In/Humanity was a hardcore/power-violence band from Columbia, South Carolina. With their rein of terror spanning from 1991-1998; In/Humanity was one of the most infamous, prolific and influential "screamo" bands of the 90s. Being one of the more active bands of the period, In/Humanity toured with and was featured on compilations with countless other important power-violence and "emo" bands.
Half-jokingly coining the term "emo-violence" with tour-mates Palatka and causing all kinds of trouble in their conservative home state; In/Humanity defied even the confines of the hardcore punk scene with their extreme nature. Like Reversal Of Man and Ink & Dagger; In/Humanity was a vocal opponent of the tough guy, major label hardcore scene and regularly called out their hypocritical behaviour (particularly the rampant homophobia in the scene) in their zines, song lyrics and at shows.
In/Humanity was a vicious powerhouse that produced some of the most visceral, cynical and down right evil hardcore music of the 90s. The band started with a fairly straightforward hardcore punk sound which continually evolved; mixing elements of power-violence with dissonance, noise, black humour and intense discordance. The earlier sound of the band was much less developed and apparently the band themselves hated the "Intolerable" 7" so much that they destroyed 275 of the 500 copies pressed with and ice pick. In the later stages of the band their music was more distinctly horror-influenced; which makes sense considering that lead vocalist Chris Bickel has now gone on to be a successful Indie-Horror filmmaker. According to Bickel; In/Humanity was always more of about the art vs the music, this is evident in the band's record packaging, with every release containing at least 5 printed inserts of dark, cynical and hilarious punk ramblings.
High Quality Live Set & Interview
A particularly noteworthy incident involving the band occurred when Chris Bickel criticized Victory Records in his zine; to which Hatebreed singer Jamey Jasta took personal offense to, leading to him responding in an extremely homophobic and threatening manner. Listen to the insane voicemail below. Fortunately In/Humanity saw humour in the death threats and would later open shows with this voicemail. Here is a detailed (and funny as hell) interview with Bickel about the incident.
Jamey Jasta Voicemail
Unfortunately at the moment this discography is not complete; theres a lot of different recordings of certain songs and minor variations between some releases, I haven't included absolutely everything. I may update this post with the LP version of the second album and a few more comp tracks that have different recordings than their counterparts on the LP's, in the future. Also, currently I am missing the tracks from these 3 compilations; Powerless II: No More Flowers, No More Ribbons, Please No Profanity and Flavor Of The South if you happen to have any of these, please send them my way. It's a shame that even a prolific and influential band like In/Humanity can have completely lost tracks.
Here is another interview with Chris Bickel for some firsthand context about the band.
Discography: (so far)
Bonescratch Split 7"
ABC's Of Punk Compilation
Due to In/Humanity's extensive discography and intricate D.I.Y packaging; I am going to link the discogs entries instead of adding hundreds of images. I also have a few scans of their releases in my archive if you would like to download them.
The Nutty Anti-Christ LP 1996 (Passive Fist)
The History Behind The Mystery / Music To Kill Yourself By CD/LP 1997 (HG Fact/Prank)
Intolerable 7" 1993
Gets Killed By Robots... 7" 1994
Half Life / In/Humanity 7" 1994
Rehearse For The Apocalypse 7" 1995
Bonescratch / In/Humanity 7" 1996
Occultonomy 7" 1998 (Old Glory)
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