Macabre - Grim Scary Tales

Macabre is one of the bands that the heavy metal world is truly privileged and should feel honored to have around.  For better than a quarter century, the boys from Killinois have remained unfailingly unique, providing endless entertainment with their historically accurate tales of slaughter and the depraved individuals responsible for the most heinous acts of violence and murder throughout the psychotic and destructive existence of humankind.  Supporting the often sickly humorous and, for death metal, adroitly intellectual subject matter of the lyrics has long been an oft-overlooked musical proficiency of astounding ability.  Macabre effortlessly strings together the genres of death metal and jazzy grindcore with heavy doses of punk and thrash, seasoned somewhat liberally with sing-songing nursery rhyme-type material.  Sounds crazy right?  It is, and it’s magnificent.

Hard to believe, but it’s actually been eight years since Macabre’s last album Murder Metal, and when new album Grim Scary Tales  starts with opening track “Locusta” it’s immediately apparent that they haven’t lost a single thing in that time.  The track is pure Macabre through and through, a strident blast putting all on notice that no one is safe.  The following track “Nero’s Inferno” a rollicking account of the tyrannical, execution-happy Roman emperor who viciously persecuted Christians and famously murdered his own mother and stepbrother introduces a new facet of the Macabre sound in the employment of clean vocals.  Admittedly, I was taken aback at first hearing this, but came to accept and enjoy them in their seeming oddity in a band whose normal vocal stylings are in fact quite non-traditional in their own right.  “The Black Knight” is another all clean vocal song with a melody eerily similar to a variation of the Spider Man theme, detailing the exploits of the infamously unendingly sadistic Gilles de Rais of 15^th century France who allegedly sodomized and murdered up to 200 children.  At some point you realize you’re smiling and bobbing your head to the tale of a deranged psychopath’s disemboweling children before masturbating on their innards and it makes (should make at least!) you pause.  The breakdown section towards the end of the song is just fantastic, showcasing the impressive talents of criminally underrated drummer Denis the Menace.

Elsewhere on the Grim Scary Tales we’re treated to a chilling account, done in a almost ballad style, of the rare phenomenon of a female serial killer Mary Ann Cotton who had a nasty habit of poisoning people with arsenic, and “The Bloody Benders” a country and western shitkicker about a family of maniac Kansas inbreeders you’re lucky you never met.  Of course, the cover of the Venom traditional “Countess Bathory” must be mentioned, and all I’ll really say about it is that it’s the best cover of the song I’ve heard, and I’d most likely rather listen to it than the original.  Overall, the production job on Grim Scary Tales seems much cleaner than past works, giving the band a decidedly more polished sound, and it seems a bit like a good deal of the frantic often spastic elements of the band have been toned down a bit in favor of a slower more laid back approach but the result is still unquestionably Macabre.  The album is worth buying because it’s a Macabre album alone, but beyond that it’s a great listen that goes a long way to explaining exactly why they are such an institution in the underground metal scene.  While it may not replace Dahmer as my go-to Macabre album, it’s a damn fine ride.

Release Date: January 31st, 2011
Label: Decomposed Records

TRACK LISTING

1.  Locusta
2.  Nero’s Inferno
3.  The Black Knight
4.  Dracula
5.  The Big Bad Wolf
6.  Countess Bathory
     (Venom Cover)
7.  Burke and Hare
8.  Mary Ann
9.  The Bloody Benders
10.  Lizzy Borden
11.  The Ripper Tramp from France
12.  Bella the Butcher
13.  The Kiss of Death
14.  The Sweet Tender Meat Vendor

Total playing time:  49:36

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*Comments:

Reviewer: J. A. Burt

February 13, 2011