Review by Jeger on October 29, 2024.

If you know Tampa death metal then you know Kam Lee. From his earliest Mantas (later known as Death) days up until now, Kam has proven to be a champion of USDM who has played with the very best of the Tampa, Florida, USA death metal scene: Chuck Schuldiner, Rick Rozz, Allen West and Terry Butler to name just a few. However, Kam is best known for his band, the under-sung heroes of American death metal, the abominable Massacre. 

Massacre formed in 1984 as a heavy metal band until Kam came along shortly after to reimagine the band’s creative vision, making them one of the original death metal bands alongside Death and Possessed. Having undergone more than its fair share of lineup changes and hiatuses, Massacre has been one of the most resilient acts to ever call Tampa home - always down to Kam to keep the blades whetted and the blood flowing. True Floridian death metal as inspired by none other than themselves and their own macabre vision of genre adaptation. A slew of obscure recordings: EP’s, demos, and singles along with four, soon to be five LP’s make up Massacre’s discography. LP number five, the long-awaited Necrolution is scheduled for a November 8, 2024, release via Agonia Records. 

As bands like Deicide, Obituary, and Monstrosity succumb to modernity: AI cover art, sanitized product, and uber-refined playing, Massacre hold firm to the ways of old. Necrolution will transport you back to the golden age of the ’80s DM legend. 16 brutal album cuts consisting of 14 terror-inducing singles and two interludes; a mythic feast of horror and Lovecraft worship. Not your typical dumb and cartoonish death metal, but intelligently crafted and brilliantly executed DM that musically skirts the boundary between what is brutal and what is refined. Lyrically, expect to be cast into abysses most unfathomable, into the blackest shadow realms, and into the mysterious cosmos. All lyrical tales backed by meticulously engineered death metal: textured and malleable from its rich distortion to that gorgeous wet tone of the drums - a purist’s delight from start to finish. This is the way death metal was meant to sound! Recording with integrity at the fore; a master’s touch. Guitarist and engineer Jonny Pettersson reminds us of those first true days of the genre when purity was the only way. 

At first listen, an unknowing taker will likely mistake Necrolution for a gore-based death metal record due to all those raunchy grinds and all those Florida swamp-level riffs that back in the day defined the sound of bands like early Cannibal Corpse and even “Scream Bloody Gore” era Death, but be not mistaken, as I mentioned before, there’s a lot more to this album than disembowelments and the devouring of chopped guts. Lovecraft adaptations are common within the realm of extreme metal, but few do them better than Massacre. I would normally go into an individual track rundown so as to highlight various comparisons, but there’s no one to even compare these OG’s to! A proud and independent entity since day one. 

As the USDM scene squirms with laughable death metal bands like Cattle Decapitation, its bands like Massacre who understand what old heads like myself are looking for in a death metal record: stripped-down product, quality mixing, and devoid of gaudy bells & whistles. No one cares how fast you can doodle your guitar or for your ability to blast a thousand beats per second. This is TRUE (there’s that word again) death metal! And it’s albums like Necrolution that keep hope for a dignified future for DM alive and within grasp. 

Rating: 9 out of 10