MASSACRE Resurgence

Massacre’s story stretches all the way back to Tampa, Florida in 1984, when the band emerged during the formative years of American death metal. After a handful of demos in the late eighties, their debut From Beyond finally arrived in 1991. Yet despite a career spanning more than three decades, Resurgence marks only their fourth full‑length album, a testament to a history marked by long pauses and constant line‑up upheavals. In fact, none of the musicians who recorded their previous album, Back From Beyond, remain in the band today.

The current incarnation brings together original members Mike Borders (bass) and Kam Lee (vocals) with a trio of recently recruited guitarists Scott Fairfax, Jonny Petterson and Rogga Johanson, alongside drummer Brynjar Helgetun. And with this refreshed line‑up comes a clear shift in direction. Where Back From Beyond leaned into a more modern death‑metal aesthetic, Resurgence deliberately rewinds the clock, embracing a raw, classic old‑school sound. The production is unpolished in the right ways yet still powerful and defined, which is hardly surprising with Dan Swanö overseeing the mix.

Musically, the album delivers ten mid‑ to up‑tempo tracks built on thick, driving riffs, flashes of thrash, and well‑placed harmonies and leads that keep the material from becoming one‑dimensional. There’s nothing here that reinvents the genre, but that’s not the point. Resurgence is a celebration of the early death‑metal spirit, think the primal energy of early Death and Obituary, with a hint of Cannibal Corpse, all wrapped in a production that belongs firmly in 2021.

For listeners who crave that unmistakable old‑school punch, Resurgence is likely to hit exactly the spot.

Discography:

Resurgence (2021)

Back From Beyond (2014)

Promise (1996)

From Beyond (1991)