History & Biography Massacra hailed from France and was probably that country’s first big thrash metal export. The band was formed in a suburb of Paris in January of 1986 and issued a demo called Legion Of Torture a year later. Fred "Death" Duval was on drums here, but switched to vocals and guitar going forward. Fred had left the band for a while in-between roles. The band had lost two early members after just one gig in 1986. The Final Holocaust - a name the band would utilize for its first album - demo followed a year later. Nearer From Death (1989) was the group’s last demo and introduced the group’s new logo.
The Frenchmen obtained a deal with Germany’s Shark Records and issued the debut album in 1990. Shark Records had initially wanted to merely license the record. The debut was reportedly recorded in a mere four days. The group flew to and played in Canada and opened for Sepultura in Belgium in 1990. The first two records were speedy thrash albums, which earned the band some repute in the underground. The band played gigs with Benediction and Candlemass following the sophomore record.
Beginning with the third album the band slowed things down and became more attentive to the mainstream. The appropriately-titled Signs Of The Decline also featured new drummer Limmer who was a German. The band moved to Germany perhaps in response to the lack of support and appreciation in France. Sick continued the new sound trend. It was still on Shark because the band had obtained an extension and re-signed with Shark Records. Humanize Human was on a new imprint label and featured drummer Björn Crugger who was also German. Duval died of skin cancer in 1997, which ended the band. For some reason CLM issued the band’s second and some of the third album as one disc, called Massacra - Apocalyptic Warriors Pt. 1, in 2000. Matthias Limmer died in 2023.
Massacra was the title for a Hellhammer song. Zero Tolerance was an industrial side-project. Zero Tolerance was on Jean-Marc Tristani's own Active Records. The man would go on to head Century Media Records' operations in France. Century Media Records, therefore, began rereleasing Massacra's music in 2014. Massacra toured Europe with the likes of Overkill and Samael.
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