Beneath the Massacre
By: Rei Nishimoto
Beneath the Massacre is one of the many bands coming out of the rising Montreal metal scene within the past few years. Joining fellow scensters Despised Icon, Ion Dissonance, Neuraxis and Cryptopsy, they have built a following through extensive touring. Their latest record, Dystopia, continues that brash style of technical death metal that pushes the extremities of that sound. Fans have growth more familiar with them touring with Suicide Silence and Necrophagist.
Vocalist Elliot Desgagnes talked about the new record, life on the road, and their background that developed them into what they are today.
Blistering.com: What different approaches did you take on the making of Dystopia?
Elliot Desgagnes: We had to write it on the road because we were constantly on the road for the Mechanics of Dysfunction promotion. It was me and the guitar player (Christopher Bradley) mostly writing music all the time and we hoped we had enough songs. That’s why the release of the record is out a year and a half after the first one. Writing-wise – I think everyone’s had a word to say about the songs, compared to maybe to the previous one. On this one, we all worked for it.
Blistering.com: Much of your lyrical content is based on social decay. How much has the themes of your songs changed over the years?
Desgagnes: Yeah totally. Dystopia is more about the disasters upcoming. I would say it’s a big question mark. It’s a lot of questions that I’m asking, like how I would ask it to the world I’m living in. There aren’t many answers. It’s the opposite of Mechanics of Dysfunction, where I was bringing up like a problem with a solution. This one’s a bunch of questions I threw in there.
Blistering.com: Where did you get the interest in this theme? Are you into conspiracy theories like the 9/11 theories?
Desgagnes: I don’t believe in that many conspiracy theories. There are some, but I’m not the one who believes in these conspiracy things. I think it is way simpler than this. It’s capitalism. It’s the mass consumption of the society we’re living in. It’s bringing us nothing but war, conflicts and the bigger gap between the rich and the poor. A reason for all of these wars and all of these problems…the social problems are so obvious. It’s almost funny that people don’t understand yet.
Blistering.com: Musically, for a band together for such a short period of time, you have quite the crushing sound with such highly technical parts put together. Does it take a while to piece together your songs, as much of it is quite complex?
Desgagnes: Our songs are definitely complex. I think it’s a sound that we got from…it’s weird because we’re such good friends. There are two brothers, the guitar player (Christopher Bradley) and the bass player (Dennis Bradley). I’ve known them forever. I was their neighbor when we were kids. It’s like a bunch of brothers that we knew what we were always trying to do. So when we write music, we don’t question ourselves whether it sounds like us, because we know it will. There are a lot of bands I hear them say, “I don’t know if we do it this way or that way, but it doesn’t sound like us.” We don’t ask ourselves questions about it because we know what we want to do, how we want to sound, and just do it.
Blistering.com: Has everyone in the band been playing in bands prior to Beneath the Massacre?
Desgagnes: Beneath the Massacre’s coming from the ashes of another band we used to have. I was playing bass and at this point we needed a new singer. I grabbed the mic instead of playing bass. At this time, we found our sound and that we were starting something with a new bassist with new members. We’ve always been playing music for a long time. Justin (Rousselle) started playing drums…I don’t know how old he was but it’s been a while. We’ve been musicians before Beneath the Massacre. We’ll be musicians after Beneath the Massacre.
Blistering.com: Being from Montreal, the Canadian metal scene has exploded with bands like Cryptopsy, Despised Icon, and Ion Dissonance. With the exception of maybe Cryptopsy, did you all come up the scene together? Were you familiar with each other?
Desgagnes: We all met when we were at shows. With our ex-band, we did Ion Dissonance’s first show. I met the guys in Despised Icon after shows. The dudes came and saw me and said they were amazed. Ever since, we kept contact and they’re good friends of ours. We went to Europe together. I think it’s the music. It’s about going to the shows and the music we love made us friends. I do realize there are a lot of good bands. I’m pretty proud of the Montreal music scene. The last Neuraxis album is amazing. I know Ion Dissonance is writing a new album right now. So is Despised Icon.
Blistering.com: What is it about the Montreal metal scene? Is it sheer coincidence that all of these bands came up at the same time and got noticed at the same time?
Desgagnes: In Montreal, we’re there for the music first, unlike a lot of places we go. Bands are not there for the music. They’re there to look cool on stage and impress their girlfriends. For us, we’re there for the music. I think Montreal has a huge respect for musicians. No matter what gender they are. Right now, we’re on tour with Suicide Silence, Architects from the UK, Emmure and After the Burial. Architects sounds nothing like any of those bands. So in some places in the States, people would watch them like ‘what are they doing?’ People loved them in Montreal because they’re great musicians. I think places are more open-minded about music. There’s going to be some good bands coming out of these places.
Blistering.com: When you started Beneath the Massacre, what were some of the bands that helped shape your sound?
Desgagnes: Bands like Death, Dying Fetus, Suffocation, and Origin. Death/grind bands like Pig Destroyer. We’re also influenced by the hardcore movement. We don’t sound hardcore but it’s an energy thing. We like giving a show. We’re like sweating like assholes on stage, and dying every night. We’re true to our music. We couldn’t play the music without that. I think also it has something to do with growing up listening to punk music. So there’s definitely some kind of punk/grind/hardcore attitude also behind the music.
Blistering.com: How’s the Suicide Silence tour going so far?
Desgagnes: Good. Suicide Silence is huge. They’re so huge it’s ridiculous. There’s some cities where I’ve never seen turnouts like this. Like smaller cities. We’ve played big cities with big bands before so I knew what to expect. But it’s small cities where there are lots of kids.
Blistering.com: Where were some of the surprise turnouts on the tour?
Desgagnes: There was a stop in Kansas, where we played a month and a half ago with Necrophagist and Dying Fetus. There were 70 kids. When we played with Suicide Silence two weeks ago, a month after we played with Necrophagist, there were 250 kids! This is in Kansas – the smallest place ever! The only reason we had a show there was because we were playing Denver, Colorado the day before, and there was nothing before we were going to the East Coast. So they booked those kinds of shows sometimes. It’s not big markets. It was pretty big.
www.myspace.com/beneaththemassacre
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