(written by Islander)

Our site is not a well-oiled machine. Everyone here pretty much does what they want, with very little coordination. And so it is a complete coincidence that today we’re premiering a song from a new album named Międzyczas by the Polish black metal band Odium Humani Generis AND publishing a very good interview with its vocalist/guitarist Biały. I didn’t know that our Comrade Aleks was conducting that interview, but it arrived out of the blue just as I was beginning to work on this premiere feature. Kismet!

Aleks‘ interview, which will follow this premiere in about one hour unless a meteor strikes my home, provides insights about what inspires this Polish band and how they approach their music. Among other things, it tells us that the band took their name directly from Mayhem‘s song “My Death” from the album Chimera, but Aleks also identifies its even older source, an expression by the famous Roman historian Tacitus in his work Annales, a Latin phrase that literally means “hatred for humanity”.

In the interview Biały, referred to the concept — “Contempt for humanity, society, disappointment in the world, disappointment in oneself, and a constant rush towards an inevitable end”. But he also further explained:

“Of course, we don’t constantly walk around angry at humanity and the whole world, but every day there are more and more reasons why it would be better to escape somewhere where there is no one. In the face of the ever-approaching end, nothing in human affairs has any significance. The lack of meaning in life and in the world, the constant passage of time, are very important elements of our lyrics and the meaning of our music.” Continue reading »