We are Misanthropic Existence, an extreme metal band from the UK which plays a primitive, violent and apocalyptic breed of metal. Our music is not for the faint of heart and is rewarding to those who can stomach its intensity. Our full length debut “Death Shall Be Served” runs a little over an hour in length and does not yield or relent, it is a challenge of endurance to listen to in one sitting and is a testament to the ferocity and chaos we strive to create. For the purpose of the interview it shall be me, Lord Hypocrisy who is talking with you, I am the bands main vocalist and guitarist and also lyricist. The other members of the band are Ealdor Bana on guitar and backing vocals, Samorodek on bass guitar and backing vocals and Cymbal Rapist on drums.
2.How would you describe the musical sound that has been presented on the recordings that you have released so far?
We are big fans of real playing and real musicianship and live performance, so our recordings are often live recorded, keeping all the human elements and imperfections in so as to give a much truer and raw experience, we aren’t much fans of studio enhancements and hit replacements on the drums and things like that, I know alot of modern metal recording techniques can make almost anyone seem to sound like world beaters but we find it is usually very underwhelming to see the band live with that big sounding CD and they don’t live up to it. The sound is intense and real, primitive and chaotic.
3.From 2012 to 2016 there was no new music being released, can you tell us a little bit more about what was going on during that time frame?
In 2012 my son was born, so naturally at the time I was heavily invested as a new father. We still practiced during this time and we still played some limited live shows. We formed in December 2011 and so naturally in 2012 we were still a very new band since it’s conception. Aside of personal issues and also money, we spent a very long time crafting the music that would eventually become the album “Death Shall Be Served.” Really it took us about three years of writing, practicing and enhancing and refining the material in-between playing live shows because we have always wanted to make sure that whatever we create is at the absolute top quality and the best we can do. We are very pleased with the album and the music we wrote during this time, and actually we ended up with alot of material written, so we intend for the next album not to take as long to surface as the debut because we have had all that time to find our sound and refine it, to get to work together and have a quite large stock of new material left over and newly created. It’s going to be very interesting for us and for fans of our music in the future.
4.Can you also tell us a little bit more about the lyrical topics and subjects you have explored over the years with your music?
The lyrics in our music have dealt with religion, society, laws and politics, the occult, Satanism, spirituality, morality, nihilism, self belief and overcoming and conquering adversity through strength and power.
5.How would you describe your views on 'Satanism'?
I can only speak for myself on this one, I believe that of course Satanism means different things to different people depending on who you ask. For myself, I believe in no physical deity whatsoever, I am my own god, I do not need nor seek power or approval from any deity and that includes Satan. Satan in the literal sense to me is the fallen angel of god and that’s a christian belief of which I hold no value in. I am strongly opposed to all religion and all aspects of them. I take Satan instead as a carnal force which exists in humans on a primitive level, it can be destructive and cruel, malicious and wicked, but to me I see it as part of the balance of the universe such as night and day, black and white, good and bad. Satan is the rebel, the antithesis of following rules and being part of a herd, Satan empowers individualism and inspires leadership, Satan is everywhere you look depending on how you look and whether you can see it or not. However our drummer Cymbal Rapist can speak more of his views on his much more literal Satanism.
6.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Misanthropic Existence'?
I am a misanthrope myself, it means to those who aren’t familiar with the term that I have no faith in humanity and do not trust the general population. I despise how society is, I have nothing but contempt and pity for how idiotic, self centred and short sighted people are and tend to be. I could go on and on about my views on humanity and the world but keeping it straight to the point – we are misanthropes, we hate people, we play extreme metal about how much we hate people and that’s why we are Misanthropic Existence!
7.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
We played a great gig for terrorizer magazine as part of their Halloween show in Camden the one year, a very violent gig with infanticide from Sweden in our local city of Worcester was a total blast, just recently we had an excellent show in Banbury with Blasfeme and Agrona which was just the total bill, all three of us bands just ripped the roof off the place and if you didn’t know Satan before that gig you certainly did during! As for our stage performance, it is loud, fast, in your face, an apocalyptic wall of noise, with the right lighting its like the portal of hell opening up. Very intense, not many breaks for showmanship with how intense the musicianship is and how involving the vocal work is, but when we get the very occasional moment we can grab at, we do tend to give it some shit with the headbanging or our bassist Ealdor Bana’s favourite pass time of wind milling your head off!
8.Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?
We are playing as many live shows as possible at the moment, we have a few lined up for now, two in Birmingham, one in Worcester a bit of a homecoming, and we are on the look out for more opportunities to perform wherever. We are also very proud to announce our main stage appearance at this years Incineration Festival in London, sharing a stage with the likes of Abbath, Taake, Sarkom and Rotting Christ.
9.In 2016 you had done a cover of Beastcraft's "Satanist', what was the decision behind doing your own version of this song?
It was part of a compilation CD in memory of the life of Alestor Trondr Nefas from the bands Urgehal and beastcraft most notably, whereby his friends asked for bands around the world to submit a cover of one of Nefas’s tracks to go towards a limited CD entitled “the beast awakens.” It was actually uploaded by us in 2016 for anyone to hear who didn’t manage to get a copy of that CD, it was from 2012. We were the sole UK contributor to that CD.
10.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of black and death metal?
It has been going very well we would say, we have been very well received and reviewed up to this point, we have fans all over the world at current and the CD is being shipped around the world. Things seem to be getting bigger and better for us and only time can truly tell what more may lay in store for us in the future. We will continue to play the UK but are open to the potential of venturing abroad and if the right time comes or if a request is put forward for our appearance we shall make it happen happily.
11.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
The next album we can say to expect some more in a similar vein to what we did with Death Shall Be Served, but also some more interesting things in there too musically, always remembering it is going to forever be filthy, extreme and violent of course! We are hoping to turn it up a notch with the next one in terms of its production if we can, so essentially more of what we are just bigger, more refined, newer and subjectively perhaps better but expect the high quality of our work to always remain. We won’t ever release something sub par.
12.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
Absolutely tons of black metal, death metal, thrash metal, slight bits of doom, slight bits of other metal but mostly just extreme metal and well, metal! We all have our own personal favourites, so many to list and too many to count, we could probably write a list of bands til forever. Let’s just say – good shit, proper good shit. These days – much more of the same, actually not so much new stuff that’s grabbed us, except recently after playing with Agrona and Blasfeme we would heavily recommend those two bands as they are very good.
13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Keep supporting underground music and metal, buy cd's or t-shirts, go to shows, all the money goes to very hard working and often poor yet richly talented bands and individuals and says a big fuck you to the corporate side of the music business and keeps culture alive and well. Other than this – keep being awesome and be proud to be a listener of some of the finest musical art this world has ever produced \M/
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