Les Légions Noires

okay, let's get this shit back on track. music!

so literally yesterday i was researching a tentative name for my freelance design studio -- i had chosen 'black legion' because i thought it sounded bad ass. unfortunately, another group of people also considered it bad ass -- i found out that a branch of the fucking KKK had styled themselves with that very name. so fuck that.

with further research i also discovered that there was a black metal movement [isn't there always] from the mid '90s, from around the brittany area in france called les legions noires, which translates directly to [you guessed it!] black legion. many of you have probably heard of either mütiilation or vlad tepes, and let me tell you, a sadder group of dudes there never was.

i downloaded a bunch of their music yesterday and it ranges from good bathory worship black metal to such raw garbage it sounds like it was recorded via nerf football. and here that all is for you to download; a semi-complete discography of les legions noires, with the addition of a PDF of the silliest zine interview ever -- both in content and in layout / photography -- which i highly recommend that you download.

i'll leave you with a quote directly from their angsty, sad mouths.
"We are Black Legions of Satan, we are the immortal warriors of Black imperial blood. We are here to pervert christian worms and they shall face the Black holocaust. It's near!"


Mütiilation: Hail Satanas We Are The Black Legions (1994)
Vlad Tepes: War Funeral March (1994)
Vlad Tepes / Belketre: March to the Black Holocaust (1995)
Mütiilation: Vampires of Black Imperial Blood (1995)
Vlad Tepes / Torgeist: Black Legions Metal (1996)
Belketre: Ambre Zuèrkl Vuordhrévarhtre (1996)
Vlad Tepes: La Morte Lune (1997)

PDF ZINE

Demented.

New album.

order. 1 | 2
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listen.

Vive la France …

It’s a bit of time that I’m missing from this place, so it’s time to come back with some stuff.
In the last weekend I’ve been at the Maryland Death Fest in Baltimore and I had a true overdose of great great great nasty metal and grindcore done almost in every shade.
But now I’m not posting anything of the bands at the festival. I just let the festival inspire me.

I’m posting an album I’ve been actually listening to for a while and that I like a lot. This album is the 2009 debut full-length release by the death metallers Affliction Gate from the sunny, southern lands of France (Provence, Côte d'Azur, etc.).
Three guys: Herastratos for the mighty vocals, Grief for the riffs and JP for the drums.

Nothing experimental, nothing revolutionary.
Just the so-called "old school death metal", oh yes, but done as if these guys were playing glacial black metal as well. Some great riffs, some nice changes in rhythm, fierce vocal parts reminding me of Entombed and all rendered with a great production.

In general I “automatically” and "blindly" love the French black metal production but I’m pleasantly surprised to discover some other metal stuff by my continental neighbours across the Alps!
(Actually in Baltimore there were Gorod from France as well ...).

dl

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Icy, malevolent, black tunes …

Merrimack, from France, recently released their new album, Grey Rigorism.

Although I have a soft spot for fast-paced extreme metal/rock, I like their somber way of making black metal and all the shades of their sounds.

dl.
listen.

French progster(s) …

Not my typical post of death-black metal or brutal stuff.
I’ll be seeing these guys tomorrow evening as opening acts for Porcupine Tree here in my town (Milano).
The band is called Demians and is from France. Actually the band is made up by one man, Nicolas Chapel, but there is an official line-up for live exhibitions.
Nicolas is about to release a new album, and it seems that also some of the talented live musicians are taking part to the making of it. In the meantime I only have this one, the 2008 album "Building An Empire", a fine piece of haunting, dark prog.

dl.
listen.