Ex-Death/Massacre bassist Terry Butler has addressed the possibility of former Death bandmate Kam Lee joining his current band, Left To Die.
The comments came as Butler was asked whether there had ever been any discussion about getting Kam Lee involved with Left To Die, a project he now shares with fellow Death alum Rick Rozz.
“Not at all. There is one trillion percent [certainty that] Kam will not be involved with Left To Die,” Butler said. “I mean, I’ve worked with the guy, I’ve known him for 40 years. He’s always toxic.”
Butler went on to acknowledge Lee’s talent while explaining why working together again isn’t an option.
“Yes, he’s talented, but he’s too hard to work with,” he continued. “I don’t know. His thought process seems to be not human, actually, sometimes. And, yeah, we can’t work with him. Rick (Rozz) and I will not work with him. And whatever. It is what it is.”
He also reflected on Lee’s contributions to the earliest Mantas and Death recordings.
“He did play drums and sing on those [early Mantas and Death] songs, but the best part of those songs on his part is the actual singing,” Butler said. “Drums aren’t the greatest, but, hey, that’s what demos are.”
Butler closed by making clear the decision was final and shared by his bandmate.
“But, yeah, long story short — no, we never even gave it a thought, because we’ve all worked with him in the past, and there’s absolutely no way we’re gonna ever work with him in the future,” he said.
Butler’s remarks come at a moment when Left To Die’s identity as the true keepers of early Death material is very much in the spotlight. That timing makes his stance on Lee all the more notable, given how closely tied that early catalog is to his former bandmate’s own history with the band.
Left To Die functions as an all-star tribute to Death’s formative years, built specifically around material from the band’s first two albums. The lineup includes Gus Rios of Gruesome and ex-Malevolent Creation on drums. Matt Harvey of Exhumed and Gruesome handles vocals and guitar. That configuration puts four musicians steeped in death metal’s old guard behind material that predates most of Death’s commercial breakthrough.
The project has grown well beyond a one-off tribute act. Left To Die has signed to Relapse Records and announced its debut full-length album, Initium Mortis, which draws directly from early Death and Mantas material. That connection is significant since Mantas, the band that preceded Death, featured Kam Lee alongside Chuck Schuldiner and Rick Rozz. As a result, Left To Die is effectively reinterpreting songs Lee himself helped originate decades ago.
That history underscores why Butler’s comments carry extra weight. Rick Rozz was fired from Death in 1989, years before Lee’s own tenure in the band’s orbit came to an end. Both musicians have long track records of stepping away from projects tied to Schuldiner’s evolving vision for Death. Butler and Rozz reuniting now, decades later, to revisit that same material without Lee only sharpens the contrast between the band’s roots and its current lineup.
Ultimately, Left To Die’s mission to honor early Death and Mantas songs makes Lee’s absence conspicuous. Butler’s comments, however, make clear that absence is intentional. The band is moving forward with Initium Mortis as a statement on its own terms, built on decades of shared history between Butler, Rozz, Rios, and Harvey, rather than a full reunion of everyone who once passed through Death’s earliest lineups.
