UMUR
"Morbid Campfire Songs" is an EP release by US, Illinois based death/grindcore act Macabre. The EP was released through Decomposed Records and was originally only sold on the band´s 2002 tour under the Macabre Minstrels monicker. It was picked up by Season of Mist for a reissue in 2004. The reissue version features a different cover artwork to the original version. "Morbid Campfire Songs" bridges the gap between the band´s third and fourth full-length studio albums "Dahmer (2000)" and "Murder Metal (2003)".
The 5 tracks on the 18:52 minutes long EP are very different in style from the band´s usual gore drenched serial killer themed extreme metal style, as this is basically a stripped down acoustic EP with Macabre´s versions of various famous traditionals like "Tom Dooley" and "The Cat Came Back". Musically the band deliver fairly "straight" versions of the songs, but they occasionally twist the lyrics a bit in the more vile direction, which of course isn´t surprising if you´re familiar with Macabre. Usually acoustic releases can get a bit tedious, but this one puts a smile on my face, and as it´s only an EP length release, it doesn´t overstay it´s welcome.
The sound production is warm and organic, and it´s a sound which suits the music perfectly. Macabre have shown before that they go outside the often narrow boundaries of extreme metal and successfully incorporate everything from children songs, to traditionals, to blues, to soundtrack music, to their otherwise pretty extreme type of metal. This is the first time they´ve went 100% out of their usual style though, but to my ears the experiment works well, and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.