot {2019}
- Putrevore - Macabre Kingdom {2012}
- Putrevore - Tentacles of Horror {2015}
- Putrevore - Miasmal Monstrosity {2021}
- Putrid Evocatation - Echoes of Death {2014}
- Pyrexia - Liturgy Of Impurity [Demo / Re-Release] {2020}
- Ravens Creed - Ravens' Krieg {2015}
- Ravens Creed - Get Killed or Try Dying {2018}
- Reincarnation - The Beginning of the End {2015}
- Reincarnation - Void [Re-release] {2015}
- Revenant - Distant Eyes / Exalted Being {2021}
- Revolting - Born To Be Dead {2022}
- Revolting – Night of the Horrid {2024}
- Ribspreader - Suicide Gate - A Bridge to Death {2016}
- Ribspreader - Crypt World {2022}
- Ribspreader – Reap Humanity {2024}
- Rottrevore - Hung By The Eyesockets [EP / Re-Release] {2022}
- Sacrophobia - Dark Requiems {2015}
- Severance - Afterbirth Of Infamy [Demo / Re-Release] {2021}
- Sinister - Perpetual Damnation [Demo / Re-Release] {2020}
- Sönambula - Bicéfalo {2018}
- Sorcery - Arrival at Six {2013}
- Sorcery - Garden of Bones {2016}
- Sorcery - Necessary Excess of Violence {2019}
- Soulskinner - Crypts of Ancient Wisdom {2014}
- Soulskinner – Descent To Abaddon {2017}
- Soulskinner - Seven Bowls of Wrath {2020}
- Stormvold - Third Bestial Mutilation {2014}
- Stormvold - IV-Kataklismo {2016}
- Tenebro - Liberaci dal male [EP] {2020}
- Tenebro - Carne Umana [EP] {2022}
- Tenebro - L'inizio di un Incubo {2022}
- Tenebro - Tracce di violenza carnale [EP] {2023}
- Tenebro – La Bestia Dell’Isola Maledetta [EP] {2023}
- Tenebro – Ultime Grida Dalla Giungla {2023}
- Terrorizer - Demo '87 [Demo / Re-Release] {2020}
- Thanatos - Omnicoitor [Demo / Re-Release] {2020}
- The Grotesquery - The Lupine Anathema {2018}
- Thrashfire - Into the Armageddon {2019}
- Torture Pulse - God Leash {2015}
- Totengott - Doppelgänger {2017}
- Totengott - The Abyss {2019}
- Ululate - Back to Cannibal World {2015}
- Unbounded Terror - Faith in Chaos {2020}
- Verminous - The Unholy Communion {2013}
- Vibrion - Bacterya {2016}
- Vital Remains - Excruciating Pain [Demo / Re-Release] {2021}
- Vorkreist - Sabbathical Flesh Possession {2003}
- Vorkreist - Sublimation XXIXA {2006}
- Warlord UK - We Die As One {2013}
- Weaponry - Everwinding Slaughter {2022}
- Wrong - Pessimistic Outcomes {2014}
- Yskelgroth - Bleeding Of The Hideous {2023}
News
- Deteriorot to release new album via Xtreem Music: "...shows the band's at its best, as dark, heavy and haunting as ever." {June 22, 2023}
- Funeral Vomit signs with Xtreem Music: "formed in 2020 that since then has been consolidating its name in the dirtiest and most rotten Death Metal underground..." {June 24, 2023}
- Paganizer re-signs with Xtreem Music and announces new EP: "...that continue the band’s legacy of relentless Death Metal" {September 2, 2024}
- Revolting signs with Xtreem Music; "a great album of heavy, powerful and catchy Death Metal full of excellent melodies" {November 24, 2022}
- Tenebro releasing a new digital only EP with Impetigo cover {November 24, 2022}
- Xtreem Music announced second Deathgoat album: "...a rampaging assault of Scandinavian Death Metal that severs every tendon and shatters every bone" {March 31, 2025}
- Xtreem Music signs Catacomb and will release new album: "An exceptional work that will undoubtedly meet the expectations of all the fans of the band." {December 27, 2022}