Hands up, all you people that never banged your head or raised a mug of beer to The Crown. You can all leave the room now. One Man Army and the Undead Quartet is essentially the band of Johan Lindstrand who made his name as vocalist of The Crown. The Crown released a couple of kickass death-thrash albums in the late 90s and One Man Army itself has been around now for a while with Grim Tales being the bands third album.

Right at the start I have to say that Grim Tales is an unapologetic exercise in melodic extreme metal. Sure, there’s plenty of thrash and some Gothenburg type death metal but it’s all backed up by melodic guitar parts and catchy vocal lines. However, while operating within the standard clichés of the genre, the band do manage to write energetic songs that kept me interested through the course of the album. Most songs follow The Crown, later Carcass and In Flames in basic song structure with Lindstrand’s vocals being a bit toned down from when he was in The Crown.

It should be pretty obvious that this band doesn’t really offer anything new in terms of a listening experience. This is music that has already been done in a much better fashion but One Man Army and the Undead Quartet do the basics of this genre well and write songs that are catchy and solid and never outstay their welcome. Misfit with a Machine Gun, Saint Lucifer, A Date with Suicide and Death Makes It All Go Away have solid metal grooves and are fun songs. The band is also at its most melodic and mainstream friendly on Grim Tales. The songs are all generally more melodic thrash than death metal and the grooves and riffs seem geared towards people who think Slaughter of the Soul is the greatest album ever made.

Still, having said all that Grim Tales is one of those albums that’s great for when you’re driving around or when friends come over for a few beers. You might only give it the occasional spin but if you like this sort of thing then the album is quite enjoyable.



Label - Massacre Records
Year of Release - 2008