(Today we present a very good interview by our Comrade Aleks with vocalist and guitarist Biały from the Polish black metal band Odium Humani Generis, in company with our premiere of a song from their forthcoming album Międzyczas – which you can find here.)
Odium Humani Generis isn’t a new name in the Polish black metal underground. The band have existed since 2015, and their second album Międzyczas will be released on September 27th via Malignant Voices.
Międzyczas is an evolution of Odium Humani Generis’ sound, which started with their debut album Przeddzień (Cult of Parthenope, 2020) and the following EP Zarzewie (Folter Records, 2022). The band’s name derives from Tacitus’ expression in his work Annales. In it he wrote about emperor Nero blaming the early Christians for the malicious arson in Rome.
“Odium humani generis” literally means “Hatred for the human species/race”, but if you expect totally nihilistic and full-of-hatred raw black metal as the title demands, then you’ll rather be surprised. Międzyczas is quite depressive and melodic black metal, even a bit intricate. I found the album good enough to dig deeper and share with you what I’ve found.
Hi there! Who’s online today? How are you? What’s new in the Odium Humani Generis camp?
Hello, Biały here. The premiere of the album Międzyczas is approaching with great strides. Concerts promoting this release are also coming up. These are the things that, although I enjoy them very much, generate a lot of work to do.
The band was formed back in 2015, what was your original vision of the band? What kind of references did you have on your mind in starting Odium Humani Generis?
The music was created for a long time under the strong influence of the classic works of the Polish black metal scene. At one point I decided that it would be good to finally form a real band out of it. At that time we were strongly influenced by bands like Arkona, Sacrilegium, Thy Worshiper, Christ Agony… but also a bit of the newer scene, from which I would especially like to point out the inspirations of bands like Furia, Plaga, Deus Mortem. There’s probably no point in listing the entire pantheon of classic black metal bands that were obviously also inspirations, so I’ll skip it.
Your lyrics are written in Polish, yet the band’s name Odium Humani Generis points to your misanthropic and nihilistic position. What formed this concept?
The name of the band was taken directly from Mayhem‘s song “My Death” from the album Chimera. Contempt for humanity, society, disappointment in the world, disappointment in oneself, and a constant rush towards an inevitable end. That’s how I could briefly describe what it was all about.
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.
As you see no meaning in life and communication with humans, or so it seems, what’s the reason to start the band? In the end, music is another form of communication.
Well, yes, but what other choice is there? We are, life happens, we have to find our place in all of this. If we can manifest our anger and fears in this way and somehow give vent to these emotions – it’s worth it.
Your debut album Przeddzień was released four years ago. The artwork depicted some standard urban development, as the concept was “enriched by intense urban depressive themes”.
Yes, at that time we wanted to set our story in our natural urban environment, and to be more precise – in the city of Łódź. This is also reflected in the name of the next release, the Zarzewie EP (Folter Records, 2022). The word “zarzewie” itself means the source of fire, embers, also the beginning of something… but it was also a direct reference to the name of the housing estate “Zarzew”, with which almost all of us in the band were associated.
Do you mean that Łódź itself influenced you in that negative way? I see that the city has a long history, it has its industry. It doesn’t look too bad, although I bet that there are still reminders of the German occupation in 1939, and the Łódź Ghetto was a horrible thing.
I don’t want to be misunderstood here, I love this city, but there’s no denying that in many areas its landscape isn’t colorful. We also wanted it to be an additional element of authenticity – placing everything in a place that really accompanied us. Łódź reminds me of it, neglected courtyards, abandoned post-factory buildings, to some extent a post-industrial landscape. I don’t know if you can call it a negative influence, but that’s just how it is there, and we’re from there.
Often misanthropy goes hand in hand with Satanism and obscurantism, if we speak about black metal. What’s your attitude toward religious symbolism and deviltry?
We are all completely non-religious. I guess there’s no point in stating the obvious about anti-christianity, because you’d probably hear a very similar answer from most black metal bands. We do not stand out in this field.
Indeed! And I wonder how you managed to avoid these influences when you have so many local bands who are into this. Well, a lot of black metal bands EVERYWHERE are into this just by default. So didn’t you ever think that it’s cool to criticize the Church for its hypocrisy and so on? Although in a case when one criticizes the church then he has – logically – to criticize the government…
Of course, the church and faith (in this case christian) is something that can and should be criticized strongly. That’s true and I completely agree with that, it’s just that in OHG we don’t touch on this subject too much. It’s not intentional, I simply write texts about something else.
It said that you signed the two albums record deal with Cult of Parthenope, but the EP Zarzewie (2022) was released by the German label Folter Records and the new album Międzyczas is to be released by the local label Malignant Voices. What made you change the label?
We had a two-album deal with Cult of Parthenope. It was for full albums only, so we decided to release the EP on another label because we needed to move really fast because of the upcoming European tour with Mgła and In Twilight’s Embrace. Folter Records helped us a lot with that at the time. Despite all the sympathy for the people behind the Cult of Parthenope label, we wanted to release the second album on another label, mainly for promotional reasons. We parted ways without conflict, and we entered into cooperation with the wonderful, renowned label Malignant Voices. It is a great honor for us to be among such excellent bands that this label presents and the cooperation so far has been excellent.
So are you ambitious after all? To some degree?
We put a lot of effort into what we do. It’s not only fun but also hard work at times. It’s definitely good to see the results. We’ve done a lot of things that I wouldn’t have thought were possible. So we’ll keep playing and see where it takes us.
You were 18 – 20 years old when you started Odium Humani Generis. How did your perception of its concept change over time? Did you stick to the same influences and spirit, or did you feel that you outgrew Przeddzień?
Time goes by, everything changes, and so do we. I don’t think there was any sonic revolution in how OHG sounds, but each of us definitely broadened our musical horizons. I also think that we are presenting our ideas more and more boldly and maturely, and here and there we touch on inspirations from outside the black metal canon. Some coldwave and post-punk influences, Ominous being a Rush psychofan… you may not hear it directly in the music, but certain ideas would definitely not have come about without a large pool of different inspirations.
There is also a new bassist, Michał from Pandemonium, whose presence resulted in very interesting bass parts. And of course, the drummer Murukh, without whom nothing would have been possible.
In the new album you keep your lyrics in Polish — can you sum up the main ideas or message behind it?
I’ve already answered a bit in one of the previous questions. I don’t like to talk too much about the lyrics. It’s definitely depressing, there’s anxiety, helplessness, but also an attempt to fight, which unfortunately probably won’t end in victory.
Do you mean that Międzyczas is an autobiographical album?
In a sense, certainly.
It’s hard to tell about local scenes, as even Norwegian black metal wasn’t homogenous back in the ’90s. But there are books covering the Finnish, Hellenic, US, and even Russian black metal scenes. Even though sometimes it’s hard to highlight some specific features. How do you see Polish black metal? What are its main distinctive points?
I think that old Polish black metal is characterized by paganism and some kind of nostalgia. Of course, not all bands fit into this, but these were my first associations. To a foreign listener I would recommend such acts as Evilfeast, Profanum, Sacrilegium… or from these less old ones: Kres, Wędrujący Wiatr. It would be tactless not to mention such brilliant creations as Cultes Des Ghoules, Kriegsmaschine, Massemord, Witchmaster, Mgła.
Polish black metal also has an extremely interesting contemporary face. Bands like In Twilight’s Embrace, Blaze of Perdition, Mānbryne, Hauntologist, and more experimental: Furia, Thaw… even more experimental Wędrowcy~Tułacze~Zbiegi. The Polish scene is very extensive; it is difficult to even briefly highlight the important elements and list at least the most important bands. I certainly did not list everyone, rather those that first came to my mind.
Speaking about all these bands, you mentioned at least two names which for me (with my interest spread beyond black metal) are known as avant-garde ones or like that. Do you feel that you already found your niche, your style? Or do you aim for more experiments in a future?
It’s hard for me to predict the future, but I feel that we have some elements that characterize us, which we will probably stick to, regardless of what form our music takes. The latest album is made up of more different inspirations, but I feel that we still maintain the same foundation. I’m curious myself about what will happen next.
There are four years between Międzyczas and Przeddzień. How do you see your personal progress in these new tracks?
I think you can hear a little that we’re more skilled musicians, we’re moving more boldly within our own area of black metal. The songs are probably more mature and arranged in a more complex way. These are just my feelings, it’s hard to write about your own band’s progress. If I have to talk about my personal development, it is probably even more difficult and I do not know if I can answer it satisfactorily.
Michał Stępień did the mixing and mastering of your material again. How did you collaborate with him? Did you pass him the songs and then return for the complete album, or did you discuss with him the material along the way and take part in the process?
The material was consulted on an ongoing basis; we checked different sound combinations, we participated in the process… there were also visits to Michał‘s home and joint observation of what we had done. At this point I would also like to point out that on the album we used (albeit timidly) keyboard instruments, with the sound of which we were helped by K.Hoarder from the dungeon-synth band Alembik, in which Michał is also involved. With a clear conscience I recommend cooperation with Skrzypłocz Studio.
How often do you play live with Odium Humani Generis? Is it your priority to keep the band active this way as well?
Concerts are important to us, but I don’t think that in this case you should go for quantity. It’s better to play less often, but in really good company. I think we follow this principle quite consistently.
What are your plans for the rest of 2024?
On October 5, in the city of Łódź, we will play a special concert to celebrate the release of the Międzyczas album. Special guests of this event are Angrrsth, Kurhan and Alembik. In November we have a show planned with Blaze of Perdition, Shodan and Loathfinder, followed by a Polish tour with Arkona, Above Aurora and Zmarłym.
Okay, thanks for the interview Biały, it turned out to be quite in-depth and interesting. Did we skip something important?
We omitted to thank Emilia Śpiewak for graphic design, so I’ll mention it here!
Thanks for the interview, best regards!
http://www.facebook.com/odiumbm/
https://ohgofficial.bandcamp.com/