Mistress were a British

extreme metal Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tran ...

band from

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, England. The members of this five-piece band adopted pseudonyms as stage-names including: Drunken and Misery on guitars, Dirty Von Arse on bass, Dave Cunt on vocals and Migg on drums. Dave Cunt (a.k.a. Dave Hunt) is also a member of

Anaal Nathrakh Anaal Nathrakh are a British extreme metal band formed in 1999 in Birmingham by multi-instrumentalist Mick Kenney and vocalist Dave Hunt. They are currently signed to Metal Blade Records. The band's name is Irish for ''snake's breath'' ( anál ...

and Migg (a.k.a.

Mick Kenney Mick Kenney (born 18 January 1980) is a British musician and record producer. He gained popularity as the lead guitarist of the extreme metal band Anaal Nathrakh, for which he performs under the stage name Irrumator. Career Kenney studied ...

) is in several other bands, including

, Exploder, Fukpig and Frost. Misery (Paul Kenney, Micks Older Brother), also plays in Fukpig and Kroh. Mistress announced their split in 2008.

History

The band formed at the end of the 1990s in Birmingham and began playing their own take on the vitriolic Iron Monkey /

Eyehategod Eyehategod (also abbreviated and referred to as EHG) is an American sludge metal band from New Orleans, Louisiana who formed in 1988. They have become one of the better known bands to emerge from the NOLA metal scene. Their core lineup has r ...

sludge Sludge is a semi-solid slurry that can be produced from a range of industrial processes, from water treatment, wastewater treatment or on-site sanitation systems. For example, it can be produced as a settled suspension obtained from conventional ...

sound. The band became noted for their offensive, yet intellectual lyrics and incredibly heavy, dirty, downtuned sound. In 2001, Mistress released two demos, entitled ''Fuck Off'' and ''Lord Worm'', which got them signed to the underground Rage of Achilles extreme music label. Their first full-length album for the record label was the self-titled ''

Mistress Mistress is the feminine form of the English word "master" (''master'' + ''-ess'') and may refer to: Romance and relationships * Mistress (lover), a term for a woman who is in a sexual and romantic relationship with a man who is married to a ...

'' in April 2002, which received broadly good reviews from extreme music publications. The follow-up to this, October 2003's '' Mistress II: The Chronovisor'', helped to more firmly establish them as a metal band, along with their growing live reputation. The band's ability to create filthy sonic rage ensured that they were soon picked up by the much larger Nottingham-based

Earache Records Earache Records is a British independent record label, music publisher and management company founded by Digby Pearson in 1985, based in Nottingham, England, with offices in London and New York. The label helped to pioneer extreme metal by rel ...

, who issued Mistress' third full-length album ''

In Disgust We Trust IN, In or in may refer to: Places * India (country code IN) * Indiana, United States (postal code IN) * Ingolstadt, Germany (license plate code IN) * In, Russia, a town in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast Businesses and organizations * Independ ...

'' in June 2005. In the same year, Earache also re-issued the band's first two albums. After being dropped from the Earache roster during 2006, the band were signed to Mick Kenney and Shane Embury's new record label, FETO Records. On 23 April 2007, they released their fourth studio album through FETO Records, entitled ''The Glory Bitches of Doghead'', which has dropped the sludge sound in favour of enhancing the grind elements. The album also has an ambient track running throughout (consisting of various noises, including what seems to be rain) created by Misery, which can be heard distinctly between songs, adding depth to the vicious music being played. Mistress appeared on the Christmas special of ''

Never Mind the Buzzcocks ''Never Mind the Buzzcocks'' is a British comedy panel game show with a pop music theme. It has aired on Sky Max since September 2021, having originally aired between November 1996 and January 2015 on BBC Two. The original series was first hos ...

'' performing Christmas carols in sludge metal. Mistress announced their demise in March 2008.

One last gig

Mistress performed one last gig on 24 October 2009 at

Damnation Festival Damnation Festival is a one-day heavy metal music festival currently held annually at Bowlers Exhibition Centre. Manchester. It was held at held at Jilly's Rockworld in Manchester from 2005 to 2006 and then University of Leeds, Leeds, England ...

Members

* Dave Hunt (also known as Dave Cunt, Vitriol) — vocals * Misery (Paul Kenney) — guitar * Drunken (Duncan Wilkins) — guitar * Dirty Von Arse — bass *

(also known as Migg, Irrumator) — drums *

Earl Robinson Earl Hawley Robinson (July 2, 1910 – July 20, 1991) was a composer, arranger and folk music singer-songwriter from Seattle, Washington. Robinson is remembered for his music, including the cantata "Ballad for Americans" and songs such as " J ...

— bass for first demo and first few gigs

Discography

Demos

* ''Fuck Off'' (2001) * ''Lord Worm'' (2001)

Albums

* ''Mistress'' (2002) * ''Mistress II: The Chronovisor'' (2003) * ''In Disgust We Trust'' (2005) * ''The Glory Bitches of Doghead'' (2007)

External links

Official website
(archived) *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mistress Musical groups established in 1999 Musical groups disestablished in 2008 English death metal musical groups Earache Records artists Musical groups from Birmingham, West Midlands Sludge metal musical groups English grindcore musical groups 1999 establishments in England