Humiliation is going to make Malaysian death metal a known term in the metal community.  A relatively young band, Humiliation already have two releases, both of which will humble a good majority of those out there trying to invoke the spirit of 90s death metal.  A certifiable beast of an album, Dawn of Warfare should be tracked down and listened to by anyone with an affinity for the likes of Bolt Thrower, Obituary and countless other legends from that era.  With proper distribution and enough attention and support, there’s nothing that should keep Humiliation from becoming a household name among the death metal arena.

Jesse: First off, thanks for taking the time for this interview.  It’s very much appreciated.

Bear Bee: You're welcome. We are very glad and feel honored to be interviewed by zine like yours.

Jesse: Let’s start with a brief history on the band.  How did you come to form Humiliation and why did you choose that name for the band?

Bear Bee: Before forming HUMILIATION, all of the bands members are having/still having own bands. After Mudon (drummer) & myself (vocalist) quitting from our previous band (which we formed in 1996), in May 2010 we met Afe (bassist) in one of the metal gig in the capital city of Malaysia. We discussed to form a band that plays “old skool” death metal style because we want to make it alive. He agreed with the idea and started our jamming sessions. At the same time, we are also looking for a guitarist to fill the vacant position. Later we approach Matt (guitarist) about the idea and he made the deal. We chose HUMILIATION as the band name because we feel “humiliated” in many ways……

Initially, we tried to play cover songs but that didn’t satisfy the band. Finally, we decided to make our own songs and the result is the release of our EP Face the Disaster on 7th November 2009. As we completed the EP release, we felt that we need an additional guitarist to make heavier guitar sound presence. Shah (guitarist) came across our mind as he just left his previous band. Moreover, he can furnish the commitment to HUMILIATION. Since mid November 2009 until to date, the line up for HUMILIATION is Bear Bee (vocalist), Afe (bassist), Matt (guitarist), Shah (guitarist) and Mudon (drummer).

With this line up we completed our debut full length album Dawn of Warfare which officially released on 1^st July 2010. And wait for our next releases soon……

Jesse: I mention more than once in my reviews of your EP and full-length album the similarities you have to Bolt Thrower, but there are also a lot of old school US death metal influences.  What are some of your main inspirations and influences?

Bear Bee: We listen to a lots of late 80s’ & early 90s’ death metal band and they also become our influence such as Massacre, Obituary, Benediction, Cancer, Impaler, Asphyx, Grave, Dismember etc. Nevertheless, Bolt Thrower is the main inspiration to our music & lyrics. We respect them and they are our idol in making music because they are able to maintain their musical style & concept since their existence.

Those veterans are the pioneers. We (Humiliation) are just begun and still struggling to spread our music. Some more, we are coming from small country (Malaysia) in South East Asia. But that didn't become an excuse for us to try hard & do our best within our ability...... "Being killed in the battle has more dignity rather than dead lying on the bed quietly".

Jesse: There seems to be a resurgence in death metal over the past several years in which the “old school” sound has once again become hugely popular, but in my opinion, very few are getting it right.  What are your thoughts on this and what do you think about the current death metal scene around the world?  How is it received in Malaysia?  Is there a hungry fan base for what you play?

Bear Bee: Yeah, you are right. Death metal with ”old skool" sound gain popularity for the past several years. But it is not easy neither to adopt nor inject the "old skool" touch in the music and the band. It cannot be done by emulating those old skool bands. One shall be in the vein of old skool death metal and only by that you can have the old skool sound. Besides that, the way of composing songs, recording, mixing & mastering also contribute in producing old skool sound.

There are tons of death metal band nowadays. Death metal even has so many branches (technical, brutal...etc). It's good to see it evolves as time goes. However, we prefer to stick to the root because we believe that way!!!

We are glad that upon releasing our EP Face the Disaster in November 2009, we had seen those metalheads are accepting our music and our music has gained much attention because we play the “old skool” musical style. The feedbacks were very positive & overwhelming. Our first live appearance in December 2009 marked a memorable milestone in band's journey. Since then we didn't look back and had destroyed those gigs where we performed.
 
The most important thing is that, we want to tell people out there that there is a metal band named HUMILIATION which is coming from a country named MALAYSIA.

Jesse: Humiliation is definitely getting it right.  Talk about the writing process for Dawn of Warfare.  Did everything come out the way you intended?  Was there a certain sound that you tried to create or did it just come naturally?  Is the songwriting a group effort or are there just one or two members who write the majority of the music?

Bear Bee: Songs for Dawn of Warfare was initiated by the guitarist who recorded their basic raw guitar tracks. Then it is passed to the drummer for ideas on drum stroke & pattern. Then the composition is finalized during band practice session. During this time, the vocalist is draining his head to make lyrics.

During recording, more ideas keep on flowing. That makes the final song after the recording has slight different compared to practice session. Nevertheless, it doesn't make the songs worsen instead improvise it to better level. We also tried slightly a different sound (on the guitar) from the EP and it works. If you can notice, it becomes a bit heavier & thicker.

Song writing is band effort. Everybody contributes their idea in finalizing song composition. However, the lyrics are solely written by me (the vocalist) because I am the one who will sing it.  
   
Jesse: War seems to be your central theme for Humiliation, which further adds to the Bolt Thrower comparisons.  Is there a specific war that has given you the inspiration for the lyrical direction?  There is a quote on the back of the CD insert dedicating the album to the heroes who fought for their nation.  Is there military history in you or anyone in the band’s family?  Why the emphasis on war?

Bear Bee: War becomes the main subject of interest in our lyrical ideas as to relate to mankind history where war is still and keep on occurring anywhere, everywhere at each part of the world. Until doomsday, it never ends. World War, Civil War you name it. It had leaved bad memories to the nation or country. Tragedy, catastrophe and destruction are synonyms if we talked about war. All of these give us inspiration and we translate it into our lyrics. In our case, we don't have any specific war for lyrical direction. However, we might consider for it in our next releases.

Our drummer's father is an ex-army who had fought for the country during confrontation with neighboring country (in the 60s'). He relates this album spiritually to his father. Furthermore, our theme really suit for the dedication. So we decided to make a general dedication in dedicating the album to those heroes who had fought for the nation & country in the past.

Jesse: There seems to be a lack of internet presence for the band and your label.  Is a MySpace page in the works or does the band prefer not to have a website of some kind?  How would one go about getting your CDs?

Bear Bee: We don't have any intention since the beginning to have MySpace/Facebook/Twitter or whatsoever in dispersing or promoting our music and band. But we plan to have a website soon.

At the moment, there a few people out there who sell our CDs through internet online purchase such as: http://enslavedinblackness.blogspot.com/, Sevared Records, USA and Rotten Roll, GERMANY.

We are seriously looking for label who can release our songs and also to distribute our CDs internationally.
 
Jesse: Does Humiliation get to play live very often and have you gotten a chance to play the new stuff yet?  If so, how’s the response been?

Bear Bee: So far, we had been playing in quite number of gigs since our first appearance in December 2009. The most recent one was in May 2010 (KL Metal Camp III). In all gigs that we went through, we had played all songs from the EP and 2 new songs taken from the upcoming debut full length album. We never play cover songs and we try not to do it because we want to promote our own songs. And the response from the audience is great! They enjoy our performances even though there are new songs being performed.

We always keep telling our self that no matter what, we shall keep the performance to the maximum for the pleasure of metalheads.

Jesse: So now that the album is out, what are the immediate plans for Humiliation?

Bear Bee: Immediate plan is to distribute our album to every corner of the earth! We want to reach out every metalheads in Asia, Europe, North/South America, Far East, Japan etc… in any continent. Again, we really need distributors for making this possible.

As for the long term plan, we want to be productive and active in spreading our music. We intend to release EP/LP every year regardless of the format, CD, cassette, vinyl and we want to play in any live show (anywhere) on earth as many as possible. Those are our targets.

Be productive, active and gain the undying support from the follower make the band alive.
We do have 4 new songs right now but still need to finalize on the composition. Beware!

Jesse: Again, thanks so much for your time.  Anything you’d like to close with?

Bear Bee: Thanks for this great interview. We feel appreciated. Do listen and get HUMILIATION EP Face the Disaster & debut full length Dawn of Warfare from the abovementioned site or directly from us.

Be our friend…all we need is your support.

We always believe that Metal has no boundary….Metal in vein…Death Metal to the bones!

At the moment, people out there may contact us via humiliationband at gmail

Hail from MALAYSIA!

Humiliation

Interviewer: Jesse

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Formed: 2009
Kuala Lumpur,  Malaysia
Label: Nebiula Production
Genre: Death Metal 

CURRENT LINE-UP:

Bear Bee:  Vocals
Matt:  Guitar
Shah:  Gutar
Afe:  Bass
Mudon:  Drums

DISCOGRAPHY:

Face the Disaster EP (2009)
Dawn of Warfare (2010)

(Click on Photo to Enlarge)

August 16, 2010

Check out Jesse's review of Dawn of Warfare here

Check out Jesse's review of Face the Disaster here

(Click on Photos to Enlarge)