Almost 3,5 years since our last interview and special feature about their previous record “Gorod Zero”, we’re super excited to give you the newest offering from chaotic / experimental post hardcore band MNRV (aka MINERVA SUPERDUTY), hailing from Kalamata, Greece. Co-released by Yetagain, Body Blows records, Sweetohm recordings, Bright Future, Vault Relics and 5FeetUnder Records, “In Public” is released today, December 20, and we’re stoked to give you its first full listen below!
MNRV got together in late 2011 in order to escape crushing daily routine. They started playing loud, yet voiceless music, then entered the studio to record material which took form in their self-titled debut album released in March 2014. On 2016, after the addition of vocals to their line-up, their 2nd full-length ‘Gorod Zero’ was released – recorded in Athens, late 2015 and mastered by Alan Douches at WWSM. The band’s been making music & performing ever since, fusing their influences and experimenting. A 3rd album was in the making for the past couple of years with all the members living in different cities. Recorded in two different cities Athens/Kalamata, IN PUBLIC will be released on December 20th on 12″ vinyl format.
With ‘In Public”, MNRV come out of their shadows and pulls off a super intense and comlex blow with astonishing ease. Having no desire to be chained down by the conventions of hardcore and metal, the band manages to not only uphold their moody, ferocious sound and live performances reputation, but improve upon in it a lot!
Looking back at their beginnings, the band recalls their esarly days: “We got together wanting to experiment and fight the crushing daily routine in a creative way. We still are, going along for the ride. We did our first 3-4 shows and started focusing more on material that became our first album.”
Following its release the band did as much shows as they could around Greece while writing and performing new material, as well as considering adding vocals to the mix. “That soon came to be and Gorod Zero was released, followed by a 10 day SE EU tour with Kalpa in October 2016 and a 10 day summer 2017 tour with Meraine in Germany and Austria & a performance on the 2018 Fluff Fest, collecting experiences, meeting new people and discovering awesome bands.”
“All these, as well as the perpetually degrading state of the world in general, fueled our creative process and pushed us even further than before, focusing on bringing our third effort, In Public, to life. We are grateful for all of you that have supported us over the years and really hope to be able to perform again soon.”
Asked about inspirations behind the new album, MNRV says that although they all have different musical favorite tastes, there are many common grounds in between. “Generally we listen to whatever triggers our senses and emotions. For this album, we listened to early 80s post punk like Joy Division, Wipers and The Sound as well as extreme hc bands like Nails and Dead in the Dirt, intense and engaging stuff in general.”
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑦𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤 𝑜𝑛 𝑠𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑡𝑦, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑦, 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦, 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑖𝑛𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔.
“We whole-heartedly want to thank Kostas Ragiadakos for his dedication and patience, Argy & Haris of the mighty Broken Fingers for delivering some staggering vocals and last but not least Paschalis Zervas / wolframgrafik for his artwork and for being an awesome human being in general.”
MNRV admits that the impact of Covid has been massive on all of our lives this year, but for many people that worked in music it’s been devastating.
“Not being able to perform is also affecting bands by halting not only their plans but beating down their morale as well.” – they confirm the poor state of their local underground artists, but they remain optimistic about the future. “We hope that we will see better days soon enough and feel that maybe good music will emerge from this situation.”
“Some of our favorite local bands that are definitely worth checking out are Rita Mosss, Chronoboros, One Leg Mary, Ruined Families, Kalpa, Central Pozitronics, Dephosphorus, Lethe/Λήθη, Calf, Mavro Gala/Μαύρο Γάλα.”
