Kam Lee

Kam Lee
Background information
Birth name	Barney Kamalani Lee
Born	(1966-10-31) October 31, 1966
Origin	US
Genres	Death metal
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Vocals, drums
Associated acts	Death Massacre Bone Gnawer

Kam Lee (born Barney Kamalani Lee) is an American death metal vocalist. He is best known for his vocal contributions to an early incarnation of Death (called Mantas) in 1983–84,^[1] and later joined Massacre in 1985, founded and formed by Bill Andrews and Allen West.^[2]

Lee early on employed the vocal style called the death grunt or death growl, taking influence from the then Celtic Frost vocalist Thomas Gabriel Fischer (a.k.a. Tom G Warrior). Massacre recorded 2 demo tapes that were heavily distributed using the tape trading system but did not lead to a record deal. The band dissolved when members Rick Rozz, Bill Andrews and Terry Butler left to join a later inception of Chuck Schuldiner's Death; 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, made up mainly of reworking of the songs featured on the original 1985 & 1986 demo tapes.

Lyrically, Lee drew heavily from the stories of American author H. P. Lovecraft, and the album's cover art featured a painting by artist Ed Repka representing creatures from Lovecraft's imagination. 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 Terry Butler (Death/Massacre/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.^[3] Later that year, Lee and Johansson would form another death metal band called The Grotesquery, along with members Johan Berglund and Brynjar Helgetun.^[4] 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.^[5] 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 are working on their debut album for a 2016 release. In January 2016, he also announced a solo album for release later in the year, as well as a new death/thrash project named Gigantesque.

References