Misanthrope is a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 band, formed in 1988. The name of the band is taken from Molière

Molière

Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...

's play Le Misanthrope

Le Misanthrope

The Misanthrope is a 17th-century comedy of manners in verse written by Molière. It was first performed on 4 June 1666 at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal, Paris by the King's Players....

, reflecting the band's very theatrical style and the influence of the French dramatist on their music and lyrics.

The band's genre is difficult to define, but could probably be best described as progressive/technical death metal

Technical death metal

Technical death metal is a musical subgenre of death metal that focuses on complex rhythms, riffs and song structures. Technical experimentation in death metal began in the late '80s and early '90s by bands such as Death, Atheist and Cynic...

, somewhere along the lines of Opeth

Opeth

Opeth is a Swedish heavy metal band from Stockholm, formed in 1990. Though the group has been through several personnel changes, singer, guitarist, and songwriter Mikael Åkerfeldt has remained Opeth's driving force throughout the years...

 or In Flames

In Flames

In Flames is a Swedish heavy metal band from Gothenburg, formed in 1990. Since the band's inception in 1993, they have released ten studio albums and one live DVD...

, with a wide array of tempo and style changes. The band also makes extensive use of keyboards, and features clean, though tormented, vocals alongside the traditional death grunt.

Misanthrope was voted best French metal band by the readers of magazines Hard'N'Heavy in 1999, and by the readers of Hard Rock Mag and Hard'N'Heavy in 2000.

Discography

• Inductive Theories (demo, 1989)
• Crisis of Soul (demo, 1990)
• Hater of Mankind (split LP, 1991)
• Variation on Inductive Theories/Kingdom of the Dark (full-length, 1993)
• Miracles: Totem Taboo (full-length, 1994)
• 1666...Théâtre Bizarre
  1666...Théâtre Bizarre
  1666... Théâtre Bizarre is the third studio album by the French progressive death metal band Misanthrope. It is sung in English on tracks 1, 3, 5 and 8; French on track 2, 4, 6, 7, and 11; and German on track 10.-Track listing:...
  
  (full-length, 1995)
• Visionnaire
  Visionnaire
  Visionnaire is the fourth studio album by the French progressive death metal band Misanthrope.-Track listing:# "Future Futile" - 5:37# "Bâtisseur de Cathédrale" - 5:36# "Hypochondrium Forces" - 5:42# "Le Silence des Grottes" - 4:55# "2666" - 6:38...
  
  (full-length, 1997)
• Libertine Humiliations
  Libertine Humiliations
  Libertine Humiliations is the fifth studio album by the French progressive death metal band Misanthrope.-Track listing:# "Misanthrope Necromancer" - 5:02# "Matador de l'extrême - 4:43# "At 666 Days..." - 4:00# "L'écume des Chouans" - 5:37...
  
  (full-length, 1998)
• Misanthrope Immortel
  Misanthrope Immortel
  Misanthrope Immortel is the sixth studio album by the French avant-garde progressive death metal band Misanthrope.-French track listing:# "Eden Massacre" - 4:57# "Les Empereurs du Néant" - 5:39# "Maimed Liberty" - 4:12...
  
  (full-length, 2000)
• Recueil d'Écueils: les Épaves et Autres Oeuvres Interdites (compilation, 2000)
• Sadistic Sex Daemon
  Sadistic Sex Daemon
  Sadistic Sex Daemon is the 7th studio album by the band Misanthrope. The bonus disc is entirely sung in French, except for the last track. There was also an LP picture disc released in July 2005 by Painkiller Records, which was limited to 500 copies....
  
  (full-length, 2003)
• Misanthro-Thérapie (15 Années d'Analyse)
  Misanthro-Thérapie (15 Années d'Analyse)
  Misanthro-Thérapie is a compilation of music by the French progressive death metal band Misanthrope. This compilation set was limited to 2,000 units, including 2 DVDs containing live songs,interviews and more...
  
  (compilation, 2004)
• Metal Hurlant
  Metal Hurlant (album)
  -Disc 1 :# L'Exaltation De La Croix – 5:32# Théologie Du Misanthrope – 7:29# Sentiment Nocturne – 6:50# Reine Martyre – 6:19# Le Triptyque Des Enfers – 6:17# Le Haras d'Amazones – 5:07# Metal Hurlant – 8:11...
  
  (double full-length, 2005)
• IrremeDIABLE
  IrremeDIABLE
  IrremeDIABLE is the ninth studio album by the French band Misanthrope. It is also the first concept album by the band, being based on the life and works of Charles Baudelaire. This album was released in two versions: the single CD, and a limited deluxe box containing a CD and a DVD...
  
  (full-length, 2008)

Current members

• Phillipe De L'Argilière - vocals
• Anthony Scemama - guitars/keyboards
• Jean-Jacques Moréac - bass/keyboards
• Gaël Feret - drums

Former members

• Gregory Lambert - guitars
• Jean-Baptiste Boitel - guitars/keyboards
• Charles-Henri Moréac - guitars
• Stephane Cros - guitars
• Frantz-Xavier Boscher - guitars
• Lionel Bolore - bass
• Alexandre Iskander - keyboards
• Sergio Gruz - keyboards
• David Barrault - drums
• Olivier Gaubert - drums
• Johansson Offhenstruh - drums
• Alexis Phélipot - drums