Germany’s Might Premiere Debut Album Of Richly Immersive Doom Metal — Listen Here!

The Germany-based duo Might present a richly immersive whirlwind of heavy doom metal on their debut, self-titled album, which officially drops on July 17 via Exile On Mainstream. The band, which is comprised of the married couple Ana Muhi and Sven Missullis, perform a melodically strong and thematically heavy creation, with strong, persistent melodies on the guitar buoyed by elements like an earth-rattlingly heavy sense of groove and invitingly intricate drum rhythms. Get a first listen below to the album in full!

Missulis and Muhi’s music features a forebodingly heavy, doom-laden atmosphere, but they don’t stop there. Their songs also feel very accessibly grounded thanks to the strength of the melodies running though the mix. It’s as if the duo have sonically captured the power of some kind of ancient bog, and the bog’s contents have been spread out amidst a big city. There’s a captivating push-and-pull throughout the record between sinking into metaphorical muck and progressing forward on the strength of the band’s invigorating energy.

After a heavy but solemn opening track, the band quickly get into more energetic territory. Track two, called “Pollution Of Mind,” features markedly heavy groove and a rich cacophony of drum blasts, all of which combine into the propulsive mood of the song and album as a whole. That heavy groove sticks around for awhile, and it sticks out as a highlight (among many) of the overall record — Might perform with a confidently heavy feeling that seems like it guides their work along towards its aims of some kind of security amidst resounding heaviness.

As the album proceeds, the intensity of the drum cacophony dials back a bit on “Vampire,” although the band’s richly immersive heaviness never lets up. One of the many moments that put the breadth of this heaviness on display comes at the beginning of “Possession,” which gets into gear with hypnotically swirling, monstrously heavy groove that continues for awhile before any vocals appear. The song as a whole seems on the more restrained side and spotlights the band’s subtle but powerful transformation of forebodingly heavy doom metal into a richly immersive, strikingly all-encompassing experience.

Check out the album in full below! Keep scrolling for a Q and A with the band about the album’s creation.

Muhi handled vocals and bass on the album, while Missulis also contributed vocals while handling guitar and drums. The album is available in a vinyl/ CD bundle — pre-orders for European residents are at this link while U.S. fans can nab pre-orders at this link from Earsplit Distro.

Q and A with Might

Guiding Principles

Captured Howls: Thanks for your time today. The new album is impressive. From your perspective, what would you describe as sort of the guiding spirit of the new album? What sorts of things do you feel bind it together, in a sense?

Ana: Thank you for your interest in what we do and who we are. This album is rather introverted and so a quite personal impression recorded in strange times. We were forced to refocus on ourselves and so it was unavoidable to think about some of those existential things that we overlook in our daily routines. I guess my guiding spirit was a lack of understanding from what happens in this world and the logical question what my little causal role could be in this fabric.

Sven: We are glad that you like the album. For me the guiding spirit was the unwritten music itself. The will to create music, mixed up with emotions and influences. It all results in these new songs you can listen to on the album now. When I play guitar or drums for myself I let it happen. I try not to think on anything and just listen to what I play, like a one-man jam. I let it flow and collect the interesting parts out of it which later become songs or parts and sometimes nothing. I catch those tunes and try to build songs with them and I also try to contribute the best to Ana’s ideas.

Personal Perspectives

Captured Howls: Broadly, how would you describe the role that making this music has played in your own life? For example, have you found some catharsis from the music-making process? Something else?

Ana: It’s a possibility to experience myself and to catch some of those pent-up, but swirling emotions. In my case I use my voice in touch with the deepest sounds from my bass guitar. It’s an attempt to be grounded in my reality. In addition to it I feel responsible as a human to raise my voice against ignorance and hate. We kill the nature, kill animals, kill people, kill values, and in the end, we kill ourselves. It’s not an option to shuffle out of responsibility by telling one that they can’t change the world. Everyone can make this world a better place. It’s not naive to be aware of your power. I’m at least going to try to change my little world by voicing my opinion within the bounds of possibility. And to answer your question: music is for me like a good friend who helps me putting that idea into action. 

Sven: Music is and probably always will be the center of my life and I definitely find catharsis writing and playing music. It is a good feeling I simply can’t get from anything else. I grab a guitar or sit behind the drums and it is like I would step into a room where only the moment counts. It lets me feel the life and clears my head.

Songwriting Process

Captured Howls: How did the songs tend to come together, broadly speaking? In other words, were there specific moods that you wanted to explore? Specific sounds that you wanted to capture? Some of both?

Sven: This is the kind of music we both love to listen to, and it is what comes out of us. We tried to let it flow and let the music build itself. We were more like tools used by the music that comes out of us. This record was made more with the heart and soul than with the head. 

Ana: I would say it’s a symbiotic dance between pure sounds and somehow confused state of mind. Normally I busy myself with human rights. Too many people suffer the same cruel fate. I often came home and heard Sven playing some guitar sounds. Immediately I had kind of soundtracks in my head. All the pictures and life stories merged with the sounds and reshaped to a new-risen melody. Or I just played a bass line and a few words fell down right on the strings before they really passed my head. Then we put the fragments together in a very natural workflow.

 

Captured Howls: What were any sonic reference points like which you had during the songwriting process? For example, were there particular artists who inspired you sonically? There’s a lot of musical richness in the album — a lot of texture.

Sven: I find inspiration in a lot of different bands and genres. There were no particular artists during the writing process. I love to listen to death, black and thrash metal. I like the energy of that kind of music. Sadly, the lyrics are not always my cup of tea. I don’t like violence and I hate war. As a kid I listened to a lot of punk and hardcore. I also like doom, sludge, and some of that classic rock stuff. I like it when music is deep, raw, and untamed. For me it is more the power of a song than its melody. Speaking of melody – there comes one band to my mind which is very important to me. They have the melodies, mixed with energy and often very good lyrics in my opinion. I am only talking about their last two albums Long Gone Before Daylight and Super Extra Gravity which are masterpieces in my eyes. I am talking about The Cardigans from Sweden. They also have a constant portion of sadness and hope in their music, which is beautiful. I am not a big fan of happy music.

Ana: I love the pure and raw energy from Treedeon. Their directness and straight posture, their brutal sounds and tender mind. They are beloved friends at all. Furthermore, I have a weakness for the parallel universe Amenra sends me along. It’s similarly wholesome like a candlelight dinner with Oathbreaker and awakening with the Godmother of Punk: Patti Smith. These artists go along with me, but especially during the writing process I live out of the external sonic world. There are too many woozy sounds buzzing through my head while writing songs. As soon as we finished the recordings, I straightaway put my records on.

Putting The Pieces Together

Captured Howls: I read that you recorded the album in your own studio. Did you find that challenging? Enriching? Some of both, perhaps?

Ana: It’s extraordinarily calming for me. I can stay up until 3:00 in the morning to record a few dusty moods. Deluxe.

Sven: In fact, it was both for me. I constantly switched between being the engineer and being the musician. First thing we’ve recorded were the drums. So, I’ve set up the microphones, checked for the perfect positions and stuff, tuned the drum set and after that I took a seat and was the drummer of Might. If I remember that right, we recorded Ana’s bass the day after we finished the drums, then guitar, our vocals, and after that I’ve mixed and mastered the album. Our studio is our rehearsal room. It is a 30 square meter room that we share with another band. There we have a computer and a handful of microphones, that’s all. In contrast to a hired studio with an engineer where one has to work in that time slot one has booked maybe months before, one has all the time in the world in their own studio and can work when the mood is right even if it is 3:00 at night. That is a tremendous bonus. Especially if you are a band with no money. I am very grateful with the situation we have. Just the two of us recording our own album in our own studio. Perfect!

Going Forward

Captured Howls: Overall, Might seems to be a rather new project. What were some of the sparks like which led you down the path of establishing the project in the first place? Where would you like to take the project from here? For starters, hopefully safe live show opportunities open back up more widely soon.

Ana: It feels a little surreal to record the nightly moods and then to release a record before we had the interaction with people in live shows. That’s a special kind of energy I miss. But I am very thankful for having the chance to introduce myself this way and I hope we get to know all of you as soon as possible. Existence is an exciting adventure and being part of the EOM family is an honor for us. I hope to spend and to experience a lot of time in that circle of friends.

Sven: Might was founded mid of January 2020. We quit our former band just days before. The reason was that all of us don’t want to make any compromise in the music anymore. Ana and I have the same vision and we have the same workflow. We are both quick in transferring ideas, we both are impatient, emotional and easily delighted from new ideas. We love to travel, and we love to play and write music. With Exile On Mainstream we found that perfect label for us. I knew Andreas since the day he founded Exile On Mainstream, 20 years ago, and although we weren’t in contact over all those years, we have a longtime friendship. We are also good friends with a big part of the EOM bands, like Treedeon, Friedemann, Conny Ochs, Kristan Harting, and Enablers. It may sound corny but, like Ana said, it feels like a family and we are pleased to be part of that Love! Noise! Freedom! gang. Dave from Earsplit PR is doing an amazing job for us and will also distribute our album in the USA. At the moment, we are giving an interview for a fine website at the other side of the world. Absolutely terrific! Hopefully, it is soon possible to play safe live shows, we want to play as much shows as possible and we would love to tour around the globe. Thank you very much for having us!