THE GROTESQUERY - Tales of the Coffin Born (CYCLONE EMPIRE - LP 2010)
When in 2009 Kam Lee returned to the scene recording an album with Rogga Johansson under the logo of BONE GNAWER it was like a blessing to me. Leader of MASSACRE, one of my old time favourites is back! And there’s also that Swedish bloke in the line up, who keeps recording albums under dozens of names and whose CDs I keep buying, loving his style and undisputed death metal dedication. To me Rogga fuckin’ rules! These two did one good album and all of a sudden I found out that they also plan to put out CD of another project, called THE GROTESQUERY. First reviews I’ve read already were very weird… People only complained, talked about the uselessness of having two bands, which play similar style of music. But similar doesn’t mean it’s the same! You must be one lazy bastard, if you think that both BONE GNAWER and THE GROTESQUERY are too alike. Obviously you didn’t bother to go deep within the music, its structures and something called concept.
The opening song just shreds. It’s called “Coffin Birth” and brings catchy mid paced riffing in total old school style, similar to such bands as SIX FEET UNDER and BLOODBATH for instance, but with the exception of some industrialized sound effects threw within one of the motives, what underlines its might and energy to great effect. “This Morbid Child” is even slower and it’s maybe not so good as I expected, luckily the next track “That Thing which Lurks In the Shadows” is much better, as it’s very heavy and massive, the riffs weight a tone here – and what’s intriguing, this song really reminds me some good old tunes from ACHERON.
And when I mentioned this American legend of Mr. Crowley I really started to have a feeling that THE GROTESQUERY is similar to it more than just often. Many of the riffs have similar vibe and the vocals… well, they just have the same sound and powerful energy, they're also sang in very specific, almost narrative manner. But of course THE GROTESQUERY throws in many other things than just mid paced or slow riffage – there’s quite a bit of melodies on here, like in “The Terrible Old Man”, actually one of my favourite tracks on the album. A real masterpiece is the final song though, “Fall Of The House Of Grotesque”. Its opening, melodic riff is just epic, definitely one of the best on entire album.
But I can honestly admit though that most of the songs THE GROTESQUERY offer stands on equally high level. There are two or three exceptions, like “Spirits of the Dead” (it just doesn’t feel like so killer and sounds again very much like SIX FEET UNDER), but really most of the stuff is great. My one minor complain would come to the fact that THE GROTESQUERY sticks to one tempo throughout the album too much, so that it may seem monotonous a bit. I guess few faster nails to this coffin would do it well, but really it is a small imperfection on otherwise killer old school death metal masterpiece.
From all the aspects of THE GROTESQUERY debut album I have to underline few more things. First being all those intros thrown between each song, in order to keep the concept of the album and maybe also introduce you more into it. They may sound bit cheesy sometimes and may even annoy, but who cares… Everyone who’s into KING DIAMOND-esque concepts of (gothic) horrors will love it - I do, the story is awesome and do equals some of the best metal concept horror stories. Then, the production of “Tales of the Coffin Born” is just superb – so thick and brutal that it’s able to crush the buildings around you! The bass guitar sounds like a hammer beating your bones and drums are fuckin’ powerful. Kam Lee’s vocals kill – I absolutely love them, they’re really mighty and give an extra feeling to THE GROTESQUERY music. Finally, I think all the performances in here are top class, the front cover of the album also is one of the best I’ve seen recently (maybe together with latest HIDDEN MENACE’s album!) and so fuck those, who only moan on the imagined similarities of THE GROTESQUERY to BONE GNAWER. To me, “Tales of the Coffin Born” is great, devastating death metal album, definitely one worth getting.
Final rate: 80 / 100
The opening song just shreds. It’s called “Coffin Birth” and brings catchy mid paced riffing in total old school style, similar to such bands as SIX FEET UNDER and BLOODBATH for instance, but with the exception of some industrialized sound effects threw within one of the motives, what underlines its might and energy to great effect. “This Morbid Child” is even slower and it’s maybe not so good as I expected, luckily the next track “That Thing which Lurks In the Shadows” is much better, as it’s very heavy and massive, the riffs weight a tone here – and what’s intriguing, this song really reminds me some good old tunes from ACHERON.
And when I mentioned this American legend of Mr. Crowley I really started to have a feeling that THE GROTESQUERY is similar to it more than just often. Many of the riffs have similar vibe and the vocals… well, they just have the same sound and powerful energy, they're also sang in very specific, almost narrative manner. But of course THE GROTESQUERY throws in many other things than just mid paced or slow riffage – there’s quite a bit of melodies on here, like in “The Terrible Old Man”, actually one of my favourite tracks on the album. A real masterpiece is the final song though, “Fall Of The House Of Grotesque”. Its opening, melodic riff is just epic, definitely one of the best on entire album.
But I can honestly admit though that most of the songs THE GROTESQUERY offer stands on equally high level. There are two or three exceptions, like “Spirits of the Dead” (it just doesn’t feel like so killer and sounds again very much like SIX FEET UNDER), but really most of the stuff is great. My one minor complain would come to the fact that THE GROTESQUERY sticks to one tempo throughout the album too much, so that it may seem monotonous a bit. I guess few faster nails to this coffin would do it well, but really it is a small imperfection on otherwise killer old school death metal masterpiece.
From all the aspects of THE GROTESQUERY debut album I have to underline few more things. First being all those intros thrown between each song, in order to keep the concept of the album and maybe also introduce you more into it. They may sound bit cheesy sometimes and may even annoy, but who cares… Everyone who’s into KING DIAMOND-esque concepts of (gothic) horrors will love it - I do, the story is awesome and do equals some of the best metal concept horror stories. Then, the production of “Tales of the Coffin Born” is just superb – so thick and brutal that it’s able to crush the buildings around you! The bass guitar sounds like a hammer beating your bones and drums are fuckin’ powerful. Kam Lee’s vocals kill – I absolutely love them, they’re really mighty and give an extra feeling to THE GROTESQUERY music. Finally, I think all the performances in here are top class, the front cover of the album also is one of the best I’ve seen recently (maybe together with latest HIDDEN MENACE’s album!) and so fuck those, who only moan on the imagined similarities of THE GROTESQUERY to BONE GNAWER. To me, “Tales of the Coffin Born” is great, devastating death metal album, definitely one worth getting.
Final rate: 80 / 100
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