Massacre - Back from Beyond
I experienced an erection lasting longer than four hours when I discovered that Massacre was coming out with a new full-length for the first time in 18 years (and with a spoiler-alert title like Back from Beyond, potentially their first good full-length in 23 years). However, I did feel an unsafe drop in blood pressure upon learning that Kam Lee would not be involved with said new album. With no disrespect to founding members/Death Metal OGs Rick Rozz (guitar) and Terry Butler (bass), or even new vocalist Edwin Webb (former throat for the eternally so-so Diabolic), Kam Lee was Massacre to this pimply-faced teen in the early ’90s. Still —despite decades of life painfully teaching me to do the exact opposite— I hoped for the best. As usual… no such luck. After days upon days of listening to Back from Beyond exclusively, I just might have to start taking nitrates for chest pain. Aside from extreme disappointment, I feel absolutely nothing from this album whatsoever. Before you assume the obvious, I should point out that it is not entirely Webb’s fault. As far as the unthinkably daunting task of replacing Kam Lee behind the mic for fucking Massacre is concerned, he does a commendable job. He’s basically a poor man’s George Fisher, and while I’m sure there’s a Corspegrinder/”Corpsegrinder” joke in here somewhere, I’m just not in the mood. The reason this comeback attempt falls flat on its ass is the overwhelmingly dull musical backdrop Webb is growling over. Taking the bite right out of his bark, these songs just plod along in the same lifeless, unremarkable fashion as the last couple Grave records, meaning to hear one track is to have heard them all. Absolutely impossible to sit through without tuning out, the listener may very well acquire acute attention deficit disorder by mid-LP. If you’re a pure masochist, or just don’t want to take my word for it, you might as well shell out for the Limited Edition. You’ll get the two bonus Death covers —”Corpsegrinder” and “Mutilation”— which, while not the greatest Death covers ever recorded, are at least actual Death Metal songs. Trust me when I say that they’re the only memorable cuts on display here, making material originally written by Death being the standout the only thing this letdown has in common with 1991’s From Beyond.
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