Los Humillados

Los Humillados is a duo from Manresa (Barcelona) formed in 1985 from the ashes of Síndrome with Artur Ríos and Esther Subirana, at the same time that they were creating their own record label, Grabaciones Góticas. In 1986, '6 Nuevas Bandas Catalanas' is the first appearance of the group, with another five bands, initially published by the EPDLM label, although it was reissued a year later on Grabaciones Góticas. 

In 1987 they released their album, 'El Baile De Las Sombras'. 1989 was a truly fruitful year for Los Humillados. One of their best and most successful albums, 'El Descanso Eterno', appears, which opens the doors to the more ethereal, subtle and vaporous sound of the band. Also this year, the fourth album by Los Humillados 'De Guerra, Pasión y Sentimiento' would be released.

In 1990, in a collaboration between Grabaciones Góticas and Facadas Da Noite, in EP format, Los Humillados surprised with an unpublished track, "Tormenta Sobre La Piel", and also appeared in the compilation 'Berlín, Timisoara, Manresa'. At the end of 1990 they publish the EP cassette 'Homenaje A Ian Curtis', the leader of Joy Division. The following year, they return to collaborate with the poet Joan Borda (the first one was in 1989 on the film "Minimal"), with a limited edition EP entitled 'Lirian'. Grabaciones Góticas expands its pretensions in the compilations, 'Spanish Gothic Bands' where the shadow of Artur is omnipresent.

Together with the band from Zaragoza Gothic Sex, Los Humillados edited the shared CD 'Ritualis Mortis'. In 1995, a compilation, 'Dark Archives. 1985-1995', distributed all over Europe, is a worthy introduction to Artur and Ester's career. A year later, in 1996, 'El Conjuro De Los Poetas Malditos' appears on cassette. Six years later, 'El Canto Agónico De Las Estatuas', supposes a clear evolution in their sound, at the same time as a reaffirmation of their characteristic, spectral and melancholic sound. The ethereal backgrounds and the ghostly voice of Artur Ríos coexist with the most rhythmic songs ever recorded by the band and with warmer and closer songs. Sinuosity, sadness and nightmare environments merge with themes in which a certain light opens a hole in the dark nothing that configures this album. 

In 2010 appears the last album released by the band entitled '9125 Dias En Las Catacumbas', or what is the same, the sum in days of the existence of the band over 25 years. Instead of publishing the usual commemorative compilation, Los Humillados decide to edit an album with new songs. The uniqueness of this album is that the sixteen songs that compose it are united in one, making the listener spend more than an hour listening to it. That same year (2010) the group released two CDs entitled 'Lost Tracks. Vol. 1' and 'Lost Tracks. Vol. 2', where they rescue the tracks discarded from the 2008 sessions. The CDs were not on sale in shops or distributors.

The band's appearances in numerous compilations has been constant. To mention a few: '13 Incioes' (Facadas Na Noite, 1989, cassette, Portugal), 'Fóssil Sampler' (Grito Tapes, 1992, cassette), 'Nos Duele Demasiado Existir' (El Auxilio, 1995, cassette), 'Seküencias de Culto "Sampler I" de Profundis Clamavi' (Seküencias de Culto, 1995, cassette), 'Silent Order - The Stigmata Compilation' (Nuclear Blast/Nyctalopia Records, 1996, CD, Germany), or 'Music for Strange Dreams', (Enochian Calls, cassette, Portugal). [SOURCE: GRUPOS NACIONALES NUEVA OLA 80]