Article with extremely macabre subject (5)
I believe the answer is:
theme
'subject' is the definition.
(theme can mean a topic or subject)
'article with extremely macabre' is the wordplay.
'article' becomes 'the' (the definite article in English).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'extremely' suggests removing the centre (only the extremes of the word are used).
'macabre' with its centre removed is 'me'.
'the'+'me'='THEME'
(Other definitions for theme that I've seen before include "Subject matter, motif" , "Musical idea; topic" , "Leitmotiv" , "notedly subject to variation" , "tune used in Enigma Variations?" .)