Prepare to have your mind blown: Kam Lee, a true pioneer of death metal, is about to resurrect a lost piece of history! For the first time in over four decades, he's bringing the raw, untamed energy of MANTAS – his pre-DEATH band with the legendary Chuck Schuldiner and Rick Rozz – back to life. Get ready for MASSACRE to perform the entire 'Death By Metal' demo live and, even better, re-record it for posterity. This isn't just a concert; it's a time machine back to the very genesis of a genre. But here's where it gets controversial... Who really deserves the credit for birthing death metal?
"Massacre Plays Mantas Death By Metal Demo" isn't just a performance; it's a pilgrimage. Kam Lee, the original vocalist and drummer on that groundbreaking demo, will be front and center, unleashing the primal fury that shaped countless bands to follow. Imagine witnessing the songs that laid the foundation for DEATH itself, performed with the crushing intensity of MASSACRE. It's a one-of-a-kind experience, a chance to connect with the roots of extreme music in a way never before possible. Think of it as unearthing a musical artifact, a sonic fossil from the early days of Florida's burgeoning death metal scene. And this is the part most people miss: it's not just about nostalgia; it's about honoring the creative spark that ignited a global movement.
Mark your calendars! The first show where "Massacre Plays Mantas Death By Metal Demo" will erupt is at Kill-Town Death Fest XI, taking place September 3-6, 2026, at Pumpehuset in Copenhagen, Denmark. It's more than just a festival; it's a ground zero for extreme music enthusiasts.
The organizers of Kill-Town Death Fest XI are just as stoked as we are, exclaiming, "We are beyond elated to announce that Kam Lee and MASSACRE will be performing the MANTAS 'Death By Metal' demo for the very first time ever! Besides being the first performance of this legendary material that lead the way for the formation of DEATH, it will be the only performance worldwide for all of 2026! This will be a historical moment in death metal history, so be sure not to miss out!" This isn't just hyperbole; it's a genuine opportunity to witness a piece of history being made.
Kam Lee himself is understandably excited about this project. He states, "I'm extremely proud of the material we've created. Throughout my career, I've consistently felt proud of the legacy and music that MANTAS and DEATH produced. These songs hold a significant place in the history and culture of death metal's origins. I appreciate the collaborative work we accomplished and recognize it as a substantial part of my legacy, similar to those who contributed to its creation. As MASSACRE brings these classics to the forefront, our objective is to pay homage to this material through live performances and re-recordings, thus securing its lasting impact."
But he's also realistic about the potential for controversy. "I'm cognizant that my perspective won't be universally shared, and some individuals may hold unfavorable opinions. However, I don't invest time in trying to alter the opinions of those with preconceived notions about me, deeming it an exercise in futility. My primary focus is on showcasing this material in a positive light, leveraging the expertise of top-notch musicians to execute these songs impeccably." He knows that opinions on who deserves the most credit in the early death metal scene are fiercely held.
He concludes with a heartfelt message to his supporters: "As always I thank my fans and those who have supported me throughout my journey all these years. Thank you!"
To understand the context of this monumental event, let's delve a little deeper into Kam Lee's history. Last August, in an interview with Soundterror, he reminisced about his early days with Chuck Schuldiner, saying, "We were kids, so I only knew him as a teenager. So, I can't really expand on him as an adult. I can only tell you that we were teenagers, we were 15-, 16-year-olds just having fun playing music in the garage. We never thought it was gonna become what it did, what it's become." It's a reminder that even the most legendary figures start somewhere, often driven by nothing more than youthful enthusiasm. Interestingly, when asked why he left DEATH, Kam offered a surprisingly candid answer: "Why did I leave DEATH? [Chuck] kicked me out because I tried to get him to go out with a girl." Sometimes, even the most groundbreaking bands are undone by the mundane realities of teenage life!
The interview also touched on the origins of Kam's signature growl, which many consider to be a defining element of death metal. He explained, "Well, in DEATH and MANTAS, when we started in DEATH, I basically just started kind of mimicking a lot of what we were taking influences from, which was… We were tape trading for one. I was a tape trader, so I was getting a lot of stuff from all over the place. So you'd get tapes from like POSSESSED, of course, was a big influence. There was stuff from SACRIFICE coming out of Canada. There was stuff from Paul Speckmann [DEATH STRIKE, MASTER] coming out of Chicago, and there was stuff overseas like early HELLHAMMER. There was stuff like VENOM. It was a big influence on MANTAS in the beginning. So it was kind of like a combination of trying to like combine all that stuff. Plus being underage and 16, you're just kind of screaming and you have all this angst and anger, and I come from the punk world, so I just wanted to kind of like express it that way. Plus I was playing drums at the same time. So it was a lot of trying to do that. But then when I found the growl, it really wasn't until MASSACRE that I really started… I changed it because earlier, prior to that was more screechy-type vocals, and Chuck started to sing as well, and he took it more in a more of his influence from [POSSESSED's] Jeff Becerra and was trying to sound more like Jeff, where I was, like, 'I don't wanna do that. I don't wanna sound like somebody else.' So I tried to come up with my own thing."
But here's the really fascinating part: "And I thought, what was the most primal thing that I could think of? A lot of people will always say, oh, well, there was demonic movies like 'The Exorcist', or stuff like that. But to me, it was more or less about being primal, being natural. And to me, the most natural thing that was hair-raising is — I was raised around a lot of large dogs, like rottweilers and pitbulls, and I knew that the scariest thing that I ever felt as a 14-year-old was being between four or five rottweilers during feeding time, where you had to go out and give them food. And if you've ever been around large dogs, when you bring out a bowl of food, they all begin to growl this low growl because one wants to be the alpha, wants to be dominant, and it's kind of hair-raising. And I thought, that's what I wanna do with vocals. I wanna do something that's hair raising. I want to do something that sounds primal, sounds raw, sounds natural. And I started to mimic dogs. That's literally how I got the growl." So, the iconic death metal growl? Inspired by feeding-time rottweilers. Who would have guessed?
Kam further elaborated on his influences, stating that while he didn't know anyone else at the time doing the same style, he did take inspiration from Tom G. Warrior of HELLHAMMER for his phonetic enunciation. He liked how Tom G. spoke, and incorporated some of that into his own vocal style, expanding on it to create something unique.
He also recalled the initial reaction to their groundbreaking music: "Chuck and I and Freddie [Frederick 'Rick Rozz' DeLillo] at the time, we knew we were doing something that was completely different, and everybody hated it. Everybody hated it. I remember people would say, 'This is shit. This will never last. This will never catch on. This is garbage.' And look — 40-something years later, it's one of the biggest influential music in metal today. We didn't realize we were doing something that was going to have this much impact, but we knew at the time we were doing something different because everything that was popular at the time was hair metal, everything like MÖTLEY CRÜE and that kind of stuff, and we just wanted to be the completely polar opposite of that. So we just gravitated to more underground music, and that's literally… We did our own thing. My influences, especially lyrically, came from horror movies 'cause I'm a big horror movie fan. So I loved the Lucio Fulci films and stuff like that. And Chuck too — a lot of the stuff on [DEATH's debut album] 'Scream Bloody Gore' literally comes from our love of Lucio Fulci and 'Evil Dead' and all those '80s films that just came out during that timeframe."
The influence of horror movies on early death metal cannot be overstated. It provided a rich source of inspiration for the genre's dark and macabre themes.
And now for the elephant in the room: the debate over who was the first true death metal band: DEATH or POSSESSED. Kam weighed in on this back in August 2022, stating, "POSSESSED came first, because we all heard the POSSESSED demo in the tape trading. We were tape trading and we got the POSSESSED demo. And there's where you can hear the change, because we were sounding different — we were sounding very much like VENOM in the first MANTAS demo; very, veryVENOM cloning. As soon as we heard that POSSESSED demo… It was two bands, actually, that literally changed everything in DEATH — the POSSESSED demo and SLAYER's 'Show No Mercy'. Those two things right there changed everything. Because once we heard SLAYER's 'Show No Mercy', as far as the speed and aggression, and we heard POSSESSED, as far as the technicality of the guitars and the way that Jeff was singing, that's when we changed. We said, 'Okay, we need to be a combination of all three of these — we need to be a combination of the rawness of VENOM, the fast energy of SLAYER and that just evil, screechy and guitar ripping ways of POSSESSED. That literally was it. There's the three bands that are the blueprint of death metal, as far as I'm concerned."
This is a crucial point. Kam clearly acknowledges the influence of POSSESSED and SLAYER on the development of DEATH's sound. Does this diminish DEATH's legacy? Absolutely not. But it does provide valuable context for understanding the evolution of the genre.
A little over a month earlier, Kam addressed his controversial comment that "Chuck ripped off POSSESSED" during an appearance on "That Metal Interview" podcast. He clarified, "I guess that was actually a bad choice of wording. Saying 'ripped off' makes it sound bad. I guess the proper wording should be 'took heavy influence from.' Although you could say that I ripped off HELLHAMMER and Tom G. Warrior, and I'm not going to get butthurt about it. I won't because it's fact. Yet some people don't care about facts. They just want to keep believing the fiction they bought into because it fits the messianic mold their 'hero-worshipping' icons have been fitted for. It disrupts their ideology and topples the tower when they hear their gods might not be as almighty as they once believed. It's that same sunken feeling when a kid for the first time is discovering that just maybe Santa Claus is not real. It hurts their feelings. Worse yet are those others out there manipulating those people who are hurt. Some people are just trying to jump on the pity party bandwagon with that one."
He continued, "I got a lot of hate from that statement, though it wasn't intended to downplay Chuck's influence on music, but rather to end the debate of who came first, DEATH or POSSESSED. Sadly, morons spun it to change the narrative, to fit their agenda, and to further instigate and cause strife."
Lee added, "Do I feel Chuck's influence is overstated? Let me put it this way — for the 'product and commodity,' his legacy became post mortem. In order to keep reselling and repressing albums, it's exactly what it's being marketed as. No, it's actually exactly what one should expect from a product sales pitch. I mean, you've got to make sure that your product is the people's choice, right? It's Coca-Cola vs Pepsi. McDonald's vs Burger King. Starbucks vs Dunkin Donuts. In the end, the company with the better commercial is always going to win over the masses."
This is a bold statement, suggesting that the marketing of Chuck Schuldiner's legacy has perhaps overshadowed the contributions of others. Is this a fair assessment? That's for you to decide.
So, what do you think? Is MASSACRE's performance of the 'Death By Metal' demo a fitting tribute to the roots of death metal? Or is it treading on sacred ground? And who do you think deserves the most credit for pioneering the genre? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below! We want to hear your perspective on this controversial and fascinating chapter in music history.
