Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
Eddie (guitars), Volker (vocals, bass) and Markus (drums) started Misanthropia originally as a 3-man band back in 2004. Before that we all used to play in a local band playing metal-covers, which disbanded due to professional careers. With the idea of writing own music it came just naturally that we re-joined forces. There wasn’t really a plan back then concerning the kind of music we wanted to make. Despite the fact, that it’s gonna be metal. It kinda evolved naturally. Ronald completed the band in 2010 on the second guitar.
Out current line-up since 2010 is:
Volker Pusch - vocals, bass
Edwin Stübner - guitar
Ronald Stiefel - guitar
Markus Tretter - drums
How would you describe your style? Which bands influenced your music?
It’s a bit tricky to put just one label to our music as our songs vary from very melodic mid-tempo tunes over uptempo thrashier songs to somewhat dark and doomy ones. In fact we have had various genre labels attached to us in reviews such as power metal, thrash metal, death metal, heavy metal, prog metal, … Now we don’t want to argue with music journalism but feel that the best label we got so far would be Melodic Heavy Metal. It’s simply describing the common ground in all our songs. Bands like Megadeth, Soilwork, Nevermore, Blind Guardian served us well as influences.
Why should a metalhead buy your demos/albums?
We think we have created something new that is worth listening to. The songs have enough meat on them not to be wearing out too fast. We would love to see you taking a journey through our pieces and we promise that there will be quite some pleasant surprises waiting around the corner of every song. We are pretty sure you won’t be able to judge our music after hearing only one song.
What have you released so far and how were your releases received by the public/media?
Back in 2007 we released our debut album “Soul Cancer”. In 2011 our second album “Everdark” was released.
We got positive feedback from fans and some quite good reviews for both albums. The ratings were between 7 and 8 of 10 points which made us quite happy due to the fact that both albums were produced by ourselves.
Do you play live as well? How's your live activity so far?
We love to play live because of the instant feedback you get from the audience. However we don’t play a lot of shows, due to other obligations with job and family. But whenever we get a chance to play an interesting show we’re on!
What should labels/zines/promoters know about your band? Why should they be interested in it?
I’d say there are two main aspects that clearly speak for our band.
One is of course is the music. It has many different facets so there are hardly two songs that sound alike, but each and every songs is undoubtedly a Misanthropia song.
The second aspect is, that we’re all grown up individuals in best age, standing with both feet on the ground. We all have a realistic and professional attitude towards what we want to achieve with our music and what we can do and what we can’t. We know that we are an underground band and this perfect for us.
We’ve recently started to work with Metalmessage Promotion which is fantastic.
So I think working together with labels or zines would definitely be another step forward in our evolution as a band.
What plans do you have for the near future as a band?
We’re currently writing new material for our next release. Plans are to have an EP with 5 or 6 songs recorded by the end of the year. The release will be around March or April next year. Of course we are planning to support the EP with some shows.
Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
We have songs from both albums on Spotify and soon on Apple Music, Deezer and Google Music. The complete albums are available for download and CD on bandcamp (https://misanthropia.bandcamp.com/).
August 2019