Massacre: Lovecraft, Horror and the Resurgence
With a brand new and long awaited album, the aptly titled Resurgence, MASSACRE return from the grave with the true follow up to their classic debut From Beyond and it is a killer collection of true death metal songs from masters of their craft. We caught up with vocalist Kam Lee to hear all about the band and their return as well as discussing all things MASSACRE, from the past to the present and future and as we spoke just before Halloween, all manner of death and horror was also conversed about.
MASSACRE are back and vocalist Kam Lee is so happy with their new album Resurgence and despite the fact that it has been years coming, he is at last, in control of the band, their music and their destiny. As Lee states, he is thrilled with the band and their new album and the title of the record is more a statement than a mere title. “It’s exciting to me because I’ve gone through all of these legal battles to retain the name and everything like that and get the trademark under mine, it feels kind of justifiable. It feels like a resurgence, the title that literally means more than just the title of the album. It is a resurgence of Old School Death Metal. It’s a resurgence of MASSACRE, It’s a resurgence of me coming back into MASSACRE. it has a lot of meaning to me. This album is something I’m very, very proud of. I can actually feel proud of MASSACRE again, which I haven’t felt since 1991.”
As with the band’s debut album, From Beyond, Lee states that HP Lovecraft is, again, a big influence on the lyrics on Resurgence, with the track and first single from the album The Innsmouth Strain having the biggest influence and how the two albums share something very familiar that binds them in horror. “It’s always been a key element for me, especially going all the way back to the original MASSACRE. From Beyond is very Lovecraft based as far as the lyrics go, so it was very important to bring that aesthetic back to MASSACRE because I really feel that Resurgence is a continuation of From Beyond. I guess you could say it’s a proper sequel, so it was important that those aesthetics come back and me bringing that Lovecraftian aesthetic is key because I’ve always used Lovecraft as a way to express my own misanthropy.”
Despite the fact that there has been thirty years between From Beyond and Resurgence, MASSACRE have been reinvigorated and are definitely not resting on their laurels and are wasting no time in getting the next stage of their resurgence ready. “The album is done as you know, and out, but we also recorded an EP. That’s still not out yet, obviously because the new album just came out, but we have an EP that’s recorded. We’re continually working now on the new album, so it’s a process where we’re constantly keeping busy because of being locked down in the pandemic and everything like that. I told everybody, they’re like, well, what are we gonna do? I said, let’s just keep working on new music and if we’re feeling it, let’s just keep going. No reason to stop!”
With the band forging ahead with new music and looking to release a new album sometime next year, they have something special for their fans on the most horrifying day of the year. “We have something coming out this Halloween that’s on our Bandcamp page. I’m old school, so I like that whole do it yourself, old school, underground way of doing things. I have that still in me. I also want to release some stuff fresh on our own and we have some ideas of doing some more singles on our own.”
With this talk of a Halloween release, talk soon turns to horror movies, something Lee is an expert on (he has props from the Evil Dead 2 in the background as we speak) and he is quick to enthuse about his favourite horror movies. “Oh, that’s easy. My all time favourite horror movie of all time. The one that really got me hooked into horror is the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The original. I mean I still watch it to this day. I’ve seen hundreds of times and I still watch it and get unnerved, especially that dinner scene. It’s something that get makes your that’s skin crawling. The original Evil Dead would have to be my second favourite horror movie. I loved Sam Ram‘s take on everything. I loved Bruce Campbell. I saw the original Evil Dead as being funny and horrific at the same time. I love Fulci, I love Italian horror. So those 80s Italian horror films, I love those things. So Zombie, The Seven Gates Of Hell trilogy.” Halloween celebrations are big in the world of Kam Lee and as it turns out there’s another reason despite the macabre for this; “I’m big into celebrating it because Halloween is my birthday so it’s always huge for me.”
Going back to the MASSACRE debut album From Beyond, it’s clear that it is still something that Lee is rightly proud of. “I’ve always been proud of that album, but 30 years later I’m even more proud. I mean, I still have the album hanging on my wall. I’m very proud of what Resurgence is, because, like I said before, it is a direct connection to From Beyond.” With Resurgence continuing with what MASSACRE started with From Beyond, the band cannot wait to get back on the road to demonstrate the power of Old School Death Metal in a live arena. With a show confirmed for September 2022 at UK Deathfest in London and more in the planning stages, Lee cannot wait to get back to playing live shows and getting the new material blasted out onstage as well as some old favourites too. “I’m looking forward to it, right now we’re trying to do a good balance. The live set that we’re working on right now because we’re doing some festivals and we have to think, we only have 40 minutes or 45 minutes. How can we play the best thing? So what we did is we said, ‘okay, let’s get the fan favourites. We know what the fan favourites are from From Beyond. Yeah. Let’s pick those out and let’s pick out some of the new singles that we just released and play those’. I think that’s a good balance, because it gives us about eight songs to play live.”
With a lot to be happy at long last for Kam Lee and MASSACRE, he tell us just how appreciative he is with what’s going on now for the band and how right now is just the start of the Resurgence of MASSACRE and how proud he is to be in the position he is in and how there is no stopping the band now. “My proudest moment now is happening right now. It literally is happening now because I I feel I’m finally in the captain’s seat. I’m not trying to be narcissistic and say, ‘this is where I should have been the whole time’. I’ve tried to be very open and work with everybody, but finally, now that I can have a little bit of creative control, I really feel that this is the proudest time to be because now I am bringing back MASSACRE the proper way, the way that it should have always been.”
Resurgence is out now via Nuclear Blast Records.
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