UMUR "Human Monsters" is an EP release by US, Illinois based death/grindcore act Macabre. The EP was released through Obscene Productions in June 2010. All four tracks on the 15:52 minutes long EP would also be featured on Macabre´s fifth full-length studio album "Grim Scary Tales (2011)", so "Human Monsters" could be labelled a "teaser" release. At that point in time, the band´s last release was "Murder Metal" from 2003 (if the DVD release "True Tales of Slaughter and Slaying (2006)" aren´t counted), so the fans were probably hungry for new audio material. "Human Monsters" is a vinyl only release limited to 1000 copies. So in addition to being a teaser release, it´s also a collector´s item...

...and that is the mindset you have to have when reviewing "Human Monsters", because otherwise it is quite a redundant release if you already have "Grim Scary Tales (2011)". The quality of the material on the EP is relatively high although Macabre have overall created better releases in the past. "Dracula" is not the most interesting Macabre track, "The Big Bad Wolf" is slightly better and includes a children´s melody (a Macabre trademark), "Countess Bathory" is a slightly tame Venom cover, and "The Bloody Benders" is a fairly standard quality Macabre track. So there´s nothing out of the ordinary here although the quality is overall relatively high.

The material is well produced and if you´re familiar with Macabre it won´t come as a surprise that the musicianship is top notch too. Especially drummer Dennis the Menace (Dennis Ritchie) is an incredibly skilled musician. The vocals are as always a combination of clean vocals, growling, and aggressive snarling and as always a highlight of the band´s music. So upon conclusion the quality of the release is high enough although without making my blood boil wildly. So even though there´s nothing feautured on this release you probably haven´t already listened to on "Grim Scary Tales (2011)", and it is therefore per definition a hardcore fan item, I´ll chose to rate it on its own merits and therefore a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.