''Vampires of Black Imperial Blood'' is the debut album by French

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with t ...

group

Mütiilation Mütiilation was a French black metal project, traditionally known as a group, but later a solo project that consisted solely of its founder William "Meyhna'ch" Roussel who maintained activity under the name until its closing in 2017. Mütiilat ...

. The album is noted for being the first full length release in the

Les Légions Noires Les Légions Noires (also known as The Black Legions in English, or simply abbreviated to LLN) was an avant-garde group of French underground black metal musicians and their bands, centered mostly around the city of Brest, in Brittany. The bands ...

movement, it was also the first full-length CD publication from

Drakkar Productions Drakkar Productions is a French record label that has released many recordings of black metal bands throughout the world, on CD, cassette and vinyl. They have usually limited the prints to 1,000 copies or less, but some have been known to vary. ...

, a French record label freshly established in 1994 by fellow musician Noktu (frontman of

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Reissues

Originally limited to 1000 copies, the album was reissued in 1999 as a double- LP by

End All Life Productions End All Life Productions is a French record label that released many black metal albums in the late 1990s and the 2000s. Catalogue See also * List of record labels File:Alvinoreyguitarboogie.jpg File:AmMusicBunk78.jpg File:Bingola1011b.jpg L ...

, in a limited pressing of 100 numbered copies. This edition had a slightly different track listing, including three bonus tracks. The album was bootlegged in 2005 by Tragic Empire Records, in an undisclosed amount, with the same track listing as the double-LP. In 2009 Dark Adversary Productions (Australia) did an official reissue of this album with the same track listing as the original CD press.

Critical reception

This album, together with ''

March to the Black Holocaust Vlad Tepes was a French black metal band which was formed in Brest in 1993. The name originated from the 15th-century Wallachian ruler, the inspiration for Bram Stoker's fictional vampire Dracula. The group belongs to the Black Legions. Vorlok ...

'', was instrumental in establishing the reputation of the Black Legions among underground black metal circles. The overall reception of the album was highly polarized with some dismissing it as "forgettable melancholic drivel". Globally, the most notable elements appear to be the "twisted", "demented but catchy riffs" and, most importantly, the "melancholic", "bleak and lugubrious", "depressive atmosphere", that differed from the established Norwegian black metal acts of that time. On the base of this album, Mütiilation is often credited for inventing the "depressive/suicidal black metal" subgenre, that would spawn acts such as

Xasthur Xasthur () is the project of American musician Scott "Malefic" Conner. Conner formed Xasthur in 1995 and released eight studio albums of black metal by 2010, when he announced the end of the project. However, he began using the name once again i ...

and Shining."(...) a mournful sounding arpeggiated midtempo droniness that certainly informed Xasthur's sepia toned fuzz" - However, unlike groups the album influenced, "Vampires..." shows a wider range of dynamics and an unmistakable style of songwriting, especially for that era of the genre. While the production quality has been acclaimed as "significantly clearer" than on earlier Mütiilation demos, other reviewers described it as a "nonexistent production", or even an "ultra primitive sound quality (...) making

Darkthrone Darkthrone is a Norwegian extreme metal band from Kolbotn, Akershus. Formed in 1986 as a death metal band named Black Death, in 1991 Darkthrone embraced a black metal style influenced by Bathory and Celtic Frost and became one of the leadin ...

sound downright hi-fi".

Track listings

Drakkar Original Pressing/Dark Adversary Pressing

End All Life LP

Trivia

* This was the first recording to feature Mørdrëd. * This album features both real drums as well as a drum machine, while on the following Mütiilation releases (notably ones that were recorded as a one-man project) Meyhna'ch would rely solely on a drum machine. The final Mütiilation album, ''Sorrow Galaxies'', also featured actual drums.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vampires Of Black Imperial Blood 1995 debut albums Les Légions Noires albums Mütiilation albums