For 22 years, south-side murder-metal legends Macabre have been running their Holiday of Horror festival, enabling Chicago metalheads to blow off seasonal stress in a cathartic evening of joyous brutality. This year’s fest features an all-local lineup of live music across two stages at Reggies’. The main-stage lineup in the Rock Club includes Macabre, of course, as well as thrash-grind trio Everything Must Die, the atmospheric and muscular Without Waves, and the melancholy and masterful Novembers Doom. The latter recently celebrated their 30th anniversary with the release of their 11th full-length, Nephilim Grove. The album is as heavy as anything they’ve ever put out, and hangs onto their roots while showcasing the next phase of their gradually increasing sophistication, with wind-blasted soundscapes and songs that at times border on progressive and technical. The Music Joint show features metal-punk hybrid Extraction Point, grimy rock outfit Something Is Waiting, and grindcore institution Hewhocorrupts, whose music is a dirty riot based on taking the piss out of commercial metal. If you still haven’t had enough after all these bands have finished slaying, you can do the tube-snake boogie at the free official afterparty at the Music Joint, which features ZZ Top tribute band Eliminator. v
The 22nd annual Holiday of Horror puts the “slay” in sleigh bells
