God Macabre were one of the first Swedish death metal bands along with peers Carnage and Entombed and as such are essential in the creation of Swedish death metal. They were formed in the winter of 1988 as a grindcore band named Botten På Burken. In 1989 they switched to playing death metal and changed their name to Macabre End. They released a demo in September 1990 titled "Consumed by Darkness" which turned into an underground hit. Thereafter they changed their name once again to God Macabre.