Mistress (band)

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Mistress were a British extreme metal band from Birmingham, 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 and Migg (a.k.a. Mick Kenney) is in several other bands, including Anaal Nathrakh, Exploder, Fukpig and Frost. Misery (Paul Kenney, Micks Older Brother), also plays in Fukpig and Kroh. Mistress announced their split in 2008.

Mistress performing in 2006

The band formed at the end of the 1990s in Birmingham and began playing their own take on the vitriolic Iron Monkey / Eyehategod sludge 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 in April 2002, which received broadly good critical reviews.^[1] 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, who issued Mistress' third full-length album In Disgust We Trust in June 2005.^[2] In July 2005 Mistress recorded a live session of songs from the album for broadcast on the BBC Radio 1 Rock Show.^[3] 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 performing Christmas carols in sludge metal.^[4]

Mistress announced their demise in March 2008.

Mistress performed one last gig on 24 October 2009 at Damnation Festival.

• Dave Hunt (also known as Dave Cunt, Vitriol) — vocals
• Misery (Paul Kenney) — guitar
• Drunken (Duncan Wilkins) — guitar
• Dirty Von Arse — bass
• Mick Kenney (also known as Migg, Irrumator) — drums
• Earl Robinson — bass for first demo and first few gigs

• Fuck Off (2001)
• Lord Worm (2001)

• Mistress (2002)^[5][6]
• Mistress II: The Chronovisor (2003)^[7]
• In Disgust We Trust (2005)^[8][9]
• The Glory Bitches of Doghead (2007)^[10]

• Official website (archived)
• Mistress at AllMusic
• Mistress discography at Discogs