Massacre – Back From Beyond (Century Media)

Massacre came into existence as far back as 1984 and disbanded and reformed a multitude of times before Rick Rozz, Bill Andrews and Terry Butler all joined Death for the ‘Leprosy’ album.

Soon after that line-up dissolved, the three went back to Massacre, with Kam Lee at the helm and released what is regarded as a genre classic, ‘From Beyond’;  there was an EP release after that – before it all imploded. 1996 saw the release of the poorly received ‘Promise’ album:  since then there silence, until 2007 when we saw a reformed Kam Lee fronted version.

This was again short-lived:  a 20th anniversary celebration tour was put together in 2011, and that line-up has more or less survived to release what should have really been the follow up to ‘From Beyond’.

Lazy title aside, Massacre have went some way towards stripping away the tarnish that has plagued the band for so many years.  From the outset this is solid death metal played by veterans and they have not went for anything less than full tilt and not fell into the trap of trying to widen their audience base with genre blending.

The first marked difference in 2014 Massacre is the guitar sound, that low grinding swirl of the debut has been toned down and given a whole lot more crunch, sounds great but I do lament the loss of the original. ‘Remnants of hatred’ is the stand out track:  a slow double bass kick, lashings of massacre riffs for sure, before breaking into mid pace chug feast.

Vocally Ed Webb is not as brutal sounding as Lee;  however. he has stamped his own identity on the band.  It is not an enviable position of replacing Kam Lee, however, it is a fine performance and carries the Massacre legacy well.  Whilst a very good album and will please death metal fans the world over, it has been too long coming and this may affect the overall impact of the album on the world stage.

Overall good songs, too many lyrics, which don’t give the riffs enough room to breathe and tend to overshadow the guitars in the mix. The drumming is solid and not overly technical, keeping it locked down which suits this sort of death metal.  The length of the album is just about right, as once it starts breaching the 40 min mark the impact starts to go.

A welcome return.

Line- Up
Rick Rozz – Guitar
Terry Butler – Bass
Mike Mazzonetto – Drums
Ed Webb – Vocals

Tracklisting

01. As We Wait To Die
02. Ascension of The Deceased
03. Hunter’s Blood
04. Darkness Fell
05. False Revelation
06. Succumb To Rapture
07. Remnants of Hatred
08. Shield of the Son
09. The Evil Within
10. Sands of Time
11. Beast of Vengeance
12. Back From Beyond
13. Honor the Fallen