Zane Steckler, professionally known as Sematary, is an experimental rapper and producer hailing from Northern California known best for his slurred vocal style and unique production. He self-produces his music under the Haunted Mound label and collective, which now houses various members ranging from rappers to visual artists.

Sematary’s genres range from witchhouse, black metal trap, emo rap, and Chicago drill. He has previously stated that he is inspired by rappers like Chief Keef, Yung Lean (2014-2016 era) and Sickboyrari. He also finds a heavy witch-house inspiration from SALEM and frequently samples black metal artists that he has a personal affinity for.

He began his career collaborating with Ghost Mountain on the Grave House mixtape, which debuted the dark cloud rap vibe of his early persona. He continued to elevate and darken this persona as he went through different black metal samples on the Rainbow Bridge trilogy, until eventually transitioning towards a witchhouse-inspired drill sound by the Screaming Forest mixtape.

Sematary’s themes and aesthetics are dark, violent, and disturbing, with lyrics about taking teeth, burning down houses, and near-constant references to boxcutters. He’s also taken a “violently far-left” stance, with constant mentions of his hatred of cops and the government, seen most obviously in songs like “1312” and “We Don’t Dial 911.”