UMUR "Grim Scary Tales" is the 5th full-length studio album by US extreme metal act Macabre. The album was released through Decomposed Records in January 2011. It´s been 8 long years since the release of "Murder Metal (2003)", but Macabre are not exactly known for being the most productive band on earth in terms of churning out major releases. The band have released a couple of minor releases between 2003 and 2011 though.

Stylistically the material on "Grim Scary Tales" is instantly recognisable as the sound of Macabre. Macabre are probably one of the most unique sounding metal acts on the scene despite what can only be characterized as a very eclectic extreme metal style. On this release they combine elements from death metal, goregrind, black metal, thrash metal, country/bluegrass, swing, children songs and other oddities for your entertainment. The lyrical content is as usual about serial killers/mass murderes delivered with a humourous/bizarre touch. This time around several older legendary killers like "Countess Bathory" (a nice cover of the Venom classic), "Bella the Butcher" (Belle Sorenson Gunness), "Lizzy Borden", and Roman Emperor Nero on "Nero's Inferno", have been included. Most of the murderes described in the lyrics on "Grim Scary Tales" are actually pre-1900 killers, which is a slightly different lyrical approach, as Macabre in the past have predominantly written about post-1900 killers.

Despite the aggression and brutality of the album, the overall atmosphere of the release can sometimes turn towards the somewhat silly (which isn´t unusual for Macabre), but there´s nothing silly about the excellent musicianship, or the band´s compositional skills. The Macabre trio are very well playing and they know how to write a catchy and powerful extreme metal track, and how to effectively incorporate elements from alien music styles to their core sound. Regarding the high level musicianship, it´s especially the drumming by Denis The Menace which stands out. Both the sound of the drums (this is an example of when triggered bass drums work perfectly) and the playing by Denis The Menace are greatly enjoyable throughout the album. The vocals by lead vocalist/guitarist Corporate Death (backed up by bassist Nefarious) are also one of the defining features of Macabre´s music and on this album he sings more varied than ever. You´ll hear his trademark high pitched hysterical vocals on the album but also several types of clean and raw vocals, and some death metal growling too.

As always it´s a bit hard to pick favorites, because Macabre´s releases are usually of a very consistent quality, and the same applies to "Grim Scary Tales", but if I have to pick a few standout tracks it would probably be opening track "Locusta", "Nero's Inferno", and most definitely the country/bluegrass track "The Bloody Benders". "Grim Scary Tales" is well produced, featuring a slightly more raw and organic production than its two direct predecessors, but it´s still a professional, clear, and detailed sounding production.

Upon conclusion "Grim Scary Tales" is not an album which adds much new to the Macabre discography, although the band do conduct a few new sonic experiements, and it´s probably not an album you´d pick over classic albums like "Sinister Slaughter (1993)" and "Dahmer (2000)", but with that said Macabre´s music is still relevant on this release and in its own right "Grim Scary Tales" is a solid and quite enjoyable album and a 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is warranted.