The ‘ProF’ discusses the motives for Massive Slavery’s message

There are many metal bands out there that can produce excellent melodic death grind, but not many know how to construct a message that is just as strong. Since music and lyrics go hand in hand, Massive Slavery was careful to dictate a very important message based on the social ills of the present to accompany their very loud, aggressive style. And the message has been picked up well by the metal fans. With their debut album quickly in the works and out into the world, ‘Global Enslavement’ has caught the ears and fancies of metal listeners from Napalm Death to Pantera. With such excellent technical work in their music, Massive has recently earned quite a bit of promotion through the upcoming Rock Band 3 with their track “Humanity’s Last Hope” which fans can perform to their heart’s content. It is an irony considering their outspoken attitude towards the world being raised by electronics these days, but hey… if you can’t beat them, join them and sabotage from within! I got a chance to discuss the band more with Jon, the ProF, and learned quite a bit about Massive Slavery’s direction as a whole.

Hello Massive Slavery. How are things going?
Hi man! Things are going great.  We’re really pumped up right now and we just received the full preview of our song “Humanity’s Last Hope” that will be available soon on Rock Band 3. This is some serious stuff in being the first band to introduce the feature of double bass kick drums in the game.  I can’t even figure out why we’re having this opportunity, and also, that we’re actually being featured in this game. Everything seems to be so surreal right now. hahaha.

So how does the band feel about their latest album ‘Global Enslavement?’ Has the reception been what was expected?
The feeling is very good. I have to admit that we didn’t expect such a big reaction for the album on an international level. We only wanted to make a good record and were trying to get a little attention of music fans, but things have gone so fast. I mean, with the power of the internet we have been able to reach a greater number of metal fans around the world and the overall reception is awesome.

What is the concept behind the album?
Like I already said a couple of times before in different types of media, our album ‘Global Enslavement’ is what you can call a concept album about the epic failure of modern society. The album can be described as a reflection about some of the worst parts of our recent history. Each song is a reflection or a social critique about some massive issues of modern civilization. We wanted to wake some people up, about all the outrageous stuff that is going on right now around the globe.

Are there any particular tracks that deserve special mention to the readers and fans?
Since our song “Humanity’s Last Hope” is getting a lot of attention right now (with the Rock Band 3 feature and also because we’re going to release our first music video for that song in December) this is the one we are promoting hard for recognition. That song reflects the type of sound Massive Slavery is trying to achieve and represents the style and direction for our future songs. Songs like “Destroy, Rebuild, Repeat” and “The Denial of Man’s Regression” are also other songs that have been getting the biggest reaction by the fans in North America. And songs like “Pull the Plug on Modern Civilization” and “Wider We Open Our Eyes” have garnered strong praise on the European side of the globe.

When Massive Slavery began, did you intentionally want to be melodic/ technical death metal band or did it just evolve over time. What were the original aspirations?
With the band having only a year and a half of existence, we did not have a lot of time to figure out what kind of sound we wanted to have at the beginning. We definitely wanted a more melodic side of death metal, with some technical aspects, and also a touch of aggressive/brutal modern influences. The four members of the band had a different musical background and interest in Metal Music, and I think that the final result of Global Enslavement is a mix of everyone’s ability/taste/vision of what a modern death metal album should be.

What got the members into metal in the first place? What bands really stuck out to you over time that you still listen to today?
I think I can’t answer wrong to this question by saying that PANTERA is by far one the most inspiring bands for all of us. Personally, I started to listen to metal music with ‘Vulgar Display of Power’ when I was a teen and since then I have always been into the metal world. Sure, I listened to bands like Metallica and Megadeth before. But when I discovered the power and the aggressive sound of distortion with that band I totally dove into this type of music. I can say that Pantera will be in my top bands-of-all-time-list forever. Even if I did not always agree with the way Phil Anselmo dealt with his career, I must say that this guy was an awesome frontman. The saddest thing that I can say about this is that I never had the chance to see them live, and that’s fucking bad!

On Massive Slavery’s debut, what did the band try to do the hardest to really give them a distinct sound and do you think it worked?
With Global Enslavement, we wanted to make an album that evolves and progresses from one song to another. We wanted to create a roller coaster ride for the listener with a progression that is going from one extreme to another, and finally go back to that first extreme. That’s why the album is starting off “in your face” with some more aggressive and brutal riffing, going slower in the middle with some melodic/catchy stuff, and finally elevating the listener back at the end of the album with more brutality and aggression.

It’s known that Canada (your home country) has very little metal and hard rock popularity there. Did you find it hard reaching out to an audience with such a limited home fanbase?
Man, sorry to tell you that but you’re totally wrong on that one. Canada is a really great country for metal and the crowd here is awesome!! Yes, it is different from the European or the American scene, but we have a lot of great bands who have seen success from here, like Kataklysm, Cryptopsy, Despised Icon, Beneath the Massacre, Neuraxis, and so many more. I can assure you that Montreal is the North American capital for metal music, and the whole province of Quebec is also a great place for this type of music. The problem in Canada is not the crowd or the audience; it’s the distance between the cities. That’s the hardest thing for any metal band right here; we have to make a 6-7 hour car trip to reach the next nearest market to play metal. But each city of Canada has its own crowd, and I can assure you that we can compete with any European country!

What inspired Massive Slavery to take its name?
We have called our band Massive Slavery to illustrate the fact that modern man is just a tool in this system…. We’re confronting to a new breed of Slavery.

Everyone in this world is enslaved by something, or by someone. Massive Slavery is everywhere; people can be enslaved by their job, by a corrupted system based on power and domination. Massive Slavery can also be found on a daily basis. You just have to check around you; a lot of people can’t live without their blackberry, Ipod, Facebook and Twitter. Others can’t leave their full HD TV, and have completely forgotten about what’s happening in the world. That’s why we have selected this band name.

From ‘Global Enslavement’ there is a lot of social commentary on the world and mankind, and much of the message has tons of substance compared to other bands that may not have much to say at all. At the same time, the music has to be interesting as well so fans will pay attention to both the lyrics and the soundtrack that accompanies it. How do you keep that balance?
I must be honest; we have worked really hard to create the perfect balance between the music and the lyrics. We wanted to create an album that combines the overall quality of musicianship and in your face angry lyrics. We tried to put our best work we can on this album and I think that’s what we’ve done. The lyrics are very important for Massive Slavery, because we have the opportunity of being heard by a relatively large amount of people, so we wanted to use that liberty to say how angry and frustrated we feel about the regression of human society, and the fact that things continue to regress day after day.

Well since there has been such a success with the album (not including the search for a world-wide label), are there any tours planned to help get more attention?
Not really. It’s not that we won’t tour, but there are a lot of things going on that are keeping us sidelined for a couple of months. Our drummer Pierre-Alexandre left the band a couple of weeks ago, and we’re working hard to find a new guy to fill the spot. Until then, we’re on hold, unless of course we must hire a session drummer to fill in for a tour.
We definitely want to take over the Canadian Scene as soon as possible.  But we’re not really motivated for intensive touring. We all have day jobs and family, and we won’t drop everything just to make a couple of shows. We’re more looking for weekend shows or 1-2 week mini tours, but not something like 2-3 months, unless there is good financial support.

Despite being from an area where metal isn’t the most popular, there is still a huge fanbase for Massive Slavery. Compared to when you guys grew up with metal music and now with you guys performing a genre much loved, do you think metal music and its fans have changed much as far as expectations go?
I think that fans have evolved at the same rhythm and level as the music has changed. When I was younger, we we’re searching for a new metal band in specialized music stores that kept an underground section with relatively unknown bands. Now, with the global expansion of music with the help of the internet and online Media, everyone can find pretty much every kind of music he wants. And he also can find bands that are related by genre or style with just one click of the mouse. That helps lots of bands to get known on a local, national and worldwide level.

What is the number one effect you would like to see as a result of Massive Slavery’s music?
There are a lot of things we want to achieve with our music, but I think to start off with, we just want to make people realize that the worldwide situation is a complete mess.. We want to make music liked by fans, with strong riffing and catchy melody to please the human ears, but we also want to make music to try to change things and change one’s mentality. I know that we can’t change everything by ourselves, but the best way to achieve this is to try to make people realize about the demise of our world one person at a time, to finally break this global enslavement.

Last question before I sign off… any words of wisdom to our readers and the fans about the world of metal music?
First of all, I would like to invite everyone that wants more information about us, to visit our different pages:
www.myspace.com/massiveslavery
www.facebook.com/#!/pages/MassiveSlavery/205503389299
www.reverbnation.com/massiveslavery

Also, be sure to check out our first music video for “Humanity’s Last Hope” out in December on our official YouTube page at www.youtube.com/massiveslavery

The same song will be available on the Rock Band Network through Rock Gamer Studios for Sony PS3 and XBox 360 in December as well for only 1.99!!

Finally, I would like to thank BRUTALISM.com for this interview and all your readers for taking the time to get in touch and try to know a little more about Massive Slavery. We appreciate it a lot!!

Massive Cheers from Northern Quebec, Canada!!
Jon “The ProF” and Massive Slavery