Massacration

Massacration
Origin Petrópolis, Brazil
Genres Comedy metal, heavy metal, speed metal, thrash metal, glam metal, power metal
Years active 2002–2012
Labels Deckdisc, EMI
Associated acts João Gordo, Igor Cavalera, Angra
Members Detonator
Blondie Hammet
Metal Avenger
Headmaster
Jimmy "The Hammer"

Massacration was a Brazilian satirical heavy metal band, the self-proclaimed "greatest and most classic heavy metal band, the inspiration behind most heavy bands since 1985, whose members' hairdos and posing influenced the whole heavy metal culture". The classical line-up consists of Detonator (vocal, Bruno Sutter), Blond Hammet (lead guitar, Fausto Fanti), Metal Avenger (bass guitar, Marco Antônio Alves), Jimmy "The Hammer" (drums, Felipe Torres) and Headmaster (rhythm guitar, Adriano Pereira).

Massacration was created in the sketch comedy show Hermes & Renato along with other fake bands like the indietronica "Também Sou Hype" ("I'm Also Hype", a parody of CSS), samba school "Unidos do Caralho a Quatro" or the axé band "Coração Melão" (Melon Heart). But, like The Monkees, Massacration became a huge success, and a real band.

History

Fictional Origin

According to a mockumentary shown in MTV (parodying their own Rockumentary format) in December 2004, the band began in 1979, when a young delinquent called John Hammet (Blondie Hammet) was directed to the juvenile hall for the sixth time. There, Hammet played guitar as his only hobby, thus bringing the attention of David Sutter (Detonator), committed for trafficking quails. They had become very close friends. After being released from detention, they approached Donald Polai and formed a band called Death Mania (which seemed to be more like a jam band, seeing as there was no bassist or drummer - Polai played tambourine). Unfortunately, the band lasted nothing but a couple of minutes after their first gig when Polai, influenced by the name, committed suicide.

Hammet and Sutter, depressed over the loss, became addicted to pasta from a ristorante named "Massas Crezio" (Crezio's Pasta, named after Crezio, the young owner of the establishment), and ate so much of his food they wound up going 100 pounds overweight. Crezio intervened, conceding them a space in his property so that Hammet and Sutter could rehearse, which made them overcome their depression and lose all the weight they had gained. In order to reform the band, they decided to put an ad in a local newspaper looking for a drummer, a rhythm guitarist and a bassist. The three candidates who filled these spots were, respectively, Jimmy "The Hammer" Lombardo, Klaus Bisonnette (Headmaster) and Rick Banday (Metal Avenger). Coincidentally enough, all three of them worked with Crezio. The band was formed again. In order to pay homage to Crezio and his pivotal role on getting the band back together (also because his business sponsored the band), the band was rebaptized as MASSASCREZIO. The cacophonic name later on suffered a series of mutations: MASSACREZIO, MASSACRETION, and finally MASSACRATION .

Right after their first gig as Massacration, they had already hooked up with Dick Dornelle, a famed record producer who had worked with the likes of Queen, Iron Maiden and Michael Jackson. With Dornelle, the band had signed with a label called Shusi Records and, even without any recorded material, their popularity had skyrocketed in but a matter of hours. Only then would they go on to record their first single, "Metal Massacre Attack", whose recording sessions lasted two whole months in a studio in North Carolina. "Metal Massacre Attack" consolidated their success by debuting at number one on Billboard Hot 100, anachronistically in front of contemporary names like Usher, Maroon 5 and Gavin DeGraw, and earning the band a "Gremlin".

One day however, Detonator, reduced to a pauper, knocked the door to Hammet's house. They instantly recognized themselves and the reunion brought about a maelstrom of emotions. Clean from his addiction, Detonator was readmitted into the band, making the three remaining members change their minds about taking their old jobs back. As their comeback act, the band promptly released their second single, "Metal Bucetation", which rose them to the top again due to its lightning-quick selling - there were even riots because there were relatively too few singles for too much people. Trailing this success came "Metal Milk Shake", their third single, that sold 12 billion copies, certifying them with a sixfold diamond record (actually, by RIAA standards, such a mark is equivalent to 1,200 diamond records), as well as helping Massacration be heralded with the Nobel Prize in Music, which had only been awarded to Mozart, Beethoven and Frank Sinatra.

Biography

The band was idealized by and composed of members of the Brazilian comedy act Hermes & Renato (currently known as "Banana Mecânica" - Clockwork Banana) that aired on MTV in 2002, in a trash horror movie-like segment that showed a youngster who bought a Massacration record and, by playing it backwards, triggered a curse that, ultimately, turned back against him. After this segment, followed an "exclusive interview" with the five band members and then, the video premiere for "Metal Massacre Attack". In these segments, the name of the band did not have the present spelling: it read "Masacretion" on the record cover, and "Massacrassion" in the interview sketch.

After the making of the song (and video) "Metal Massacre Attack", the video began airing not only on the Hermes e Renato comedy show, but also on the MTV regular rotation videos. The promo video was such a success that the crew was forced to make more songs and videos. "Metal Bucetation" followed "Metal Massacre Attack".

In 2005 they finally finished their first album, Gates of Metal Fried Chicken of Death, produced by João Gordo, lead singer of Ratos de Porão, a reputed hardcore punk Brazilian band. The first single was "Metal is the Law". Because Jimmy "The Hammer" and Headmaster are not real musicians, Igor Cavalera recorded the drums and Blondie Hammet recorded all the guitars.

They have been requested to perform live their songs, and have so far appeared in the Abril Pro Rock Festival and Brasil Metal Union (the latter an all-heavy metal festival). Most of the humour effect of the band relies on its use of a fake English (mocking the fact that many Brazilians prefer foreign music despite being unable to understand it), exaggerate posing, outrageous clothes and gear.

The success they achieved was so high, they even have their own MTV show, where only heavy metal videos are broadcast (which, to some, is surprising, considering the pop-oriented nature of MTV).

It is rumored that their tour drummer is Cavalera Conspiracy's Igor Cavalera. Massacration actually opened some venues for Sepultura during the course of 2005, and Cavalera actually played with them in some venues, under the alias "El Covero" (Spanish for the gravedigger).

Massacration debuted in 2006 in Rockgol, a Brazilian MTV show, in the Pirulândia team, along with Supla, Falamansa, Sonic Jr. and Lucas Santtana.

In 2009, the follow-up album, Good Blood Headbanguers, was released ("Good Blood" being a literal translation of the Brazilian expression sangue bom, meaning a nice, trustworthy person). By this time, the band's aesthetics has leaned more towards glam metal (notably in the power ballad "The Bull", about a man who was cheated on by his girlfriend) while generally retaining its traditional metal sound. As another highlight, the album was produced by Roy Z, well known for his work as guitarist in Rob Halford's solo project and his production work with many other bands.

Style

Massacration chiefly satirises Manowar, Angra, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, with minor references to Sepultura, Saxon, Black Sabbath and Viking metal in general. Their main targets are the Brazilian heavy/power metal fans who can't speak English but nevertheless love the genre, the Brazilian groups who sing in English (like Angra, Dr. Sin, Sepultura, Viper and others) and the heavy metal culture in general, with its leather jackets, black clothes, long hair and frowns. The very fact that the Brazilian headbangers laughed at their jokes and even embraced their music.

Regarding their lyrics, they are intentionally written in a very broken English (which may be unintelligible in a native speaker's ears) mixed with embromation (macaronic words formed by the addition of typical English suffixes like -ation, -atic, -ful, -ness and others to Portuguese roots). Sometimes entire sentences or stanzas can be in Brazilian Portuguese—and not gibberish, unlike some foreigners believe. For instance, the introduction of "Metal is the Law" includes the lines: ai, ai, ai, ai,/ em cima, embaixo/e puxa e vai, which are verses taken from a 'marchinha de Carnaval' (Carnival song) known nationwide and would translate to ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh/above, below/pull and go. Also, some words whose translation would not be known are thrown in the lyrics in Portuguese, like the first verse of "Metal Dental Destruction", which says "fear of the killing broca...", in which broca refers to a dental drill.

The overall image of the band, their subjects and the recurrent terminology suggest a heavy influence of Manowar (and Judas Priest as well, especially when it comes to their image of leather-clad headbangers). However, while most of their songs have names that suggest violence, death, sorrow and sacrilege, they are actually always light-hearted, humorous and naïve, pointing to a joyride lifestyle instead of the gloomy atmosphere of actual heavy metal records.

Discography

Band members

External links