Band:	Massive Slavery
Album:	Global Enslavement
Style:	Melodic death metal, Metalcore
Release date:	July 26, 2010
A review by:	Thryce

01. MediAssassiNation
02. Shade Of Corruption
03. Global Enslavement
04. The Denial Of Man's Regression
05. Destroy, Rebuild, Repeat
06. A Cold Interlude
07. Wider We Open Our Eyes
08. Pull The Plug On Modern Civilization
09. Humanity's Last Hope
10. Generalized Cyberphobia

Melodic Death metal
Recorded: Northern Studio, Canada 2010
Label: Maple Metal Records
Total Running Time: 42:38


Massive Slavery is the latest genuine rough diamond sprouting from the flourishing Quebec metal scene. As a loyal pupil of the newer Canadian death metal school, this band is practically as modern as they come. On Global Enslavement - a semi-concept album themed around social criticism - the once established boundaries between melodic death metal and technical death metal have become heavily blurred, even a few deathcore influences get thrown in. All in all a more than decent debut effort. But...

But don't expect a straightforward release. Like a barbed wire the sudden tempo fluctuations snake through this album. From all sides breakdowns, complex-sounding leads and other rhythmic hiccups are intruding the compositions, which were still rough around the edges to begin with. Like aborted porcupines the frenzied tunes crawl around in your ears corrupting the smoothness of your listening experience. Clearly the accessibility is scarce in these jagged soundscapes... (presumably even for the sake of it).

So is this a bad thing? Massive Slavery sure is trying hard to convince me it's not. On several other occasions they're also trying to convince me they're more relentless and brutal than they actually are. Anyway, this is the kind of structured pseudo-chaos you're getting accustomed to after a few spins, so no worries there.

Two more good-to-know-factoids regarding Global Enslavement. One. The album is probably more dynamic and varied than your everyday melodic death metal album - a sure rarity in this day and age. Two. Also the harsh vocals lines are very diverse. They're not the easiest ones to stomach, though they fit perfectly with the overall course. And they don't make me want to impale myself on a spiked dildo, so that always a good thing. (Just this once I will let them off the hook for the casual deathcore pig squeals on the album's title track - but seriously, what in fuck's name were you thinking there?)

Final verdict: at first blush, Massive Slavery seems infinitely preferable to some of their bromigo's in the Canadian modern death metal scene. As said, decent enough album.