Massacre: Back from Beyond (2014)

This is a lesson in not making snap buys.  I saw the band name "Massacre" and words in the title "From Beyond" and thought that this was a reissue of the Florida death metal band's classic debut album which I have yet to find.  It helped that the artwork was superficially similar to the debut album cover.  But in fact it was not the reissue, it is the reunion album (of sorts) from Massacre.  Only guitarist Rick Rozz and bassist Terry Butler are actually back on this album.  Notably absent is vocalist Kam Lee and drummer Bill Andrews.

I do not dislike this album, and there are some good songs on here that I do legitimately enjoy (at least while it is playing), it is just not what I expected.  Ultimately this is a fairly run-of-the-mill, cookie-cutter death metal album.  All of the typical elements are present: heavy riffs, thundering drums, deep-throated roaring vocals.  And yet it just feels like something is missing.  It is just too generic.

The other big problem with the album is that it seems very long.  That is not actually true, despite having 14 songs on the album, it is just over 45 minutes in length.  But it just SEEMS long.  Perhaps this is due to the fact that there is nothing that really stands out all that much.  I mentioned before that there are songs that I enjoy, and for the most part I do not dislike any songs on this album.  Unfortunately, they do not really stick with me after the album is over.  That is perhaps the biggest problem here. 

It is unlikely that I would have picked this album up if I had been paying greater attention to what I was doing.  I was hoping for the reissue of a classic, I got a pretty safe reunion album.