UMUR "Submergence Live Beyond 2019" is a live album release by US, Florida based death metal act Massacre. The album was independently released in April 2023, although the band made it available for a short time in 2019 as a free download on their Bandcamp page. It´s a recording of Massacre´s first show after they reunited in 2017 (recorded on May 25th, 2019, at Wills Pub, Orlando, Florida) and features Kam Lee on vocals, Rick Rozz on guitars, Mike Borders on bass, and Mike Mazzonetto on drums. So half of the original lineup are present here.

The tracklist is a full playthrough of Massacre´s legendary July 1991 debut full-length studio album "From Beyond". Same tracklist order and all. The show features a well sounding production job, which the right massive guitar tone, triggered drums, and Kam Lee in vocal top form. He is such a powerful growling vocalist even after all these years (and performs some high pitched screams too). He has lost none of his power or his unique voice. It´s not the most "live" sounding release although there are both audience noises and a good amount of audience interaction from Lee, but it´s almost too well produced and it´s almost impossible to imagine that a Massacre show sounds like this when you stand in the audience.

So a little more rawness and live authenticity wouldn´t have hurt "Submergence Live Beyond 2019", but overall it´s still a good quality death metal live release and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Headless Halloween" is an EP release by US death metal act Massacre. The EP was released through Seven Metal Inches Records in October 2022. More specifically on the night of Halloween 31st of October 2022. It´s the third EP release by Massacre in 2022, as they had already released the "Mythos" EP in July 2022 and the "Casket Mutilations" EP in September 2022.

The EP features two tracks and a total playing time of 7:06 minutes. "Halloween" had already been released as a digital single on the 31st of October 2021, while the cover of Repulsion´s "Helga (Lost Her Head)" had previously appeared on the B-side of the "Ancient Evil" single. Both tracks also appear on the 2022 "Shadows Out of Innsmouth" compilation album.

"Halloween" is a track which sounds like Massacre as we know and love them. Old school death metal with brutal thrash metal leanings, and Kam Lee´s brutal yet intelligible vocals in front. It´s a relatively memorable track. "Helga (Lost Her Head)" features a nice heavy groove, and it´s more hardcore influenced death metal than Massacre´s original material, but that´s off course no surprise if you´re familiar with the legendary Repulsion.

"Headless Halloween" is well wortht the price of admission, but if you already own the "Shadows Out of Innsmouth" compilation, there aren´t many valid reasons for purchasing this EP too. Judged on the quality of the release a 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is still deserved though.

UMUR "Casket Mutilations" is an EP release by US death metal act Massacre. The EP was independently released in September 2022. It´s the second EP release from Massacre in 2022 as they released the "Mythos" in July 2022. "Casket Mutilations" is a bit different from "Mythos" though, as while the latter features all new original tracks, "Casket Mutilations" features two instrumental horror themed intro tracks (created and performed by Rob Reider), a re-recording of "Mutilated" from the 1986 "Aggressive Tyrant" demo, and the new originial composition "Nailed into the Casket".

"Mutilated" was the first track original guitarist Allen West and lead vocalist Kam Lee worked on and completed under the Massacre monicker all the way back in 1985, and considering the heavy and brutal nature of the track (although it wasn´t quite as brutal and a bit more thrashy in its original form), it´s no wonder that Massacre are considered one of the forefathers of death metal. The two horror themed instrumetals are nice little atmosphere enhancing breathers, and "Nailed into the Casket" once again proves that Massacre are not only here to stay but also stay true to their original mid-80s vision of playing thrash infused old school death metal with Kam Lee´s brutal yet intelligible vocals in front. It´s a good quality track and it´s also reasonably memorable.

"Casket Mutilations" features a well sounding production job. Raw, brutal, and detailed enough to hear every instrument and vocal part clearly in the mix. Upon conclusion "Casket Mutilations" is a good quality release from Massacre, and compared to "Mythos" I actually found this one just a tad more interesting. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Mythos" is an EP release by US death metal act Massacre. The EP was released through Nuclear Blast in July 2022. It´s the follow-up release to Massacre´s fourth full-length studio album "Resurgence" from October 2021 (also released through Nuclear Blast). Massacre as a band have always been subject to constant lineup changes, and even after their comeback in 2014 with the "Back from Beyond" album, things soon crumbled, and although some of the members shortly worked under the Massacre X (2019) and the Gods of Death (2017-2019), Massacre was once again reformed in 2019. This time by lead vocalist Kam Lee and original bassist Mike Borders. On "Resurgence" they were backed by several prolific Swedish musicians (among them Jonny Pettersson and Rogga Johansson) and British guitarist Scott Fairfax. That´s also the same lineup who recorded the material featured on this EP.

Stylistically the four tracks on the 15:15 minutes long EP also continue in the same old school death metal style as found on "Resurgence". Although there are certainly moments when I think that many of the tried and true elements from Massacre´s legendary 1991 debut album "From Beyond" are heard, the inclusion of Pettersson and Johansson does provide the music with a Swedish death metal touch. Again this was also heard on "Resurgence", so it´s no surprise...just a description of the music. Kam Lee is still a force to be reckoned with, although I don´t think his vocals are as strong as on other post-2000 releases, which he has performed his intelligible growling vocals on (projects like Bone Gnawer and The Grotesquery).

"Mythos" features a professional sound production, where all instruments and vocals are audible in the mix. To my ears it´s a bit too polished for this type of death metal, but I guess that depends on the ears that hear. The songwriting is effective and features all the elements you´d expect to hear on an old school death metal release featuring Kam Lee on vocals. A 3 3.5 star (65%) rating isn´t all wrong.

UMUR "The Second Coming" is the third studio demo release by US, Florida based death metal act Massacre. The demo was independently released in November 1990. Massacre were originally active from 1985-1987, but folded when three out of four members left to join Death, leaving lead vocalist Kam Lee on his own. Lee was however contacted by Earache Records boss Digby Pearson after he had listened to the early Massacre demos and as guitarist Rick Rozz had been recently fired from Death, the two of them opted to ressurect Massacre and hired bassist Butch Gonzalez and drummer Joe Cangelosi. The latter fresh out of a stint with Whiplash. Pearson almost immediately offered Massacre a recording contract and the band soon began to compose new material and send it to Pearson (six tracks and a total playing time of 33:03 minutes). However Pearson showed no interest in releasing the material featured on "The Second Coming", and after Lee and Rozz reunited with bassist Terry Butler and drummer Bill Andrews (both had recently departed from Death), the quartet recorded material which was primarly written in 1985-1987 and included it on their debut full-length studio album "From Beyond" (July 1991, Earache Records).

So the material featured on "The Second Coming" is a bit interesting, as it was Massacre´s attempt to write new original material, but as they were turned down by Earache Records, they had to shelve the material and work on recording old material instead. So why wasn´t the material on "The Second Coming" worth releasing? Well...for starters it´s pretty thrash metal oriented and only partially death metal oriented. Kam Lee doesn´t sound as brutal as he once did and would again only a year down the line, and the music is simply too advanced. What the people (and Earache Records) wanted at that time was something simple, brutal, and effective. "The Second Coming" features relatively complex drum work, pretty technical bass playing (I hear some pretty intrusive and unfitting slap bass a couple of times), shouting thrashy vocals, and some pretty unremarkable riffs. So while this is packed in a relatively well sounding production considering that it´s a demo, it´s overall not that interesting as a death metal demo, which was what Earache Records was expecting from Massacre. So how history went down is actually perfectly understandable in retrospect, but it must have been a real blow for Massacre when they were confronted with reality (your new music sucks, we only want to release the material you wrote several years ago). A 2 - 2.5 star (45%) rating is warranted.