Interview with Humiliation 2012

By Bradley Smith

Your new album From Strength to Strength is finally here.  Can you tell me about its creation?  What were you aiming for when writing the songs and how did you want to develop beyond the first two albums?

From Strength To Strength was released 7 months after Seek To Survive.  We’ve been thinking and discussing about it since we got back from our Japan tour in the end of 2011.  We started composing a few songs and entered the studio in March 2012.  We’re trying to improve our sound and production without ruining the old school death metal mood.  These are the target for every Humiliation release and by looking at the reviews, we think we’re in good progression.

Your lyrics center on War and human conflict.  What made you choose that subject matter for Humiliation?  And do you consider War to be humanity’s most primal state?  Do you see war as a force only for destruction or is there also a creative element to it?

We live in dying world.  Most of destruction was done by humans. We want to expose that war are power fighting among greedy leaders/politicians.  We look at war as extinction activities for ecology.  War only creates hate & negative thinking of human beings.

Do you ever feel overlooked because of coming from Malaysia or do you think that your country gives you a unique perspective and some hidden advantages for reaching the world with your music?  How important to you is it to represent Malaysia with your art?

We never feel overlooked.  We’ve been trying hard to expose / penetrate international metalheads with our music since Malaysia is not known for producing good metal bands.  We were involved in war from generation to generation like civil war & World War 2.  That’s why we use old war machinery on our album covers, promo pictures and cd inlays to prove it.  We really hope Malaysia could be another map for metal in the future.

I read in another interview that you said that listening to your music in your country is basically considered taboo.  Why is that?  Does that make it more dangerous to be a metal head?  You certainly have to be totally dedicated to metal if you are facing such stern barriers to being a metal head.

Being a metalhead is not dangerous in here but for most Malaysians, listening to metal leads to crime and satan worshipping.  They hate it.  We have a small metal scene here compared to our other neighbors like Indonesia and Thailand.  We never care about what people say, we just keep listening, writing and playing music which is METAL!

I notice one of the things that you said about why Boltthrower is an inspiration for Humiliation is because of their consistency.  What does that mean to you and why do you think consistency is important?  I know I sometimes get bothered by bands that start to experiment and lose the style that made me like them in the first place.  Tiamat is a good example.

What we thought out before we formed the band, was that we need to be rigid in terms of selecting the genre.  We don’t really like to do experiments with our music. So we choose consistency as the top priority element. Of course we love Bolt Thrower's music and we want to be like them.  Yes, we agreed with you but we know our capability.  So we do not want to take a risk after any experimenting was done.

I know you think that being old skool is more than just emulating the originators of the genre.  What do you mean?  How do you capture that old skool sound with your songwriting?  And do you think too many young bands try to be too technical or lack an understanding of the old scene within death metal?  What bands/albums from the old scene do you think all new people should know?

We love death metal in a simple way.  Every first generation death metal band explores almost all aspects of music elements.  We are just a new band who continue with their style and do what they have done before.  Nowadays, most of the young bands want to play fast as hell and want to be as technical and we can't find where is the death metal music itself.  We never hate them but to keep productive they need to look inside of their capability and ideas will flow.

We really love:

Massacre-From Beyond

Morbid Angel-Altars of Madness

Napalm Death-Harmony Corruption

Gorefest-False

Asphyx-The Rack

It seems to me that you possess quite a positive attitude about everything when it comes to Humiliation.  No matter the limitations of the scene, the label, or anything else, I sense you never let it get you down.  Am I correct?  Do you think that having a positive attitude is important?  Do you notice that with each passing year that all aspects of Humiliation continue to grow?

We must have a positive attitude to get a positive response from outside of our region.  We need to work hard to make people know that we play Death Metal & we are from Malaysia.  We need to put in a mindset that we are from a third world country & nobody wants to know us.  So, we must push to expose ourselves to the world.  Positive thinking will drive positive attitudes & this really important for us.  We get contact from all over the country & this keep in counting.  We think we are growing & we need to keep this momentum in the right way.

Turning back towards your country, you mentioned in an email about the sights and delicious foods of Kuala Lumpur.  If you were to host a metal head from another country, where would you take them and what food would you like to treat them too?  How would you describe the cuisine from you home town? 

Eel soup, roti canai, nasi lemak, teh tarik, air batu campur, cha kuew tiau and a lot of tasty foods here.  These are the foods that only can be found in Malaysia.  You can imagine that foods here are mixed with hot, sour and sweet.  But the nutritionist said our food was full of fat & an excess of carbohydrates but who cares?!?!

I know it is somewhat hard to get outside of Malaysia with Humiliation.  What places has Humiliation played live so far?  How was it opening for Impiety and how was your Japan tour?  If you could pick any country or festival or place in the world to play at where would it be and why? 

We totally agreed with you.  So far, we had crushed the stage in Thailand, Singapore, Japan and several local shows.  We are looking forward to play in Europe especially in Germany.  Germany has too many festivals and we think the metal scene there was the biggest in Europe and that’s going to be the best place to promote our music.  We would love to play in USA but it’s really difficult for us since we’re Malaysian.  But who knows, maybe we will play there someday.

What are you upcoming plans for Humiliation?  Any new recordings or live shows that you will sending our way?  How has the response been to From Strength To Strength and what are you doing to help promote it?

We have an upcoming split 7" with the great band Decrepitaph under Eldritch Lunar Miasma Records (UK).  We also recently recorded 2 new songs for a 7" split with Warmaster (Holland).  We also plan to do a split with a Japanese band.  Currently, we think to compose songs for our next album but this is only the early process.  Most of the reviews are on the positive side.  Firmly, we recognize our latest album "From Strength To Strength" has a lot improvement.  We spread our CDs to records label, magazine & bands all over the world.  This is how we promote and spread our music.

Thanks again for the interview.  Since we are locked in a struggle of wills, hit me with some final thoughts regarding these days of terror!

Thanks for your interview, really appreciate it.  And thanks to all readers.  We need your support.  Please spend time to visit our official website, www.humiliation.my .  We are Humiliation, we play death metal and we are from Malaysia.