Massacre - Back From Beyond (2014)

   As Massacre had to wait for their debut back then in the early '90s despite being one of the earliest death metal bands; so they had to wait for a while for their return decades later when the style had its Renaissance by the New Wave of Old School Death Metal. The band also had a least fortunate style changing intention in '96 after the collapse of death metal by their second album "Promise", that not only most fans, but also band wishes to forget about. Though the kinda Pantera-like groove metal experiment with private life drama based lyrics basically wasn't a bad idea, especially compared to the lately formed nu metal scene. But it definitely wasn't the cup of tea of band's old audience and it would have been better if it was released under a different name. 

   However, even though if the delayed retun didn't impress the audience as much as it was expected, "Back From Beyond" was a decent album with great songs, excellent sound and production. Except the album art and the old logo, the presence of Terry Butler and Rick Rozz from the original lineup are referring to the old times, and many probably had right if they didn't find this sufficient for a real continuity. Cause basically the music wasn't different from what any other death metal bands were doing at the time. Like anyone else could have done this album under a different name. The old logo, the album art, and Mr. Rozz's short noisy solos just didn't seem enough, though Edwin Webb's vocal style also did fit well. Their concept was also definitely better than what most old bands used to do after their return by trying to imitate what they did 20+ years ago and becoming their own tribube bands (what actually did happen with Massacre later on and the band was also cloned by Inhuman Condition thanks to Terry Butler). And in case of radical style change the audience becomes unsatisfied again, so big returns are always a difficult, and not many bands can find their countings if they expect more than some nostalgia led by the side effects of midlife crisis. Anyways, "Back From Beyond" was a good direction, not an intention to remake everything exactly how things have been back then, and also no drastic changes were included. The only one thing was missing. That tiny plus that's always pretty difficult to describe. That something that gave Massacre its own identity back then, and despite everything else was at its place, this tiny something proved to be enough to not receive the welcome that was desired. Except that "Back From Beyond" is quite enjoyable as a Massacre album or even as a random death metal album, and still it could be a potential favorite for the fans of the genre.