MASACRE - TOTAL DEATH - XTREEM
Prior to corporate magazines and Johnny-come-latelies started to call sell-out commercial acts like In Flames and Dark Tranquillity death metal the sub-genre had a timbre all its own. That belief and that attitude are unremittingly alive with Colombia's Masacre.
Last time the sounds of the brutalizers was heard at Metallian Towers was 1991's Requiem which was issued through Osmose Production. The band and album were bestial and exceedingly primitive. Fast forward to 2004 and the band is a fully developed death metal band that, while not delivering anything particularly new, performs the basics exceedingly well. In fact, Total Death (the band is not kidding here), is quite seriously excellent in sound, production, tone, lead solos and vocals. By the time track five surges forth one has no reason but to fully trust the band's "death metal forever" chant. Fact is that every song is constructed on a number of stimulating and provocative parts that are death metal at its finest. Even a song like Wrath Intense Pain manages to convince without question in spite of its relatively melodic construct.
Masacre compels one to get off the fence for there are no in-betweens. - Ali "The Metallian"