Death metal, as a genre, hasn’t made too many leaps since its birth into the field. But like the old saying goes, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, and Massacre’s new piece takes that motto to heart with their new album Back From Beyond.
The first full length album from the band since 1996, Massacre has been bringing huge riffs and devastating blows since 1984. The group hails from the early ages of death metal, and it shows with this album acting as a throwback to the golden age of death metal.
Back from Beyond isn’t anything to shake a stick at in terms of something genre-defining, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad release by any means. The album brings a wide mix of sounds from shattering blast beats ("Ascension of the Deceased"), gritty grooves ("False Revelation"), and the ever elusive guitar solos that seem to be so dwindling in music these days ("Shield of the Son", "The Evil Within").
Lyrically though, it’s pretty typical of the genre including death, carnage, death, torture, death, hatred, and oh yeah… death. The songs do tend to run together over the 14 track piece, but it’s that depth of material that helps to bring the super dark, heavy, creepy atmosphere the band tries for on the album to life.
This album is for fans of Cannibal Corpse, Dying Fetus, and Six Feet Under. A warning though, death metal isn’t for everyone. It’s loud, in your face, and often times can be really offensive. I’m guessing though if you’re reading this you like the genre anyway, but hey can’t say I didn’t warn you.
7/10
Here’s the title track off of the new album:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaSc_eQciVc
