Zane Steckler (born December 22, 2000), known professionally as Sematary, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. He began releasing music and founded the Haunted Mound rap collective in 2019. Sematary has released eight

mixtapes In the modern music industry, a mixtape is a musical project, typically with looser constraints than that of an album or extended play. Unlike the traditional album or extended play, mixtapes are labeled as laid-back projects that allow artists mo ...

and three EPs. His distorted, overblown production style and

deep-fried Deep frying (also referred to as deep fat frying) is a cooking method in which food is submerged in hot fat, traditionally lard but today most commonly oil, as opposed to the shallow frying used in conventional frying done in a frying pan. N ...

aesthetic have garnered him a

cult following A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The latter is often called a cult classic. A film, boo ...

online.

Early life

Zane Steckler was born in

Northern California Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...

on December 22, 2000. He has described his hometown as "

redneck ''Redneck'' is a derogatory term mainly applied to white Americans perceived to be crass and unsophisticated, closely associated with rural whites of the southern United States.Harold Wentworth, and Stuart Berg Flexner, ''Dictionary of American ...

-y". His mother is a painter and his father is a record producer who worked on various film scores, including writing a song for the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

to the 1999 film '' Pokémon: The First Movie'' while working as a

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meanings that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

writer. He has one younger brother. Steckler's upbringing, according to him, was "normal", and he has expressed that he hated school. He first began experimenting with music at the age of 11 through the use of

GarageBand GarageBand is a software application by Apple Inc., Apple for macOS, iPadOS, and iOS devices that allows users to create music or Podcast, podcasts. It is a lighter, amateur-oriented offshoot of Logic Pro. GarageBand was originally released for ...

and

Logic Pro Logic Pro is a proprietary digital audio workstation (DAW) and MIDI sequencer software application for the macOS platform developed by Apple Inc. It was originally created in the early 1990s as Notator Logic, or Logic, by German software devel ...

Career

Steckler began releasing music as Sematary in 2019 after he graduated from high school, releasing his collaborative debut mixtape '' Grave House'' with fellow rapper and childhood friend Ghost Mountain in August of that year. Following Grave House's release, Sematary released his solo debut mixtape, ''Rainbow Bridge'', in November 2019. Also in 2019, Sematary formed the

underground hip hop Underground hip hop (also known as underground rap or simply underground) traditionally refers to hip hop music that is outside the general mainstream canon or counter-cultural in nature, usually with a heavy emphasis on emotion, lyricism, and/or ...

collective and record label Haunted Mound, becoming the group's frontman. He released a follow-up mixtape to Grave House with Ghost Mountain, ''Hundred Acre Wrist'', in 2020. His mixtape ''Rainbow Bridge 3'' was released in April 2021 and was listed as one of the best hip hop albums of that year by ''

SLUG Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less Terrestrial mollusc, terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word ''slug'' is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced ...

''. Sematary released the mixtape ''Butcher House'' in January 2023, with a tour of the same name taking place following its release. ''

Paste Paste is a term for any very thick viscous fluid. It may refer to: Science and technology * Adhesive or paste ** Wallpaper paste ** Wheatpaste, a liquid adhesive made from vegetable starch and water * Paste (rheology), a substance that behaves as ...

'' praised ''Butcher House'' as "easily the hardest-hitting rap record of the year right now", while ''

Revolver A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, ...

''s Eli Enis called it "beautifully belligerent". In September, Sematary released the EP ''King of the Graveyard''. He also appeared as a guest on

Suicideboys Suicideboys (stylized as $UICIDEBOY$) is an American hip hop duo from New Orleans, Louisiana. Formed in 2013 by cousins Scrim (stylized as $crim) and Ruby da Cherry, the duo initially rose to popularity on SoundCloud for their abrasive, self-pr ...

' Grey Day Tour in the fall of 2023. In January 2024, a collaborative single featuring Sematary, Chief Keef and fellow Haunted Mound member Hackle was released. Later that month, Sematary released "Wendigo", a

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

song, as a single to ''Bloody Angel''. He released ''Bloody Angel'' in March, and embarked on his second headlining tour a month later. In January 2025, Sematary released the single "Still Da Same" in collaboration with the rapper

Xaviersobased Xavier Lopez (born October 23, 2003), known professionally as Xaviersobased, is an American born Dominican rapper and record producer from New York City. He is known for his eccentric rapping and production styles. He first gained recognition with ...

. His single "Heart So Pure" was released the following month with the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

"Oxycodone". Sematary executive produced Ghost Mountain's debut mixtape ''October Country'', his first project within Haunted Mound, which released in March 2025. He also featured on the tracks "Highway Hex" and "Damien".

Artistry

Sematary was inspired by

witch house ''Witch House'' is a fantasy novel by American writer Evangeline Walton. It was published in 1945 by Arkham House in an edition of 3,000 copies. It was the first full-length novel to be published by Arkham House and was listed as the initial ...

band Salem and rappers Chief Keef,

Black Kray Timothy O'Neal Mills (born February 23, 1994), better known by his stage names Black Kray and Sickboyrari, is an American rapper, producer, and songwriter known for his influence on the cloud rap, emo rap, and tread genres. He is a founding memb ...

, and

Yung Lean Jonatan Aron Leandoer Håstad (born 18 July 1996), known professionally as Yung Lean, is a Swedish rapper. Widely cited as one of the most influential figures in the early cloud rap era, Yung Lean rose to prominence in 2013 with his song " Gins ...

to start rapping, with Yung Lean motivating him to pursue a career in music after he saw him perform at the Warlord American tour. Sematary's music is

horrorcore Horrorcore (also called shock rap, horror hip hop, horror rap, death hip hop, death rap, or murder rap) is a subgenre of hip hop music based on horror-themed and often darkly transgressive lyrical content and imagery. Its origins derived from ...

with elements of

cloud rap Cloud rap is a subgenre of hip hop music that has several sonic characteristics of trap music with a hazy, dreamlike and relaxed production style. Rapper Lil B and producer Clams Casino were early pioneers of the style. The term "cloud rap" is ...

, trap, and

drill music Drill music, also known as drill rap or simply drill, is a subgenre of hip-hop music that originated in Chicago in the early 2010s. It is sonically similar to the trap music subgenre and lyrically similar to the gangsta rap subgenre. Drill lyr ...

. His vocals are typically layered and distorted with

Auto-Tune Auto-Tune is audio processor software released on September 19, 1997, by the American company Antares Audio Technologies. It uses a proprietary device to measure and Pitch correction, correct pitch in music. It operates on different principles ...

and his instrumentals are often

lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate stylistic ch ...

. For ''

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several awar ...

'', John Norris called Sematary's vocals "snarling" and "slurry" and described his lyrics as

nihilistic Nihilism () encompasses various views that reject certain aspects of existence. There have been different nihilist positions, including the views that life is meaningless, that moral values are baseless, and that knowledge is impossible. Thes ...

. ''Stereogum''s Tom Breihan described his "sing-chant ng as "baritone evilness" altered by "all kinds of disorienting digital-distortion techniques". ''

'' wrote that his music was "loud" and "abrasive" with "a ton of distortion" and lyrics that "vary from creepy to ridiculous". ''

Paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

''s Ivan Guzman called his and Haunted Mound's lyrics "

slasher film A slasher film is a subgenre of horror films involving a killer or a group of killers stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as a generic ...

-esque" and their production style "blaring" and "blown-out". His sound was called "distinctly post-internet" and a " usionof psychedelic SoundCloud-era rap à la

Bladee Benjamin Thage Dag Reichwald (born 9 April 1994), known professionally as Bladee, is a Swedish singer and rapper. In 2013, he formed the Drain Gang music collective alongside childhood friends Ecco2K, Thaiboy Digital, and Whitearmor. Bladee ...

and Yung Lean with menacing horrorcore drums and spooky witch house synths" by Eli Enis of ''Revolver''. , Sematary had recorded a majority of his music in the "Butcher House", an abandoned

slaughterhouse In livestock agriculture and the meat industry, a slaughterhouse, also called an abattoir (), is a facility where livestock animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a mea ...

built in 1905 in which he currently resides and films most of his music videos. Günseli Yalcinkaya of ''

Dazed ''Dazed'' (''Dazed & Confused'' until February 2014) is a quarterly British lifestyle magazine founded in 1991. It covers music, fashion, film, art, and literature. ''Dazed'' is published by Dazed Media, an independent media group known for produ ...

'' compared his music videos to B horror movies. His online aesthetic has been described as

and defined by its horror influences, including his often holding a chainsaw; he has compared it to that of Chief Keef. Sematary helps design Haunted Mound's merchandise—which, , make up most of the collective's revenue—and its mascot, a screaming tree named Harold. He has stated that his marketing of the group is inspired by that of other underground hip hop groups, such as Sad Boys and Goth Money. He has been vocal against the presence of the

alt-right The alt-right (abbreviated from alternative right) is a Far-right politics, far-right, White nationalism, white nationalist movement. A largely Internet activism, online phenomenon, the alt-right originated in the United States during the late ...

in underground hip hop.

Discography

Mixtapes

Extended plays

References

{{Authority control 2000 births Living people Horrorcore artists American trap musicians American drill musicians Underground rappers Rappers from California Record producers from California