Chris, Massacra was formed in 1986, by drummer Frederick „Death” Laurent Duval , guitarist Jean-Marc Tristani and vocalist/bassist Pascal Junet „Jörgensen”, but a year later you joined them as a new drummer and Fred switched to guitars, how happened, how did you get in the picture exactly?
Firstable, i have to correct the name of Laurent Daval, not Duval, known as Fred Death. I was in the army in november 1987 when i received a letter from Jen Marc. He wrote me that Laurent was living France to the USA. He knew that I was on the way of beeing free of my military service and he asked me to join the band.
Were you the band’s first choice or did they audition other drummers as well?
At this time I used to be the drummer of Metal Storm, a Death Thrash metal band. Massacra had seen me playing live and they thought i could replace Fred Death.
By the way, did you know the guys in person?
Of course i knew them and they were known as bad boys… In our city we were few people listening to hard rock music so I met them several times. They were known as a band playing extreme music inspired by Morsüre. I went to their rehersal room to listen them.
What were your views of the French metal scene at this point as a whole/in general?
Metal scene in France was reduced to hard rock and heavy metal. Trust was in decline and bands like Sortilege, ADX, Demon Eyes, H Bomb, Killers were emerging. We were the next generation influenced by Metallica, Slayer, Vemon, Kreator and we didn’t follow the french metal scene.
Would you say, that in the days of old, Massacra along with Loudblast and/or Agressor was the spearhead of French death/thrash metal?
It’s truth ! Loudablast in the North, Agressor in the south and Massacra in Paris suburbs. But the Massacra drumming style was unique with what we call now ’blast beat’
How about Morsüre? Were all of you familiar with this outfit?
Morsüre and Massacra were friends and rehearsed in the same place in different room. Massacra learned their guitar techniques from this band and Morsüre inspired the drumming style of Laurent. I didn’t meet them because they had splitted before i joined the band.
Three demos (Legion of Torture – 1987, Final Holocaust – 1988, Nearer from Death – 1989) were published back in the day, can you tell us more about them?
I can say nothing about the first demo because i was not in the band but i knew all the songs that i had heard before in their rehearsal room. 2 month after i joined the band we recorded the Final Holocaust demo. It was our first studio experience in Paris and the sound engineer was not familiar with our kind of music. That was a mess to explain what we want with the growl vocals. Nearer from Death was recorded in a 24 tracks studio witch was not common at this time. I don’t know why the drums toms were mixed with so much echo effect !
Did they represent, what you wanted to achieve the band with?
We did our best and we were the first band to use tapes with color cover jackets.
Were they spread around in the tapetrading scene?
Jean Marc sent all the demos though the world metal scene. That’s why Massacra have a world reputation, especially in south america and Est countries
There were compilation appearances as well, such as Dream of Violence & Apocalyptic Warriors on Skullthrasher – a Second Blast! (Skullthrasher Productions, 1987), Nearer from Death & Apocalyptic Warriors (Chapter Final) on Thrashing Rage Vol.1 (Initium, 1989, cassette), Nearer From Death on Blasphemous Harmonies Volume 1 Tape (Blasphemous Harmonies Distributions, 1989) and Dream of Violence on Buttfuck Compilation Tape Vol. 1 (Buttfuck, 1989), did these opportunities help a lot to expand your fanbase and to make a name for the band?
Of course yes, but we conquered our fan base with our brutal live performances
Do you still remember, how were you picked up and signed by German Shark Records? Were there perhaps bigger labels’ (Earache, Nuclear Blast, Roadrunner, Century Media) interests in the band?
In 1989 after 2 gigs in Canada we went to New York city and we tried to meet Roadrunner director. We caught him in the restroom because we had no meeting ! Jean Marc contacted Shark Records because Sepultura’s first two albums were distributed in Europe by this label.
Did Shark offer you an advantageous contract? Did you know those bands, that were on the label’s roster at this point, for example Thanatos, Deathrage, Powerlord, Phantom, Metal Onslaught?
It was a basic deal for 3 albums and we had nothing to negociate. For my part i didn’t know these bands.
Were you aware of, that the label was founded by Axel Thubeauville, who previously had Earthshaker Records?
I was not aware of the business music industry at this time.
Your debut album, Final Holocaust was recorded and mixed at RA.SH Studios, RA.SH, Gelsenkirchen, Germany in October 1989, how did the recording sessions go?
The producer wanted to go fast. Under the pretext of promoting energy he made us record live, drums, bass and guitar at the same time. That why this album is so raw. I was not familiar with this way of recording. When the drums was ok, guitar or bass were not good so we had to do it again. When bass and guitar were good, I was not… I had to do compromise. At the end of session day I was exhausted and my double bass drum was crappy. At this time we played with guts with no clic at all
Did you have a decent budget to record the material, by the way?
I don’t know the budget, i just know that we spent 10 days to release this album
Is it correct, that the half of the songs were taken from the demos? Did you perhaps change/alter anything about them or did you use/play the original versions?
Only 4 songs were from the demos. Last version of Sentenced for Life and Apocalyptic warriors (chapter final). Nearer from Death became Nearer to Death with a dum intro, Dream of Violence became Beyond the Prophecy with new arrangements. Final Holocaust was totaly a new version
How do you explain, if we’re talking in terms of pure extremity, then Massacra exists at the borders of thrash metal?
Massacra was influenced by bands like The exploited, Morsüre, Carnivore, Slayer, Morbid Angel, Kreator. we played guitar riffs to drive the audience crazy. At this time stage-diving was a worlwide sport !
Did the material mix all sorts of fast-paced thrash riffs with mid-fast-pace bridges, mid-paced breaks and all-out insane riffs?
We were not musicians, as i said we were headbangers and we played with guts. We compensated for our lack of musical technique with convoluted structures.
Is Final Holocaust a cavalcade of violent riffs?
The album Final Holocaust is based on violent riffs, barbarian drumming and agressive vocals. We took pleasure in playing our Deathrash music that’s why all songs has 5 min long. It was an outlet.
How do you view, that it doesn’t totally fall into the same trap a lot of death/thrash does/did, as it does vary up its assault and craft some memorable riffs?
I’m sorry but i don’t understand your question. I’m a drummer with a little brain and only a guitarist can answer that.
Did you write some of the most intense and vicious thrash to date?
I don’t know, only the audience decides what we did. I’m glad we’re talking about our music 34 years later. This means we were on the right path.
Do you agree with, that with insanely fast riffs, brutal drumming and crushing vocals, Massacra was ready to create a huge name for themselves in the metal underground?
We were ahead of our time in the french metal scene but in the right wave over the world. That’s why Massacra is still alive in the minds of many people and our music is passed on to the younger generation.
The record also shows off your ability to create some great mid-paced monsters like on The Day of Massacra, right?
I love this song, it’s a tribal anthem to our fans. I wrote lyrics in the same way of Metallica song ”hit the lights”. Mid-paced tempo to get the crowd shouting.
Did Massacra blend the best of death metal and thrash on Final Holocaust flawlessly, and it shows/showed?
Where is the border between thrash and death metal ? We just wanted to play and share pure energy from our guts.
Did it also show the band in transition from the classic thrash metal band you were in your beginning to the more death metal orientated style of the following two albums?
Fred Death has become more influential over time and he brought his musical experience from the United States.
In your opinion, is Final Holocaust an awesome utterly violent effort that presents Massacra still incorporating lots of Teutonic thrash influences, as well as some parallels to early Sepultura, Possessed?
Yes and bands like Terrorizer or S.O.D had influenced us.
Did you manage to put together an uncompromising album rife with the pure essence of death/thrash metal spirit?
As i’ve said we played with guts and we didn’t care what style of music we played.
Unfortunately Fred died at age 30 on May 8th, 1997 due to skin cancer (gave his nickname a very sad meaning) and your successor, Matthias Limmer (Jun 26th, 2023) as well, how do you want them to be remembered?
Fred Death was a leader and pioneer who should have had a great career in the metal scene. I haven’t met Matthias Limmer but he did a great job in “Signs of the Decline” with my drums parts
Chris, thanks for the interview, what are your closing words for our readers?
Thank you for this interview. I would like to greet the many fans around the world. I hope to meet them in concert with Massacra Legacy. I exist thanks to them, and I want to give them back Massacra’s musical repertoire.
