UMUR "The Lupine Anathema" is the 4th full-length studio album by multi-national death metal act The Grotesquery. The album was released through Xtreem Music in April 2018. It´s the successor to "Curse of the Skinless Bride" from 2015 and features the same lineup who recorded the predecessor. Rogga Johansson (guitars), Johan Berglund (bass), and Brynjar Helgetun (drums), and Kam Lee (vocals). The latter is known for his involvement in several acts, but probably mostly for being the lead vocalist in the legendary US death metal act Massacre. The other three are quite prolific on the Swedish death metal scene. Especially Rogga Johansson who are involved in multible acts like Down Among the Dead Men, Ribspreader, Paganizer, Putrevore, and Johansson & Speckmann, just to mention a few of his projects.

Just like the case has been on the three preceding album releases by The Grotesquery, "The Lupine Anathema" is a horror-themed concept death metal album, this time featuring a werewolf horror story, which song titles like "Under the Curse of the Full Moon", "Advent of the Werewolves", and "Dark Cry of the Wolf" are also a testimony to. The Grotesquery are a well playing band and Kam Lee is a strong growling vocalist, but that´s not a surprise if you´re familiar with the preceding releases by the band. The music is generally pretty basic old school Swedish oriented death metal and compared to the predecessors very little has actually changed. It´s high quality death metal songwriting, but nothing revolutionizing, although the concept story of course provides something a little more special than usual for the genre.

"The Lupine Anathema" features a powerful, raw, and detailed sound production, which suits the material well, so upon conclusion it´s another strong release by The Grotesquery. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Curse of the Skinless Bride" is the 3rd full-length studio album by multi-national death metal act The Grotesquery. The album was released through Cyclone Empire in April 2015 and it´s the successor to "The Facts and Terrifying Testament of Mason Hamilton: Tsathoggua Tales" from 2012. The Grotesquery features among others prolific Swedish musician Rogga Johansson (known for his involvement in multible acts like Down Among the Dead Men, Ribspreader, Paganizer, Putrevore, and Johansson & Speckmann, just to mention a few of his projects), and former Massacre vocalist Kam Lee, who is the US part of the band. The lineup is completed by Johan Berglund (bass), and Brynjar Helgetun (drums), both of whom have been involved with Rogga Johansson in several other of his projects.

The music style on the first two Grotesquery albums was old school death metal (mostly Swedish oriented), with concept supernatural/horror lyrics, and that style is continued on "Curse of the Skinless Bride", which also features a concept supernatural/horror story, and which is also old school Swedish death metal oriented. The old school Swedish death metal influence is actually to a point where the opening riff on "Resurrection of the Coffin Born" sounds almost 100% like a Dismember riff. Fortunately The Grotesquery has a lot more to offer than just being a Dismember/Entombed clone, and the horror story concept for instance works really well for the band, and provides "Curse of the Skinless Bride" with something unique.

In addition to the "regular" death metal tracks featured on the album, there are also shorter interludes with narration telling more details about the story then the lyrics do. Of course delivered in an eerie gloomy fashion, which suits the dark horror atmosphere of the album. The material is well composed and although the music is generally both raw and brutal, there are moments that feature melodic hooks, and there are clear structures in the tracks and what you could characterize as choruses, which are quite catchy for the style (as examples check out "Her Exquisite Corpse - The Skinless Bride" or "Hasturs Homecoming - All Hell Awaits"). The clean vocals which close "This is the End" are also pretty catchy (I hear an Edge of Sanity influence there, although this is not nearly as melodic as that act) and just one of the little details which occur throughout the album, that ensure variation.

"Curse of the Skinless Bride" is also pretty well produced, but if I have to mention a minor issue, it would be the production that came up. Not that it´s a bad sounding production or lacks a professional touch, I would just have prefered a more organic drum sound, and the guitars and the bass could also have been slightly more powerful sounding.

It´s a tiny little issue though (and a pretty subjective one to boot), and overall "Curse of the Skinless Bride" is a high quality death metal release with an interesting concept, delivered by skilled musicians, who know how to write effectful death metal tunes and deliver them in a convincing manner (Kam Lee deserves a mention here for his passionate and brutal vocal performance). A 4 star (80%) rating is fully deserved.

UMUR "Tales of the Coffin Born" is the debut full-length studio album by Swedish/US death metal act The Grotesquery. The album was released through Cyclone Empire Records in January 2010. The Grotesquery is an old school death metal project founded by guitarist Roger "Rogga" Johansson (Demiurg, Paganizer, Ribspreader...among others) and former Massacre vocalist Kam Lee. They are joined here by bassist Johan Berglund (Demiurg, The Skeletal, This Haven, Ribspreader) and drummer Brynjar Helgetun (Those Who Bring the Torture, The Skeletal, Putrevore, Ribspreader).

"Tales of the Coffin Born" is a concept album featuring a horror story that at times reminds me of one of King Diamond´s horror story concept albums ("Abigail (1987)" in particular). The 10 tracks on the 46:04 minutes long album all feature eerie spoken introductions to the tracks, that makes it easier to follow the story. The music is old school death metal and acts like early Benediction, Bloodbath, early Edge of Sanity and the morbidity of early nineties Carcass are valid references. The musicianship is strong throughout and the sound production is professional and detailed, but it´s the growling vocals by Kam Lee and the memorable nature of the tracks that take the prize as the greatest assets of the album. The lyrical concept is also a success to my ears and brings the right amount of morbid and grim atmosphere to the music.

"Tales of the Coffin Born" is simply through and through a great death metal album and besides the maybe "too triggered" bass drums, there is little here I feel a need to complain about. "Tales of the Coffin Born" features just the right amount of brutality, memorable songwriting, powerful sound production and excellent musicianship to earn itself a 4 - 4.5 star (85%) rating from me.

UMUR "The Facts and Terrifying Testament of Mason Hamilton: Tsathoggua Tales" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Swedish/US death metal act The Grotesquery. The album was released through Cyclone Empire Records in April 2012. The Grotesquery is an old school death metal project founded by guitarist Roger "Rogga" Johansson (Demiurg, Paganizer, Ribspreader...among others) and former Massacre vocalist Kam Lee. They are joined here by bassist Johan Berglund (Demiurg, The Skeletal, This Haven, Ribspreader) and drummer Brynjar Helgetun (Those Who Bring the Torture, The Skeletal, Putrevore, Ribspreader). The band released the "Tales of the Coffin Born" debut full-length studio album in January 2010.

If you are familiar with the careers of the two founders, it´ll be no surprise that the music on "The Facts and Terrifying Testament of Mason Hamilton: Tsathoggua Tales" is old school death metal which more or less sounds like it was recorded and released in the late eighties/early nineties. It´s brutal alright, but always with an energetic headbanger friendly mid-paced groove to accompany the brutality (the tempo varies though and there are faster paced parts on the album too). It´s a treat to hear a growling vocalist like Kam Lee, who sounds so convincing and articulated (intelligible). He both growls and sings in a higher pitched aggressive sneer. The latter type vocals provide the vocal department with good variation. The riffs are downtuned and raw and the rythm section are tight and well playing. The H.P. Lovecraft influenced conceptual lyrics add another dark dimension to an already eerie and dungeon dark death metal release (check out songtitles like "Tsatthogua - The Black God of N'Kai" and "Amongst Black Slime and Mushroom People"). While the music is certainly both brutal and raw, there are lead guitar sections which provides the music with a gloomy atmosphere. Sometimes there´s even an epic edge to music. Best heard in the closing track "Dreams of Terrors in Darkness & Horrors out of Shadows". I hear references to acts like early Edge of Sanity and Bloodbath on the album, but The Grotesquery have crafted a memorable and distinct sounding death metal release on their own.

The sound production is suitingly raw too, but without sacrificing clarity. If I have to mention a minor complaint it would be that the drums sound a bit too "artificial" (the triggered bass drums are especially out of place) when a more organic drum sound would probably have suited the music better. This was also a minor issue on the debut, but then again it might just be an aquired taste. It´s definitely a conscious choice by the band, so I assume that this is how they like the drums to sound.

"The Facts and Terrifying Testament of Mason Hamilton: Tsathoggua Tales" is a school example in how you create a successful old school death metal release. There are literally thousands of albums out there in this style, and it´s hard to write old school death metal that sticks out from the crowd, without sacrificing integrity, which is something fans of the genre are very particular about. On one hand the fans are quickly bored with "just another" retro sounding old school death metal release, but if you incorporate too many "outside" ideas, you are often labelled a sell-out. Therefore memorable songwriting, tight musicianship and a professional raw sound production are vital to the success of an old school death metal release these days. Otherwise the fans will just dig out their albums from the late eighties/early nineties and leave your album to collect dust. "The Facts and Terrifying Testament of Mason Hamilton: Tsathoggua Tales" meets all of the above mentioned criterias and a 4 - 4.5 star (85%) rating is fully deserved. I find the album highly recommendable to fans of the genre.