Rating: 10.0 Release Date: 2006 Record Label: Iron Pegasus Track list: |
Massacre - Tyrants of Death If you're a Massacre fanatic, you will likely a) own the ungodly material contained on this disc as a dub, or b) have noted the profound influence said recordings have had on death metal at large. If you're not a Massacre fanatic, I don't entirely understand why you're listening to death metal anyway, so it would be appropriate for you at this point to sod off. Anyhow, these are the sonic documents that capture what many consider to be the quintessential Massacre lineup, before they reconvened to set forth what has been regarded by those in the know as their reunion record, the widely-lauded (and justly so) 'From Beyond'. I will not provide an extensive history lesson for the uninitiated here, though I suppose some historical context is necessary. All you need to know, really, is that Massacre is the band sirs Lee and Rozz formed after departing from the legendary Mantas (or Death mark 1). This incestuous relationship, of course, would be furthered by Bill Andrews' participation in Death years later. Stylistically, there isn't much of a departure from that incendiary Mantas material, though in some senses Massacre were even rawer and more uncompromising. For whatever reason, the Tyrant decided not to assume drum duties in Massacre, focusing his energies exclusively on filling the band's need for inhuman gruntage. What a bloody VOKILLIST he was, too, on this material! Of course, we all loved Kam's turns on the Mantas material, but here he sounds positively POSSESSED (in both the literal AND the Beccerra sense, haha). Much fuss has been made about today's fixation with more-guttural-than-thou vocals (I blame you, Antti Boman), but one need look no further than the mythical 'Chamber Of Ages' demo if you are on a crusade to find out what GUTTURAL really means. Clearly, the Tyrant was a man that sang with all the physical fortitude that he could master, and this intense discipline manifested itself in some of the most fearsome bellows you will hear in death metal, past, present and future. I've always felt that his performance on 'From Beyond' was tempered and tame compared to the demo excursions, but that is something that can be said about the music as a whole, which was unfortunately sterilized by the machinations of fucking Scott Burns and Morrisound. From that slightly sour note, let's continue lavishing superlatives on this display of brilliance. The Massacre focus was always staunchly entrenched in the RIFF, and this much is evident throughout the flesh-tearing, necrophiliac excursions presented here. While this was far more obvious on 'From Beyond', the ubiquitous spectres of Celtic Frost and Hellhammer leer their gruesome heads throughout all of Massacre's material, though this influence is certainly not as prominent as Xecutioner/Obituary. There is the same stark simplicity, the same repudiation of pretension and complication, the same pummeling, bludgeoning emphasis on riffcraft. Riffs are propelled head on with one another, culminating in rabid, relentless and forcefully single-minded DEATH METAL of unspeakable intensity. One wonders WHERE this conviction, this vitriol, this violence has gone in an age of plastic, dime-a-dozen Cryptopsy and Suffocation aspirants. If I had my way, Mortem, Throneum, Cianide and Nunslaughter would be packing concert halls, but that's a rant for another effusive review. There are, of course, two primary reasons why you should buy this fucking thing, and that's the studio and live versions of “Clangor Of War”, very likely the single best song in Massacre's canon. Frenzied and frenetic, this display of barely-controlled chaos collapses into a BRILLIANT breakdown halfway through and proceeds, through thunderous double bass and churning, nauseating riffing, to grind your bones to dust. Napalm Death's recent decision to cover this landmark is a no-brainer, considering much of their career has been rather derivative of this, owing just as much to Massacre as the likes of Repulsion, Terrorizer and Master. Fast forward to the demo cut of “From Beyond” and realize just how much more URGENT and GRIPPING the demo version is…the spontaneity and ferocity of the track BLEEDS all over this fucking thing, you can almost see the blood seeping out your subwoofer! WUARGHHHH!! Closing out the second demo is a raw cut of “Symbolic Immortality”, again sicker and more insistent than the LP version, as well as a curious, but ultimately expendable unfinished instrumental version of “Cryptic Realm”. The first demo is notably rawer-sounding than the second, and succeeds in being even MORE low-end-heavy than the 'Chamber Of Ages'. The guitar sound, however, is kinda weird. The volume knobs seem to be turned up when Rozz bursts into a solo, but otherwise, it is pushed to the back in favor of the vocals, bass and drums, and this consequently results in a slightly less ‘'brutal'' sound, though Kam certainly makes up for it all with a genuinely Cronos-esque performance that slightly mirrors Troy Dixler's work with Sindrome and Devastation. Do take note that Kam's performance here does not align itself with his later exploits with Massacre, nor does it really bear that much resemblance to his performances with Mantas, though this anomaly is not a negative one in any sense of the word! Musically, too, the material on offer is somewhat at odds with the later Massacre material, being ever-so-slightly slower and exhibiting a variety of slightly off-kilter quirks that really rule- take, for example, the odd break that comes in 01:30 into “Aggressive Tyrant”, which features a strangely happy sounding, bouncy, pseudo-polka beat and bassline. I do wish the riff that followed said break was done justice with a heavier, LOUDER guitar sound, as it kicks IMMENSE amounts of ass. “Death In Hell” is vintage first wave death metal, the Hellhammer and Sodom influences really coming to the fore and coalescing to make for pulsating, pus-filled primitiveness. “Mutilated” opens with what appears to be Massacre's nod towards “Triumph Of Death”, before swelling into genuinely Mantas sounding death metal that benefits GREATLY from the outrageous barks of the Tyrant and a recession back into dirge-like Hellhammer doom halfway through the track…what a song! Wish they had recorded this professionally, really. Live death metal albums are always a dicey proposition, the recordings never really capturing the true intensity and urgency of the bands in question (often a consequence of over-editing and overdubbing). Rejoice, then, that the live material on this outing is completely, unremittingly fierce, adorned with Kam's sometimes menacing, sometimes uproarious stage banter. For me, the live material is the REAL reason to pick this up, as prior to this (owing to the fact that I don't collect live bootlegs) I had yet to hear the unreleased material on offer, namely “Infestation of Death”, “Perpetual Domination”, “The Traitor”, all FANTASTIC songs introduced by the inimitable Kam Lee (“DIS SONNGGG IZZZ AGGRESSIVE TYRANT! Muahahahah [faux evil snicker]”). If you don't already own any Massacre material (didn't I tell you to bugger off already?), life has been made very easy for you with the recent reissue of 'From Beyond' and 'Infestation Of Death' on one CD, as well as this tidy compendium of demo material. With the purchase of two CDs, you will own all the worthwhile material from this MAGICAL band, and a substantive slice of death metal history (though I would suggest the diehard to pick up that live record that came out last year as well). Thanks go out to the ever dependable Costa Stoios for FINALLY putting this material together, complete with Über cool photos and informative retrospective interviews from forgotten hero Michael Borders and the Tyrant himself.
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