This is classic US death metal, a new release consisting of Kam Lee, vocalist and basic innovator of death metal vocals, in fact the same stable line up since 2021’s ‘Resurgeance’ release. Those who following the Swedish death metal scene will note once again Rogga Johnasson is present who is a true leading force of death metal over the last decade and “from beyond” (SIC!) maybe? Having collaborated with Kam Lee on a number of occasions outside of Massacre, you get the feeling that this will be a special release.
With this album, the band want to get back to basics, unmodernised death metal is key and they have successfully achieved that. The sound is classic 80’s, whilst the mastering obviously boosts the sound for the modern day expectation.
‘Fear of the Unknown’ takes a thick slab of death metal mud, digs its foundations with hammering bass and drums whilst spouting vocally some deathly growls and screams. Its heads down, shovels up, digging the scourge of humanity up for less than 3 minutes. The evil eerie sounds of the instrumental, such as ‘Xenophobia (Prologue)’ give the listener a chance to take a breath. Then we kick off into ‘Ritual of the Abyss’ which is slow riff heavy, maintaining sustain, atmosphere and a collage of material that you would come to expect. The pace increases and this track will give a live audience a chance to participate with some fist raising chanting before descending into “pit” carnage.
‘Ensnarers Within’ for me encapsulates everything about classic death metal, speed, dive bombs, aggressive growls and blistering break neck speed and precision in the guitars. Whilst the song encounters time signature pauses to gain notoriety and augment the barrage of deathly happenings. I state classic as it has melody, a strong sense of purpose. It is not just battering; there is a cool arrangement in place. ‘The Color Out of Space’ will suit Obituary fans, well its classic death metal isn’t it, but for the pace and energy, it’s on par with recent efforts, which can also be said for ‘In the Lair of Legacy Leeches’ of which, is a touch more chaotic and little challenging in places.
Going into the final phase of this release, ‘Dead-Life: ReAnimator’ has the horror element added, but it much more modern in presentation. The time changes happen as expected, the drums kind of take over the track in the mix with the guitars placed behind to my ears. ‘Shriek of the Castle Freak’ has a slight punk feel to it, whilst the death screams come out in force to rattle the living and the dead to the core. ‘Horrors of Hidden Truth’ summarises everything I may have mentioned earlier, its proper death metal, so deal with it, enjoy it, hammer it out as loud as you dare. ‘Shroud of Shadows’ bring home the cookies, the beers and the full deliver of everything bad for you, in a positive way I might add. It is sinister, heavy, varied and a complete death metal track.
Massacre releases of late have been consistently of a high standard. This full length continues on this rotten path. The release manages to embalm classic sounds into a modern studio recording. You do get the ambience and you can feel some analogue sense in the music. Overall, this is a very strong release. Granted, ‘Necrolution’ does not have any major surprises, but with Massacre, you can guarantee authenticity and a strong set of songs. They do what they do best and this line up is very consistent.
(8.5/10 Paul Maddison)
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