Review by Daniel for Massacre - From Beyond (1991)

Florida death metal outfit Massacre have always maintained somewhat of a legendary status within death metal circles, primarily off the back of the undeniable pedigree that their list of current & former band members holds as well as the stories around front man Kam Lee having been the inventor of the death metal vocal tool we so lovingly refer to as the "death growl". This makes it a little more interesting that I’d honestly never heard of them prior to their 1991 debut album “From Beyond” hitting the streets. I’d quickly rectify that oversight by purchasing a copy of “From Beyond” on cassette shortly after it was released & giving it repeated return visits in the hope of discovering the true magic that many people claimed it to contain. I’m not sure I ever quite stumbled over the full breadth of Massacre’s appeal though & “From Beyond” has kinda been one that I’ve remembered as a pretty fun release that’s lacking a bit in the depth department. This week’s revisit has been about rekindling my fire for the album & seeing if it really has what it takes to compete with Florida’s finest.

The production job & artwork certainly don’t hurt Massacre’s chances of drawing the attention of your average old-school death metal fan as the record looks & sounds like something that’d appeal to the target audience with a shredtastic rhythm guitar sound & an attractive & gnarly (even if it is pink) cover image. A lineup including ex Mantas/Death drummer & current The Grotesquery front man Kam Lee, former Mantas/Death & current Left To Die guitarist Rick Rozz, former Death/Six Feet Under & current Obituary/Left To Die/Inhuman Condition bassist Terry Butler & former Death drummer Bill Andrews certainly doesn’t hurt Massacre’s cause either as they clearly possessed a strong death metal pedigree, even more so when you consider that Obituary/Six Feet Under axeman Allen West was a former member too. But if you look at that lineup with an unbiased & impartial magnifying glass, you can also see the limitations that stop Massacre from achieving a higher position in my Florida death metal hierarchy.

Hhhmmmmm... it's sounding like ol' Daniel's gonna pull out some constructive criticism here, isn't it? But let’s not paint Kam Lee with that brush as his vocals are excellent on “From Beyond”. Lee really proves a point here with a muscular & aggressive performance that I'd suggest is the clear highlight of the Massacre sound. It’s more in the instrumental contributions that we find the limitations I was referring to. You see, Massacre opt for a VERY straight-forward brand of death metal indeed. There’s no doubt that they do it exceptionally well but I do still find myself craving a little more… I dunno… class perhaps? Rick Rozz’ riffs are certainly tightly performed but I do have to say that they’re very basic in their makeup & would sound a lot like generic thrash metal if given a traditional tuning & a different guitar tone a lot of the time. As with former band mate Allen West, Rozz’ guitar solos have always been built around the heavy (over)use of whammy bar histrionics rather than any sort of melodic composition too & you’ll rarely find a better example of that than we do here. And then, the rhythm section of Butler & Andrews have never been known for their musicality either, have they? Both have pretty much built their careers on providing simple yet rock solid beats that accentuate the riffs of the guitarist(s) & that’s what they do here too.

Now, that might sound a little negative but in truth the tracklisting on “From Beyond” is completely blemish-free. It’s the lack of any truly mind-blowing death metal anthems that’s the limiting factor here. Only opener “Dawn of Eternity” & the very solid “Succubus” come closest to meeting a top tier Florida standard but both see their potential capped out by their sheer simplicity. The song-writing is certainly catchy as the structures are quite traditional & the choruses usually just repeat the song-title so I find myself enjoying the ride but rarely feeling like the music is commanding me to go all in. The potential for those sort of feelings is perennially curtailed by just how meat-&-potatoes “From Beyond” is to tell you the truth. I can’t see that being a significant issue for a lot of the death metal fanbase (& it clearly isn’t based on the general feeling on “From Beyond”) but it appears to be for me.

Don’t get me wrong, “From Beyond” is a more than decent representation of the death metal model. It’s just not a great one in my opinion so I don’t place it on the same lofty pedestal as the work of Massacre's main competitors of the time (see Death & Obituary who both did this sound much better). Instead, I feel like we're destined to eternally see "From Beyond" sitting in the middle rows with the Cancer’s & Benediction’s which isn’t necessarily such a bad thing. It’s perhaps just not in line with Massacre’s reputation, that’s all.