Status Inactive Founder Tiziana Stupia Defunct 2000 | Country of origin United Kingdom Date founded 1993 | |
 | ||
Albums Filosofem, Dauði Baldrs, Hliðskjálf, Written in Waters, Heart of the Ages | ||
Misanthropy Records was a British heavy metal record label.
Contents
It 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?". 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.
The company closed down in 2000, as Stupia wanted to concentrate on her career as a pagan priestess. She is now called "Prem Srila" and wrote a book Meeting Shiva. Parts of the company's catalogue was sold to Candlelight.