Allschools Magazine: Hey guys, so excited to hear that you will release a new album. My name is Bennie and I’d love to interview you for our German online mag called Allschools. We are a magazine that features all kinds of alternative music. I am not usually a death/grind fan, but sure like some bands - including yours. When I first listened to your debut “Mechanics Of Dysfunction”, I was super into it - so it's a great honor for me to ask you a couple questions for our website. 

You are releasing your new album in a couple of days. Before, you put out some songs on Youtube, including “Treacherous”. How do you feel the response has been to the material you’ve released so far?

Eliott Desgagnés (Singer/Frontman): Very good. A lot of people hit us up to let us know how much they like the new tracks. Even fans from the early days seems to agree this is our best album yet which is not always an easy thing to do. We are just very happy to finally release these tracks and to share them with everyone, we were sitting on them for way too long.

The new album will be called “Fearmonger”. What's the story behind that title?

Chris (Guitar) came up with the last track and I was kind of getting out of fancy ideas for lyrics with very complex subjects. So, I opted for writing a very pissed off, straight forward song about the rise of populism, anti-intellectualism and fearmongering politicians we have witnessed in the last couple of years.

It’s been 8 years since the band’s last release. What do you think has changed in those years? Why did the release take so long? Can you tell us a little bit about the process of making “Fearmonger”? What was your main inspiration for riffs/lyrics?

Fearmonger was special album because it had no deadline. We could write two songs in 1 month but then spend months without doing anything. It is only in Fall 2017 that we decided to finish it and to go to studio with what we had. At that time we didn’t have a drummer so we asked Anthony Barone if he was down to join us and he accepted right away. We misestimate the time it would take us to finish recording this album and it is only in spring 2019 that we finally had it all done.

I am a chemistry teacher and during the breaks between lessons, when I prepare stuff for the next course, I often play music. Recently, I listened to “Treacherous” before. Some of my students asked me what music style that was. How would you describe your music if someone asked you about what your band plays? 

Furious guitar shredding on weird time signatures with heavy grooves with an angry guy screaming over it.

What are BENEATH THE MASSACRE’s plans for the next few months? Are there any plans to promote the new album here in Germany?

We are touring with Origin in the United-States and Canada for a couple of weeks in March-April. We were in Europe just last December. The new album wasn’t out yet but we still played a song from the record. We don’t know exactly when we’ll be back but we will.

What do you like the most about Germany? Anything noticable about the fanbase here?

We love playing in Germany. We know a lot of people here. Fans are knowledgeable and nice to talk with. You guys are always brutal-honest about our performances and it makes us laugh a lot. Like, they will tell you if you had a problem in a solo or if your voice is shot or anything like that when most other places won’t necessarily bring it up to the artist; not Germans!

Can you give us a short summary of your personnel and the band history?

We started Beneath the Massacre in 2004, put out a EP called ‘Evidence of Inequity’ that got us the attention from the rest of the world. Signed to Prosthetic Records, released ‘Mechanics of Dysfunction’ (2007), ‘Dystopia’ (2008), ‘Marée Noire’ EP (2010) and ‘Incongruous’ (2012) and intensively toured to promote these albums everywhere in Canada, US and Europe. We took it easy for a while but we’re now releasing our most vicious album to date ‘Fearmonger’ on Century Media and are looking forward to go on the road with that record.

Name something typically Canadian about BENEATH THE MASSACRE:

Hm, I don’t know what could be described as typical Canadian to be honest. It is always harder to see those things about your own culture.

 As always: Last words for you:

Thanx for having us and I hope my answers satisfied your curiosity. I would also like to invite everyone to go listen to ‘Fearmonger’!

Thanks a lot and have a good time!