Cold Meat Industry (CMI) is one of the Bureau's foundational Tier-I label entries in this archive's post-1985 Swedish post-industrial cluster. Founded 1987 by Roger Karmanik (see Brighter Death Now) in Linkoping, Ostergotlands lan; the Swedish independent post-industrial label of the post-1987 period across 150+ releases and 27 years of catalogue activity. Specialised in dark ambient, death industrial, power electronics, ritual industrial, martial industrial, neoclassical dark wave and neofolk. The Bureau files CMI at Tier I for the 1987 founding, Karmanik's coinage of dark ambient, the 1990s catalogue and roster, and its influence on 1990s post-industrial reception.
1987 Karmanik founded CMI while working at a print shop in Linkoping. Per Karmanik (Bardo Methodology #7): "Several of my covers were made from scratch, all by myself: printed, pressed, and then glued together. But then we had a kid, and then even more kids, and then I was fired, haha! This was when digitalising had just come along, so people didn't need their material printed everything went digital. So, I was made redundant. I'd already built up Cold Meat by then; it was almost as if I had two jobs already." By 1995 CMI was profitable enough to support Karmanik full-time.
The catalogue opened with CMI-01, the 1987 Lille Roger Undead single (Karmanik's pre-BDN alias). The numbered catalogue documented the late-1980s opening: CMI-02 the 1988 split 7" EP In the Shadow of Death (En Halvkokt I Folie / Brainbombs / Memorandum / Enema Syringe); CMI-03 the 1988 Bomb the Daynursery Pain in Progress cassette (Karmanik's pre-BDN project; later reissued under the Brighter Death Now name 1990); CMI-04 the 1989 In Slaughter Natives debut cassette; CMI-05 the 1989 Memorandum Aux morts. These releases connect CMI to the Swedish cassette-and-noise underground.
Across 1991–1992 CMI operated a short-lived side-label called Sound Source that specialised in releasing limited tape editions of CMI artists' debuts. Sound Source issued early cassettes by Archon Satani, Brighter Death Now, Megaptera, Deutsch Nepal and Raison d'etre.
Karmanik coined the term dark ambient in reference to Peter Andersson's Raison d'etre project, particularly the 1994 Enthralled by the Wind of Loneliness. The Raison d'etre catalogue later became the recognised centerpiece of the CMI roster across the 1990s and 2000s.
1995 brought the double-CD compilation ...And Even Wolves Hid Their Teeth and Tongue Wherever Shelter Was Given (title from an Ildfrost song). The compilation featured veteran CMI acts (Deutsch Nepal, BDN, MZ.412, Morthound, Raison d'etre) and recent signings (Arcana, Desiderii Marginis, Ordo Equilibrio, Mortiis, Aghast); the catalogue's first US distribution. Per Karmanik (Bardo Methodology #7): "That sampler became a massive hit; people were in effect served the entire label. I made the booklet look decent and included a list of our back catalogue as well as a presentation of all bands on the compilation. If you bought that one, you had most of Cold Meat covered."
The post-1995 catalogue extended the geography. Ildfrost (gothic darkwave, Autumn Departure) was the catalogue's first non-Swedish signing; later Aghast (Norwegian ritual ambient, Hexerei im Zwielicht der Finsternis); later Mortiis (Norwegian, post-Emperor). The 1995 Mortiis album Anden som gjorde oppror brought underground-metal audiences to the CMI catalogue; later MZ.412 (Henrik Nordvargr Bjorkk) and Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio bridged the gap between underground metal and Cold Meat Industry. Per Karmanik (Bardo Methodology #7): "Mortiis and AGHAST already had strong black metal ties by virtue of the people involved. On the merits of their dark and morbid music, MZ.412 and ORDO EQUILIBRIO also helped bridge the gap between underground metal and Cold Meat Industry."
A unsung contributor to the catalogue was Henrik Moller of Puissance (later Arditi). Per Karmanik (Bardo Methodology #7) Moller "introduced a lot of Swedish metalheads to CMI bands and would often be raging up in Stockholm generally known as a maniac, which was a major reputation-booster back then... He actually worked at CMI for a few years, handled my mail-order and managed the store. In the late 90s and early 00s, Cold Meat Industry had a record shop in Linkoping."
Karmanik's sustained cover-artwork position across the entire CMI catalogue defined the CMI aesthetic. Highlights include the recognised Raison d'etre designs, Puissance Back in Control, Morthound This Crying Age, MZ.412 Nordik Battle Signs. The Nordik Battle Signs cover documents Karmanik's photo of the Rokstenen runestone in Ostergotland with bayonet motif from a book; per Karmanik (Bardo Methodology #7): "I took that runestone photo myself, it's Rokstenen in Ostergotland. And those bayonets, I got them from a book. As per usual, I built on what I knew they were interested in."
The roster was Swedish-monocultural across the 1990s. Typical pressings 2,000-3,000 copies, with select titles reaching 5,000. The roster: Raison d'etre (centerpiece, Peter Andersson), Arcana, Atrium Carceri, Coph Nia, Desiderii Marginis, Deutsch Nepal, Mortiis, Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio (ORE), In Slaughter Natives, MZ.412 (Henrik Nordvargr Bjorkk), Brighter Death Now, Megaptera, Morthound (Mathias Henriksson), Letum, Puissance, Aghast, Ildfrost, Archon Satani. ORE produced something closer to pop music across the post-1995 catalogue while following in the footsteps of Throbbing Gristle and incorporating aspects of eroticism and religion into their gothic atmospheres. MZ.412 combined distorted sound walls with industrial and metal influences. Letum (Mathias Henriksson) released two mid-2000s albums in the deep distorted droning tradition of Lustmord, composed largely on computer with gothic chords, chants and processed sounds. By 2009 the core of the label's activity was presented by traditional CMI bands such as ORE and In Slaughter Natives whose members collaborated closely with Karmanik.
Across the post-2000 reception "CMI" became a genre signifier in its own right referring to avant-garde artists influenced by industrial and dark ambient music; later the German Loki Foundation label and others followed in similar territory. 2013 the label stopped active release activities; 4 February 2014 official Facebook announcement of the end of Cold Meat Industry after 27 years. 2017 a 30th-anniversary festival in Stockholm organised by Death Disco featured 15 CMI-associated acts including Mortiis and Raison d'etre. 2021 Karmanik reactivated CMI for the BDN All Too Bad - Bad To All release.
Filed by Bureau editor · VAGO · c. the High Middle Ages · last revised c. the Renaissance