Blood Axis are an American band, made up of journalist and author Michael Moynihan (journalist), Michael Moynihan, music producer Robert Ferbrache, and musician and author Annabel Lee.
[Liner notes of the ''Ultimacy'' compilation]
Overview
Early Blood Axis (1989–1999)
Moynihan had founded Coup de Grace, a multimedia project that produced live performances and cassettes and also released booklets of images and texts, the last of which was Friedrich Nietzsche's ''The Antichrist (book), The Antichrist''.
[An interview](_blank)
by Jan R. Bruun The first output from the new appellation were two songs, "Lord of Ages" (employing lyrics from Rudyard Kipling's poem on Mithras
[Kipling, Rudyard. "A Song To Mithras"]
) and "Electricity", which appeared on a German music sampler. These tracks were well received in Europe and were followed by two more songs that appeared on the compilation, ''Im Blutfeuer''.
[Interview](_blank)
from the EsoTerra #5, 1995
In 1995, Moynihan released the first full-length studio LP, ''The Gospel of Inhumanity'' with the help of Robert Ferbrache.
[the album notes read "''The Gospel of inhumanity was [...] entirely performed, recorded and engineered [...] by Michael Jenkins Moynihan and Robert Ferbrache''".] The album wedded the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and Sergei Prokofiev with modern electronic music, electronics. Moynihan implemented a recording of Ezra Pound reading from his ''The Cantos''.
[Pound, Ezra. "The Cantos"]
/ref> He also included lyrics from Nietzsche and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Longfellow[''Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth—The Challenge of Thor"]
Pitt; . as well as his own to the work.
The band consisted of Michael Moynihan (vocals, bodhrán), Annabelle Lee (melodeon, electric violin) and Robert Ferbrache (guitars, keyboards).[from the notes of the album ''Blòt: Sacrifice in Sweden'']
Contemporary Blood Axis (2000–2016)
In 2005, Blood Axis played the German ''Flammenzauber'' festival, showcasing reworked live versions of several previously released songs, a number of Irish folk songs and the live debut of a few new songs.[from the interview for the Heaven Street magazine, Issue 3, spring 2006, available on-line o]
Heaven Street website
April 2006 saw further live activity from Blood Axis, as well as a new medium for the duo's folk-oriented material entitled Knotwork at the Swiss Triumvirat festival.[the flyer of the festival is available o]
soleilnoir.ch event page
/ref>
Beginning in 1998, Moynihan began saying that Blood Axis was at work on a second full-length album, at one time said to be entitled ''Ultimacy''.[fro]
made b
Occidental Congress
during winter 1998/1999 On 2 January 2009, Blood Axis played in Sintra, Portugal, with members of Portuguese band Sangre Cavallum. Moynihan stated on stage that the new album, now titled ''Born Again'', was to be released the following Easter.[from th]
Blood Axis archives
/ref>
Blood Axis makes references to Modern Paganism, neopagan and ''Völkisch movement, völkisch'' concepts and figures such as Ludwig Fahrenkrog and Fidus. Moynihan is interested in Runic magic, rune mysticism. Beginning in the 2000s, he has been influenced by the neofascist movement ''Nouvelle Droite'' and Alain de Benoist.
Discography
Albums
* ''The Gospel of Inhumanity'', 1995
*: CD and 2xLP. Released by Cthulhu/Storm.
*: CD rerelease on Elfenblut/Misanthropy/Storm in 1998.
*: CD rerelease with deluxe packaging on Tesco Distribution/Storm in 2001.
* ''Blót: Sacrifice in Sweden'', 1998
*: CD and 2x12" LP limited to 600 copies. Released by Cold Meat Industry.
* ''Born Again'', 2010
*: CD released on Storm. STRM12
* ''Ultimacy'', 2011
*: CD compilation of all the singles and compilation tracks. Released on Storm. STRM13
Collaborations and split releases
* ''Walked in Line'', 1995
*: Split 7" EP with Allerseelen. Released by Storm Records.
* ''The March of Brian Boru'', 1998
*: Split 7" EP with Allerseelen. Released by Stateart.
* ''Blood Axis#Witch-Hunt: The Rites of Samhain, Witch-Hunt: The Rites of Samhain'', 2001
*: Collaboration with In Gowan Ring. Privately released CD-R.
* ''Absinthe: La Folie Verte'', 2001
*: Collaborative CD with Les Joyaux De La Princesse. Released by Athanor.
* ''Absinthe: La Folie Verte LP box'', 2002
*: Collaborative 2x10" LP box with Les Joyaux De La Princesse containing remixes of ''Absinthe: La Folie Verte''. Released by Athanor.
*: Rereleased on CD as ''Absinthia Taetra'' by Athanor in 2004
* ''The Dream / Fröleichen So Well Wir'', 2010
*: Split 7" EP with Andrew King. Released on Storm. STRM09
Witch-Hunt: The Rites of Samhain
''Witch-Hunt: The Rites of Samhain'' is a recording of a 1999 live collaboration of Blood Axis and In Gowan Ring, performing as Witch-Hunt. The album was not released on a label. Limited to 100 CDR copies for private distribution, it was sold only at select Blood Axis concerts in Portugal. The album came in a special hand-made fold-out sleeve with leaf.
Track listing:
:Witch Hunt recorded live on Samhain, 31 October 1999
# ''Welcoming By Harold McNeill''
# ''I Am Stretched on Your Grave, I Lay Stretched On Your Grave / Morning Dew''
# ''The Two Magicians, Two Magicians''
# ''Sea Ritual''
# ''Dead Men's Slip-Jig''
# ''The Rolling of the Stones''
# ''The Black One''
:Bonus tracks:
# ''The Rolling of the Stones'' - B'eirth, In Gowan Ring, from the compilation ''The Pact of the Gods''
# ''Brian Boru, The March of Brian Boru'' - Blood Axis, from the compilation ''10 Years of Madness''
# ''Follow Me up to Carlow, Follow Me Up To Carlow'' - Blood Axis, previously unreleased
References
Citations
Sources
*
*
External links
Official Blood Axis website
Blood Axis Archive
- the new location of the bloodaxis.com fansite
Michael Moynihan Interview; Between Birds of Prey
fro
Heathen Harvest
2005
{{Authority control
American folk musical groups
Neofolk music groups
Musical groups established in 1989
American industrial music groups
Martial industrial groups
1989 establishments in the United States
Modern pagan musical groups