The inside of the WC Social Club in West Chicago, Illinois was packed on a Saturday night for the finale of Mac Sabbath’s 10th anniversary tour, celebrating a decade of drive-through metal and fast food shenanigans.
Self-proclaimed “genre-fluid” opener Flummox got the crowd on their toes with a collection of diverse tracks, ranging from fast punk tracks to melodic metal. The most jarring example of the randomness of the set came in the form of a cover of “Jedi Rocks,” from Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi, complete with surprisingly accurate vocals. This was followed by the intense “Trans Girls Need Guns,” which got heavier and heavier as the track progressed.
The group didn’t slow their intensity for the entire set, other than an instrumental interlude during the track “Black Philip,” another film homage, this time referencing The Witch. Vocalist Alyson Blake Dellinger came to the stage wearing a goat mask, similar to the Black Philip character, and ripped apart a baby doll, showering the cheering audience with the pieces.
Old school punk rockers The Angry Samoans followed up the wild opening act, opting for pure fast-paced punk energy over any stage theatrics. With almost 50 years of songs to choose from, the group had a massive setlist, however in true punk fashion most of the songs were under 2 minutes long.
The Saturday night crowd was seemingly not in the rowdy mood, but still cheered and shouted along when they could. Tracks “You’re a Stupid Asshole” and “Lights Out” got the most reaction, until the final song of the evening “My Old Man’s a Fatso” got a small circle pit going.
The small stage of the WC Social Club could barely contain the antics of the Mac Sabbath crew, in all of its glory. Accompanying vocalist Ronald Osbourne and drummer Catburglar, were the giant costumed entities Grimalice and Slayer MacCheeze, on bass and guitar, respectively. The self-dubbed “drive through” metal group resembled many characters of a certain fast food franchise, while performing comedic, fast food themed covers of classic Black Sabbath tracks.
With a mix of theatrics, humor, and of course, heavy metal, the group enraptured the crowd immediately with a ridiculous mash-up of themes and consistently silly moments. Oversized props, a front and center grill for burgers and chicken, and appearances by the "Employee of the Month" and Alyson Blake Dellinger on vocals made sure there was no lack of variety. Dellinger’s portrayal of “Mickey Dio” for “The Slob Drools” was definitely a highlight of the set.
Despite proclaiming their feud with Iron Maiden, they performed “The Grouper” as a parody of “The Trooper,” complete with a mid-song swordfight, and Catburglar took over vocals for “Bread,” a Kiss cover. The entire set was like GWAR meets “Weird Al” Yankovic, in the best way possible, while still being a creative and original idea (as much as a parody act can be).
Sometimes, one just needs a super sized helping of comedy and metal, and Mac Sabbath satisfies that hunger and then some.
