UMUR "Back from Beyond" is the 3rd full-length studio album by US, Tampa, Florida based death metal act Massacre. The album was released through Century Media Records in March 2014. Having initially formed back in 1983 (but not constantly active throughout the eighties), Massacre are widely considered a major influence on the late eighties/early nineties US death metal scene and the Florida scene in particular along with other early death metal artists like Morbid Angel, Obituary, Deicide and Death. Original lead vocalist Kam Lee and guitarist Rick Rozz were both members of Death in their pre-album mid-eighties years and Rick Rozz was temporarily a member of Death again on "Leprosy (1988)". After leaving Death, Rick Rozz teamed up with Kam Lee again and when bassist Terry Butler and drummer Bill Andrews were fired from Death after the tour supporting "Spiritual Healing (1990)" they were recruited for the recording of Massacre´s now legendary debut full-length studio album "From Beyond (1991)". Massacre´s second full-length studio album "Promise (1996)" didn´t fare well and the band folded soon after it´s release. They made a comeback in 2012 with the "Condemned to the Shadows" EP, which featured a new lineup consisting of Rick Rozz, Terry Butler, new drummer Mike Mazzonetto and new lead vocalist Edwin Webb. "Back from Beyond" features the same lineup, that recorded the EP.

Like the album title probably also suggests, with it´s word play on the album title of the debut album, the band have tried to capture an authentic old school death metal sound on "Back from Beyond". While especially the drumming style is a bit more developed, and not quite as stiff and uimaginative as the drumming style on the debut album, Massacre succeed very well in their mission to bring old school death metal to the people. The riffs are catchy and brutal, the vocals are intelligible growling and occassionally higher pitched and aggressive in nature, and the rythm section solid and heavy. The tempo is predominantly slow- to mid paced with the occasional faster part put in. The tracks are a bit one-dimensional in style and structure (they pretty much all follow a regular vers/chorus formula and last around 3 minutes), but they are pretty catchy and delivered with great conviction and passion.

The album features a suiting brutal and powerful sound production and "Back from Beyond" is on most parameters a great old school death metal album. Although Massacre arguably influenced a lot of prolific and distinct sounding death metal acts, they were never that distinct or original sounding themselves though. "From Beyond (1991)" might be a legendary US old school death metal album, but there are quite frankly a lot of better and more original sounding US old school death metal albums out there. The same observation can to some extent be applied to "Back from Beyond". It´s effective, hard hittin´ and entertaining while it plays (hell... I can´t stop banging my head), but upon conclusion it´s a bit too standard in style and execution to stick out from the crowd. Still it´s an enjoyable and professional product and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved. I guess that came out a bit more negative than it was meant to and I hope my minor issues with the album don´t disguise the fact that I actually find "Back from Beyond" to be a pretty enjoyable listen.