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MASSACRE
Back From Beyond

Century Media (2014)
Rating: 8/10

I can hear the detractors already dismissing this one before it’s even out. So, death metal vocal legend Kam Lee is absent from this record and that comes as a great disappointment when one considers just how great he made the band’s 1991 debut From Beyond, but hey, we can’t dwell on what’s been and gone. It’s just good to have Massacre back because after the let-down that was Morbid Angel’s Illud Divinum Insanus (2011), we really began to crave another waft of old school death metal.

Whether the effectively titled Back From Beyond was going to be that thirst quencher was anyone’s guess, but with so many people hung up on the exclusion of Lee it seemed that these Floridian stalwarts were doomed to fail. However, with Rick Rozz (guitar) and Terry Butler (bass) in the fold there was always going to be a high chance that Massacre’s return would be one of note, and with Mike Mazzonetto on the drum stool I was eager for a listen.

The main issue everyone had of course was whether vocalist Edwin Webb (who has been with the band since 2011) could cut the mustard filling in for such a behemoth of a vocalist, but one has to consider that Massacre’s last line-up to feature Lee was that which lasted for only one year from 2006 to 2007, and before that we have to go back to 1996 for Kam’s last album appearance with the awful Promise. In reality, Massacre with someone else at the helm is not that big of a shock, especially when one considers just how many musicians have come and gone over the years.

But let us concentrate on the music. Following the into track, ‘The Ancient Ones’, this opus kicks off with the catchy riffage to herald the entrance of ‘As We Wait To Die’, a pulverising yet accessible monolith featuring a fierce drum kick and Rozz’s formidable chunky chords. Immediately Webb makes himself known with a deathly squeal, and then a mid-tempo act of guttural efficiency. It’s a stable start to this 14-track affair, occasionally hinting at Deicide with its diabolical ranting.

This is none more so apparent than with the pacier ‘Ascension Of The Deceased’, a maniacal head-cruncher featuring a killer solo and Butler’s pummelling bass. In my opinion Webb is more than capable of filling the void left by Lee, and gives us a lesson in old school death metal vocal butchery remaining decipherable, despite the bellowing quality.

A majority of the tracks on this 45-minute platter run for around three minutes. Musically, the band are quite comfortable shifting between mid-tempo range (‘Hunter’s Blood’) and sporadic faster segments (‘Sands Of Time’), although for the most part the well-structured songs continue in the same vein with the riffs remaining heavy yet chugging steadily. The pivotal track for me is the brooding intensity of ‘Succumb To Rapture’ with its crushing opening groove and steady ascension of pace where Rick Rozz’s guitar menace sounds as if it’s quite literally been plucked from 1991.

Other notable tracks are ‘The Evil Within’, with its effective vocal and mix of pace and lumbering menace, plus the bruising ‘Beast With Vengeance’ and the hammering title track where Mazzonetto seems to gallop off the Richter scale to the accompaniment of Butler’s migraine-inducing battering bass.

Diehard fans of Massacre need not worry about this returning beast. I personally never expected Back From Beyond to match the debut classic – after all, that record is over 20 years old now – but to compare newer works of such a band is unhealthy. Let’s just enjoy Massacre in this form, and long may old school death metal continue to reign in whatever shape it needs to take.

Neil Arnold

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