Misanthropy Records

Misanthropy Records was a British heavy metal record label.

Misanthropy Records
Founded	1993 (1993)
Founder	Tiziana Stupia
Defunct	2000 (2000)
Status	Inactive
Genre	Black metal, avant-garde metal, doom metal, progressive metal
Country of origin	United Kingdom

History

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?".^{[1][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.^[2]

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.^[3] Parts of the company's catalogue was licensed to Candlelight.

Roster

• Arcturus
• Beyond Dawn
• Burzum
• Fleurety
• In the Woods...
• Katatonia
• Madder Mortem
• Mayhem
• Monumentum
• Primordial
• Solstice
• Ved Buens Ende

References

1. "Die Verschiedenen Abenteuer Meines Lebens" [The Various Adventures of My Life] (in German). SrilaDevi.com. 23 June 2024. Retrieved 23 June 2024. ...Einer dieser Musiker, ein junger Mann namens Varg Vikernes, wurde inmitten meiner Tätigkeit als Reporterin festgenommen, da er seinen Plattenlabel-Boss erstochen hatte. Die Musikwelt war schockiert, und kein Plattenlabel wollte mehr etwas mit diesem Musiker zu tun haben. Mir tat das leid, da der Musiker äußerst begabt war. Und so setzte ich mich mit verschiedenen Plattenlabels in Verbindung und hoffte, ihm so einen neuen Deal zu verschaffen. Ich hatte damit allerdings keinen Erfolg – im Gegenteil. Man lachte mich aus. Bis der Besitzer eines sizilianischen Plattenlabels irgendwann zu mir sagte: ‚Wieso machst Du es denn nicht, wenn es Dir so wichtig ist?' [...One of these musicians, a young man named Varg Vikernes, was arrested in the middle of my work as a reporter for stabbing his record label boss. The music world was shocked and no record label wanted anything to do with this musician anymore. I felt sorry for him because the musician was extremely talented. So I contacted various record labels in the hope of getting him a new deal. But I didn't have any success – on the contrary. They laughed at me. Until one day the owner of a Sicilian record label said to me: ' Why don't you do it if it's so important to you?']
2. Wagner, Jeff (2010). Mean Deviation. Bazillion Points Books. ISBN 0979616336. 301-302.
3. "Srila Devi". SrilaDevi.com. 16 December 2019. Retrieved 1 May 2020.

External links

• Misanthropy Records on Discogs.com