Monday, August 19, 2013

Death Metal Tuesday - From Beyond (1991)

MASSACRE - FROM BEYOND 1991



I'm posting this Monday night, so please forgive me. Florida's Massacre are a super-group of sorts, comprised of the discarded members of genre front runner, Death. 1991's From Beyond is really their only proper full length release, and it smacks of "me too." This is a by-the-numbers death metal effort with a polished production and painfully predictable song structure.

While some of these tracks are rockin' and competent enough, it feels somewhat soulless. Kam Lee sounds remarkably similar to Napalm Death's Barney Greenway (particularly on Harmony Corruption) on the vocals. I mean, it's downright eerie how much they sound alike. Rick Rozz reprises his guitar tricks used so heavily on Death's Leprosy album, sounding like a child's laser gun toy on most of his leads. Andrews does a competent job behind the kit, but his drumming is rather vanilla and the drum mix is far too clinical sounding for my tastes. In fact, the production is probably the main issue I have with this album - it simply doesn't fit, it's too clean.

Dawn of Eternity is a classic death metal tune, complete with the keyboard intro. It's probably the strongest track on the album, which is unfortunate, because it's the first track. The title track has some good moments, as does the classic sounding Corpse Grinder - complete with shout-along chorus. If they were to go back and dirty up the mix a little bit, I may like this sucker a bit more. As it stands, the snare is too loud, the guitar is paper-thin, and I'm not sure the bass player showed up to the recording.

I know there are genre fans who swear by this album. I've even seen it on top 10 lists. I'm sure there are a litany of reasons why I should like more than I do, but I remain unconvinced and give it a 2 out of 5.

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