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| Misanthropy Records | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Founded | 1993 |
| Founder | Varg Vikernes, Tiziana Stupia |
| Defunct | 2000 |
| Status | Inactive |
| Genre | Black metal, avant-garde metal, doom metal, progressive metal |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Misanthropy Records was a British heavy metal record label.
The label was founded in 1993 by Tiziana Stupia, originally solely to release an album by Burzum. The background to the founding of the company was that after Varg Vikernes was arrested in August 1993 for the murder of Mayhem guitarist Øystein Aarseth, no record company wanted anything to do with him. He tried to release Burzum's next album himself, but found that running a worldwide distribution from a prison cell was very difficult. Stupia, a fan of Burzum, was upset when she heard this. She contacted several record companies in an attempt to persuade them to release the album, but to no avail. As a result, one of the companies she wrote to replied to her, stating, "If it is so important to you to have these Burzum albums released, why don't you do it yourself?".[ citation needed ] Stupia then decided to do just that, and started Misanthropy Records.
A contract with Vikernes was signed, and soon afterwards, Misanthropy's first record was released. The response was so positive that Stupia decided to continue the company. Two more albums by Burzum were released, and then the company started signing other bands, including Fleurety, In the Woods..., and Ved Buens Ende. All releases from Misanthropy Records were within various heavy metal subgenres. Jeff Wagner in Mean Deviation writes that Misanthropy, along with The End Records, helped usher in a new wave of avant-garde metal music. [1]
The company closed down in 2000, as Stupia was tired of the metal scene and wanted to pursue other areas of life, including studying psychology and goddess mythology. She is now called "Srila Devi", works as a yoga teacher and author, and wrote a book entitled Meeting Shiva. [2] Parts of the company's catalogue was licensed to Candlelight.
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw (lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an emphasis on atmosphere. Artists often appear in corpse paint and adopt pseudonyms.
Burzum was a Norwegian music project founded by Varg Vikernes in 1991. Although Burzum never played live performances, it became a part of the early Norwegian black metal scene and is considered one of the most influential acts in black metal's history. He has also released four dark ambient and neofolk albums. The word "burzum" means "darkness" in the black speech, a fictional language crafted by Lord of the Rings writer J. R. R. Tolkien. Burzum's lyrics and imagery are often inspired by fantasy and Norse mythology, and do not feature the political views Vikernes is known for.
National Socialist black metal, also known as NSBM, Aryan black metal, and Neo-Nazi black metal, is a political movement and subgenre within the black metal music scene that promotes neo-Nazism, and Fascist and white supremacist ideologies. NSBM artists typically combine neo-Nazi imagery and ideology with ethnic European paganism, Satanism, or Nazi occultism, or a combination thereof, and vehemently oppose Christianity, Islam and Judaism from a racialist viewpoint. NSBM is not seen as a distinct genre, but as a völkisch movement within black metal. According to Mattias Gardell, NSBM musicians see this ideology as "a logical extension of the political and spiritual dissidence inherent in black metal".
Louis Cachet, better known as Varg Vikernes, is a Norwegian writer and retired musician best known for his early black metal albums and later crimes. His first four records, issued under the name Burzum from 1991 to 1994, made him one of the most influential figures in black metal. In 1994, he was convicted of murder and arson, and subsequently served 15 years in prison.
Øystein Aarseth, better known by his stage name Euronymous, was a Norwegian musician. Euronymous was a founder of and central figure in the early Norwegian black metal scene. He was a co-founder and guitarist of the Norwegian black metal band Mayhem and was the only constant member from the band's formation in 1984 until his death in 1993. He was also founder and owner of the extreme metal record label Deathlike Silence Productions and record shop Helvete.
Mayhem is a Norwegian black metal band formed in Langhus in 1984. They were one of the founders of the Norwegian black metal scene and their music has strongly influenced the black metal genre. Mayhem's early career was highly controversial, primarily due to their notorious live performances, the 1991 suicide of vocalist Per Yngve Ohlin ("Dead") and the 1993 murder of guitarist Øystein Aarseth ("Euronymous") by former member Varg Vikernes of Burzum.
Avant-garde metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music loosely defined by use of experimentation and innovative, avant-garde elements, including non-standard and unconventional sounds, instruments, song structures, playing styles, and vocal techniques. Avant-garde metal is influenced by progressive rock and extreme metal, particularly death metal, and is closely related to progressive metal. Some local scenes include Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Boston, and Seattle in the United States, Oslo in Norway, and Tokyo in Japan.
The early Norwegian black metal scene of the 1990s is credited with creating the modern black metal genre and produced some of the most acclaimed and influential artists in extreme metal. It attracted massive media attention when it was revealed that its members had been responsible for two murders and a wave of church burnings in Norway.
Nargaroth is a German black metal band led by René "Ash" Wagner, formerly known as “Kanwulf”.
Ved Buens Ende is a Norwegian avant-garde metal band. Their sound is diverse with quiet instrumental jazz influenced sections and aggressive black metal blast beats and vocals. Ved Buens Ende means "By the end of the bow" referring to the mythological rainbow Bifröst.
De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas is the first studio album by the Norwegian black metal band Mayhem. Songwriting began in 1987, but due to the suicide of vocalist Per "Dead" Ohlin and the murder of guitarist Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth, the album's release was delayed until May 1994. De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas is widely considered one of the most influential black metal albums of all time. It is the band's only studio album to feature Aarseth and Varg "Count Grishnackh" Vikernes.
Aske is an EP by Norwegian black metal solo project Burzum. Though recorded in April and August 1992, after Det som engang var, it was released before that album in March 1993, through Deathlike Silence Productions.
Hvis lyset tar oss is the third studio album by Norwegian black metal solo project Burzum. It was recorded in September 1992, but was not released until April 1994, whereupon it was released through Misanthropy Records and Vikernes' own record label, Cymophane Productions.
Det som engang var is the second studio album by the Norwegian black metal solo project Burzum. It was recorded in April 1992 and released in August 1993 through Burzum's own label, Cymophane Productions.
Fleurety is a Norwegian avant-garde metal band. The band was formed in 1991 by Svein Egil Hatlevik and Alexander Nordgaren.
Filosofem is the fourth studio album by Norwegian black metal solo project Burzum. It was recorded in March 1993 and was the last recording before Varg Vikernes was sentenced to prison in 1994; the album was not released until January 1996, however. It was released through Misanthropy Records and Vikernes's own record label, Cymophane Productions. A music video was made for the song "Dunkelheit" and received airtime on both MTV and VH1.
Dauði Baldrs is the fifth album by the Norwegian solo act Burzum. Unlike Burzum's previous work, which was mostly black metal, this is a dark ambient album. It was recorded using a synthesizer and a normal tape recorder by Varg Vikernes while he was in prison, as he was not allowed to have any other instruments or recording equipment. It was completed in a few months due to his limited access to synthesizers, which was also the case with the following album, Hliðskjálf.
Grand Declaration of War is the second full-length studio album by the Norwegian black metal band Mayhem, released by Season of Mist and Necropolis Records on 6 June 2000. A re-release of the album came out in December 2018, with Jaime Gomez Arellano overseeing the production.
Department of Apocalyptic Affairs is the second album by the Norwegian avant-garde metal band Fleurety.
This is a timeline documenting the events of heavy metal music in the year 1993.
