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.