MASSACRE - From Beyond

In 1991, when sane people were concerned with stuff like the fall of the Iron Curtain or the Berlin Wall, or Queen, or the first Gulf War, the boys from Massacre cooked up a record like you rarely see anymore. In other words, an uncompromising American death metal album with no mercy for your soft side; a bat to the head for anyone not familiar with rough metal. 

The album hammers your inner ear very evenly, there are no peaks or crap songs, all come on the conveyor belt as if from ole’ Ford’s factory, without being linear or boring though. Dawn of Eternity starts with a howling blizzard and grave guitars to increase the suspense. Then, Mr. Bill Andrews starts to beat on the drums faster than the master chef chops the onions; halfway through, the song goes to medium tempo to give you time to catch your breath, and in the end back to devastation. And this is pretty much the template on which all songs are built, and the four frolic along the guitars’ neck and scream their mouths off.

About halfway into the record, surprise! A keyboard, I’ll be damned! But it’s only a small intro for the Chamber of Ages, and then the Amerikanski Caterpillar starts revving again and sonic obliteration return to levels that we could find in other metallic craftsmanship of the time from masters such as Nocturnus, Cancer, Morbid Angel, even a bit by Sodom (on Agent Orange). Not even the new-school teacher Slayer aren’t innocent of some influences on the album. And we could say Celtic Frost, too. 

Defeat Remains is a more “melodic” piece, with a more jumpy riff, like a Romanian folk song. A breath of air after all that speed. Bye the end, though it’s …. Back in the saddle.

On the next one, Succubus (or “Suckubus” maybe?), Kam Lee (whose name sounds more Asian than Bruce Lee) screams like a black metal vocal, but his acrobatics fit the song perfectly (and in fact on the whole album, not only on this song). A bit strange, really: American death with a voice leaning towards Norwegian black? Yes, those years musicians could do crafty stuff like that. Let’s endure one more song, with our ears in shambles, and the quartet of strings, picks, distortions, microphones and pedals gives us their final offering: a cover version after Death, Corpsegrinder, may Chuck rest in peace. A band to which the four guys were not exactly strangers. 

The cover looks inspired by a fifties’ horror flick (a Western one, not communist documentaries), „Creature from the Black Lagoon”, perhaps even some ideas in the lyrics. I wouldn’t bet my life on it though. I should also mention that the album was re-released including one of their EPs, Inhuman Condition and a Venom cover. Personally I prefer the albums in their original form. 

Cristake Nota: 9.5