Massive Assault
Wywiad przeprowadził Piotr Pyczek
I don't know what you think of the old Swedish Death Metal. For me, bands like Entombed (the older versions of the band), Dismember or Grave are my beginnings. They were my first experiences of listening to metal; they were my first cassettes; my first posters; back when my hair reached to my nose and I manually ripped and then re-sewed my own trousers. For some, this might be a style of music that you read about and think of in the past tense, but for me it's still something alive. In these more modern times - with Entombed playing bizarre music, Grave still rocking and Dismember playing good, old death metal - I've found a band that's a real smash to the face. Dutch band Massive Assault attacks with a 4-track promo which is like a gust of fresh air, bringing the Swedish death metal style back to life. For all maniacs who appreciate this musical style, this band is worth checking out and paying attention to.... Hi, Fedde. Massive Assault is a relatively new band but you all have had some musical past in other bands. I know that you played in Absorbed for a long time? We reviewed their album in Masterful and thought that it was really, really good... just like the new promo of Massive Assault!
Thank you very much for the compliment, we really appreciate it. It's cool to hear that there are still people who are really enthusiastic about the Swedish sounding metal that is still being released nowadays. And of course to you at Masterful-zine that is still giving us some positive promotion.
Did you leave because of Massive Assault? I also read that Absorbed split up? Maybe they could not go on without you?
I left Absorbed and the main reason was the over-popular saying "we had different opinions" about some important things. I started with Massive Assault as a "side-project", because not all my ideas could be forged into the music of Absorbed. The other reason is that I wanted to play with my good friend - Rob. Rob was always coming along with Absorbed as driver on road or just for fun. Did Absorbed split up because of my leaving? I can't answer now. Maybe in a next interview I will. I did not ask them and for me it is a closed chapter.
What I can say is that Michel (former drummer of Absorbed) was at one point very busy with Makiladoras (his other band, recommended!!!). He actually said he had chosen for Makiladoras and that marked the point of the ending of Absorbed. This band became very popular and is still growing now in contrast to Absorbed. I'm recently busy with recording some new stuff of Makiladoras and in my opinion they sound great (again Swedish sound....a mix between punk and metal), so give them an ear too.
And here you are - playing in Massive Assault doing music that is still in the similar vein. You seem to be a maniac of the old Swedish death metal music - just like me!
Haha, thanx and yeah, you're right. I think the atmosphere of the Swedish style has something special in relation to other styles of death metal music. It has something honest in it, it's hard to describe. Like in the old rock-thing. The Swedish style still rocks! And about the maniac thing, I am in many ways....
Your promo, the first release, sounds really professional. It is certainly a good start for a career. Has any one get in touch with you to offer a contract yet? I would!
Again, machos thanxos! I appreciate the compliment, since I am the one who produced the recordings (Dirty Bird Productions). We had had some offers, but we wanted to make a full-length album with these songs (re-recorded of course, we ain't rip-offs, hehe). Maybe then we will talk about a contract with labels. We also have a thought to put those recordings on our site as well. It's more important to us that we can promote our songs, then making money.
We want to play as many times as possible! We are still experimenting about the ways how to get to that point.
You know... you did good promotion in internet signing all possible guestbooks : - it works! Internet is a really helpful tool, don't you think so? Do you use it often? I sit constantly hooked up to it...
Since I left my girlfriend, I don't have the opportunity to use the internet much now, but still it is the most effective and cheapest way to get your voice heard all over the world.
In our guestbook you singed in with these words "Dutch (Dismember) Massive Assault". You are not trying to hide that this band was an inspiration for you. However it would be difficult to call you a calque of Dismember.
I wanted to state with only a few words what Massive Assault sounds like. I could add a whole list of Swedish bands by which we are influenced with, but then your guestbook would be like 100 pages larger, hehe. Every band is not a clone of another. Take the lyrics for instance. Our lyrics deal with everyday feelings from real life (hidden in a story or just straight to the point), whereas a lot of other Swedish sounding bands (like Absorbed did) have lyrics about fantasy or horror. There will always be a difference.
In the review of your demo I wrote that everything has been done in Swedish Death Metal. Do you think that you can still find a place for you, for something innovative and original? Maybe I am completely wrong here? Honestly speaking I would not like many changes in it.
Let me state it this way: Everything is done a thousand times, but not by me. You can add lots of stuff in your music, but then you can ask yourself if it will be better. We are proud to make the music we like, so why hide it? The reference to our 'idols' is a cool thing to us.
You recorded your demo this summer. Did you start sending it or is it available only on your webpage? Did you get any reviews, comments? I wonder how people react to this material.
We have the songs available to internet-exclusive only (Check the mp3's at www.massiveassault.net). Of course we have copied some CDs of the recordings for some friends, but those are exceptions. We don't have that many reviews, because the zine's are not aware of this way of "releasing" stuff and it's 
just a few months on our site. Some zines even review albums a whole lot later then its release-date. If we go through the replies on our guestbook as well in e-mails, we can state that most people are very positive about Massive Assault. We did not have any negative reactions so far.
Holland seems to be a country where every single day there is a concert. When I look at gigs agendas Holland is quite well represented. Do you have many opportunities to play live?
At the moment we haven't played a show yet with Massive Assault. Simply because, we still have to create a few more songs to be able to play a full gig. There are some gigs upcoming at the end of this year. We're looking forward for the first live assault!
What bands are worth listening to nowadays? Did you listen to Bloodbath for example? What do you think of them?
Hell yeah! I listened to Bloodbath and it sounds great. I listen to a lot of different kinds of music, like punk-rock, rock and metal. Dutch bands worth listening to are INRI, Cerebral Tumor, Makiladoras and some more.
Since we are gossiping about bands here is another one. I could never forgive Desultory for their last album (Swallow the Snake). What was your reaction when you first listened to that crap?
Sorry, I don't recollect hearing that album. But, I will do it pretty soon.
Maybe it is still too early to ask but you probably have some plans for a full-length album in near future. I hope that you will not let us wait for a long time...
The plans are that recordings will start at the end of this year. So, you might expect hearing new stuff in the beginning of 2004. The new songs are a little bit different from the songs that are available now. We are tending to create some more diverse structures in songs, like dis-beats, blast-beats and some groovy shit. Most important for an album still is that it should ROCK! And we hope that mission will be accomplished.
I hope that we can talk a little bit longer after you release your album. Would you like to add anything? Something I should have asked but I didn't. This would be the end. Thank you for your time and good luck with Massive Assault!
Yeah, you didn't ask me about my dick size, HAHAHAHA!!! But seriously, I tried to answer the questions as good as possible. Thanks for the interview and I will be looking forward to our next chatter. Good luck with Masterful and I hope you'll get many readers. For those who want to check us out, check www.massiveassault.net often for news and gossip (and maybe the answer to the dick size :P)
I will check it for sure then :)
