Barney Kamalani "Kam" Lee is an American death metal vocalist. He is best known for his vocal contributions to an early incarnation of

Death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

(called Mantas) from 1983 to 1984, and later joined

Massacre A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...

in 1985.

Career

Massacre recorded two demo tapes that were heavily distributed using the

tape trading Tape trading is an unofficial method of distribution of musical or video content through the postal system, which was prominent in the 1980s and 1990s. Although most commonly used to distribute and publicize limited-release musical demo tapes i ...

system but did not lead to a record deal. The band dissolved when members

Rick Rozz Rick Rozz (born Frederick D. DeLillo, January 9, 1967) is an American guitarist. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York and spent his formative years in Altamonte Springs, Florida, attending Lake Brantley High School. He is best known for his work w ...

, Bill Andrews and

Terry Butler Terry Butler is an American bassist who currently performs with the death metal bands Obituary and Inhuman Condition. He was also a member of Six Feet Under, Massacre and Death. He was credited on the Death album ''Spiritual Healing'', and ...

left to join a later inception of

Chuck Schuldiner Charles Schuldiner (born May 13, 1967 – December 13, 2001) was an American musician. He founded the death metal band Death in 1983, in which he was the lead vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter and only consistent member until his death in ...

; however, the subsequent citing of Massacre as influences by bands such as Napalm Death signified a great interest in the defunct act within the death metal community. This led to a reformation and the recording of the album ''From Beyond'' on

Earache Records Earache Records is a British independent record label, music publisher and management company founded by Digby Pearson in 1985, based in Nottingham, England, with offices in London and New York. The label helped to pioneer extreme metal by rel ...

, made up mainly of reworking of the songs featured on the original 1985 and 1986 demo tapes. Lee also played drums in both Mantas and Death as well as vocals. He has also been a member of many other short-lived bands. In 2006 he joined a band with

(Death/

/ Six Feet Under), Sam Williams and Curtis Beeson called Denial Fiend of whom released their debut "They Rise" on October 16, 2007. In that same month, Massacre played their final gig in the United States on October 6, 2007. October 26, Massacre began their final tour dubbed "Re-Animated" in Berlin, Germany. In 2009, Lee started the death metal band Bone Gnawer, with Rogga Johansson, Morgan Lie, and Ronnie Bjornstrom. Later that year, Lee and Johansson would form another death metal band called The Grotesquery, along with members Johan Berglund and Brynjar Helgetun. He is also a member of the bands Grave Wax, The Skeletal, and Broken Gravestones. Lee was cast as a serial killer in the 2011 independent horror film ''Deep Seeded''. In 2012, he performed guest vocals on and contributed lyrics to Sigh's "Far Beneath the In-Between" on their album '' In Somniphobia''. In 2015, he formed the funeral doom band Akatharta, who released their first album ''Spiritus Immundus'' on June 23, 2017. In January 2016, he also announced a solo album for release later in the year, an EP entitled ''Reclamation of the Fallen'' which released on October 30 of that same year, the day before Lee's 50th birthday, which was Halloween. He also revealed a new death/thrash project named Gigantesque and an Alien-themed deathgrind project entitled Alienanalprobe that year, both of which have demo recordings. His latest band is a blackened death metal project called Nattravnen, in collaboration with underground Swedish musician Jonny Pettersson, who premiered a demo track in September 2016, and released their first complete track "Suicidium, the Seductress of Death" in January 2018, with their first album ''Kult of the Raven'' to release on December 7, 2018.

Style and influences

Lee early on employed the vocal style called the

death grunt A death growl, or simply growl, is an extended vocal technique usually employed in extreme styles of music, particularly in death metal and other extreme subgenres of heavy metal music. Death growl vocals are sometimes criticized for their ...

or death growl, taking influence from Celtic Frost vocalist

Thomas Gabriel Fischer Thomas Gabriel Fischer (born 19 July 1963), also known by his stage names of Tom G. Warrior and Satanic Slaughter, is a Swiss metal musician. He led the groups Hellhammer and Celtic Frost, and today is the frontman of the band Triptykon. Caree ...

(a.k.a. Tom G. Warrior). Lyrically, Lee drew heavily from the stories of American author H. P. Lovecraft, and one of his album’s cover arts featured a painting by artist

Ed Repka Edward J. Repka (born October 22, 1960) is an American graphic artist, best known for creating album covers for metal bands as well as shirt designs, including those featuring Megadeth's mascot Vic Rattlehead. Repka's portfolio also includes Dar ...

, representing creatures from Lovecraft's imagination.

Discography

With Death

*''Rehearsal #1'' (1984) *''Rehearsal #2'' (1984) *''Rehearsal #3'' (1984) *''Live Tape #1'' (1984) *''Death by Metal'' (1984) *''Reign of Terror'' (1984) *''Live Tape #3'' (1984) *''Live tape #2'' (1984) *''Infernal Live'' (1984) *''Rehearsal tape #4'' (1985) *''Rehearsal tape #5'' (1985) *''Rehearsal tape #6'' (1985) *''Infernal Death'' (1985) *''Live tape #6'' (1985) *''Rigor Mortis'' (1985) *''Rehearsal tape #7'' (1985) *''Rehearsal tape #8'' (1985) *''Rehearsal tape #9'' (1985) *''Rehearsal tape #10'' (1985) *''Rehearsal tape #11'' (1985)

With Massacre

;Albums *'' From Beyond'' (1991) *''Promise'' (1996) ;EPs *'' Inhuman Condition'' (1992) ;Demos *''Aggressive Tyrant'' (1986) *''Chamber of Ages'' (1986) *''Second Coming'' (1990)

With Denial Fiend

;Albums *''They Rise'' (2007) ;EPs *''Dead Awakening'' (2007) ;Demos *''4.23.06 Rehearsal Tape'' (2006) *''2006 Demos'' (2006)

With The Grotesquery

;Albums *''Tales of the Coffin Born'' (2010) *''The Facts and Terrifying Testament of Mason Hamilton: Tsathoggua Tales'' (2012) *''Curse of the Skinless Bride'' (2015) *''The Lupine Anathema'' (2018) ;EPs * ''Cult of Chthulu Calling'' (2014)

With Bone Gnawer

;Albums *''Feast of Flesh'' (2009) *''Cannibal Crematorium'' (2015) ;EPs *''Scissored'' (2010) *''Carved'' (2012) *''Canale di carneficina'' (2015) ;Splits *''Bone Gnawer / Bonesaw'' (2009) *''Carved / Remains'' (2013)

With Broken Gravestones

;EPs *''Let Sleeping Corpses Lie'' (2011) ;Demos *''Broken Gravestones'' (2009)

With The Skeletal

;Albums *''The Plague Rituals'' (2011) ;EPs *''Remains'' (2013)

With Akatharta

*''Spiritus Immundus'' (2017)

With Nattravnen

*''Kult of the Raven'' (2018)

Solo work

;Demos *''7 Deadly Sins'' (2016) ;EPs *''Reclamation of the Fallen'' (2016) *''Massacred'' (2019)

With Grave Wax

;Splits *''Pestilent Formation'' (2011) *''Corpus Obscuria'' (2014) *''Four Paths to Horror'' (2015) *''Grave of Souls'' (2016)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Kam 1966 births Living people American male singers Death (metal band) members American heavy metal drummers American heavy metal singers Lake Brantley High School alumni 20th-century American drummers American male drummers Massacre (metal band) members 20th-century American male musicians