Blood Axis
Encyclopedia
Blood Axis is an American Neofolk
/Post-industrial band consisting of journalist and author Michael Moynihan
, music producer Robert Ferbrache and musician and author Annabel Lee.
at the request of experimental music
pioneer, Boyd Rice
. Moynihan had previously 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
.
The first output from the new appellation were two songs, "Lord of Ages" (employing lyrics from Rudyard Kipling
's poem on 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 seminal compilation, Im Blutfeuer
.
In 1995
, Moynihan released the first full length studio LP, The Gospel of Inhumanity
with the help of Robert Ferbrache.
The album wedded the music of Johann Sebastian Bach
and Sergei Prokofiev
with modern electronic
s. Moynihan implemented a recording of Ezra Pound
reading from his The Cantos
. He also included lyrics from Nietzsche and Longfellow
as well as his own to the work. The album begins with a sample from the decisive final sequence of the film The Wicker Man.
After the release of The Gospel of Inhumanity
, Blood Axis acquired Moynihan's partner Annabel Lee, previously of Amber Asylum
, as a permanent member contributing vocals, violin, viola
, accordion
and various other instruments. This resulted in a considerably less electronic sound, a larger focus on Germanic polytheism and a more acoustic folk-based approach as well as covers of traditional recordings, particularly from Ireland
, and continued use of historical European references. The first appearance of these changes took place in 1997
, when Blood Axis played a concert for the tenth anniversary of Cold Meat Industry, a Swedish
record label. The band consisted of Michael Moynihan (vocals, bodhrán), Annabelle Lee (melodeon, electric violin) and Robert Ferbrache (guitars, keyboards). The performance was recorded, and later remastered and released as BLOT: Sacrifice in Sweden
.
as well as various appearances with In Gowan Ring, whose main member, B'eirth
, Blood Axis have appeared with as Witch-Hunt playing largely traditional Irish folk music
. Out of this collaboration, they released the album Witch-Hunt: The Rites of Samhain, in 2001.
During the same time, they produced a collaborative album with French artist Les Joyaux De La Princesse
elaborating on the theme of absinthe
appearing on The Gospel of Inhumanity. The album, entitled Absinthe - La Folie Verte, came in deluxe editions relating to the Paris
ian use of absinthe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This material was largely experimental
, neoclassical and post-industrial in sound.
In 2005, Blood Axis released a lyrically modified cover of Brian Pearson's The Ride, to a 2005 compilation entitled Looking For Europe. 2005 also saw Blood Axis play the German Flammenzauber
festival, showcasing reworked live versions of several previously released songs, an amount of Irish folk songs and the live debut of a few new songs. They also made an unusual appearance in New York City
on Easter Sunday (called the "Black Easter" concert) alongside Changes
and two other bands, in what was their first, and what Moynihan himself said on stage would likely be their last, performance in the city. 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.
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. On the 2nd of 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. Eventually the album got released on the 21st of March 2010.
On June 10, 2011 Blood Axis announced about their forthcoming mini tour in Europe, playing five concerts in Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Finland and Lithuania. The concerts eventually took place the last two weeks of August with final concert in Lithuania's post-folk and alternative music festival Mėnuo Juodaragis
(MJR). The line-up was: Michael Moynihan
, Annabel Lee
, Robert Ferbrache, David E Williams (keyboards), Aaron Garlan (bass), and John Murphy
(percussion). The set included new (Born Again, 2010) and old material. The compilation titled Ultimacy was eventually released in september.
Track listing:
Neofolk
Neofolk is a form of folk music-inspired experimental music that emerged from post-industrial music circles. Neofolk can either be solely acoustic folk music or a blend of acoustic folk instrumentation aided by varieties of accompanying sounds such as pianos, strings and elements of industrial...
/Post-industrial band consisting of journalist and author Michael Moynihan
Michael Moynihan (journalist)
Michael Moynihan is an American journalist, publisher and musician. He is best known for co-writing the book Lords of Chaos, about black metal....
, music producer Robert Ferbrache and musician and author Annabel Lee.
Early Blood Axis (1989-1999)
Moynihan formed Blood Axis in 1989 after touring JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
at the request of experimental music
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
pioneer, Boyd Rice
Boyd Rice
Boyd Blake Rice is an American experimental sound/noise musician using the name of NON since the mid-1970s, archivist, actor, photographer, author, member of the Partridge Family Temple religious group, co-founder of the UNPOP art movement and current staff writer for Modern Drunkard...
. Moynihan had previously founded Coup de Grace, a multimedia
Multimedia
Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...
project that produced live performances and cassettes and also released booklets of images and texts, the last of which was Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
's The Antichrist
The Antichrist (book)
The Antichrist is a book by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, originally published in 1895. Although it was written in 1888, its controversial content made Franz Overbeck and Heinrich Köselitz delay its publication, along with Ecce Homo...
.
The first output from the new appellation were two songs, "Lord of Ages" (employing lyrics from Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
's poem on Mithras ) and "Electricity", which appeared on a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
music sampler. These tracks were well received in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and were followed by two more songs that appeared on the seminal compilation, Im Blutfeuer
Im Blutfeuer
Im Blutfeuer is a compilation CD released by Cthulu Records in 1995. Includes Blood Axis, Ernte, Sol Invictus, Allerseelen, and Death In June.-Track listing:#"Walked In Line" - Blood Axis Featuring - Thomas Thorn...
.
In 1995
1995 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1995.- January–February :*January 18 – Jerry Garcia crashes his rented BMW into a guard rail near Mill Valley, California, USA, but is not injured in the accident....
, Moynihan released the first full length studio LP, The Gospel of Inhumanity
The Gospel of Inhumanity
The Gospel of Inhumanity is the first album by Blood Axis. Conceived in the winter of 1994/95, it was performed, recorded and engineered at Absinthe Studios by Michael Jenkins Moynihan and Robert Ferbrache....
with the help of Robert Ferbrache.
The album wedded the music of Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
and Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...
with modern electronic
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
s. Moynihan implemented a recording of Ezra Pound
Ezra Pound
Ezra Weston Loomis Pound was an American expatriate poet and critic and a major figure in the early modernist movement in poetry...
reading from his The Cantos
The Cantos
The Cantos by Ezra Pound is a long, incomplete poem in 120 sections, each of which is a canto. Most of it was written between 1915 and 1962, although much of the early work was abandoned and the early cantos, as finally published, date from 1922 onwards. It is a book-length work, widely considered...
. He also included lyrics from Nietzsche and Longfellow
Longfellow
Longfellow may refer to:* Longfellow, Minneapolis, United States** Longfellow , Minneapolis, United States* Longfellow, Oakland, California, United States* Longfellow , one of America's first great thoroughbred racehorses...
as well as his own to the work. The album begins with a sample from the decisive final sequence of the film The Wicker Man.
After the release of The Gospel of Inhumanity
The Gospel of Inhumanity
The Gospel of Inhumanity is the first album by Blood Axis. Conceived in the winter of 1994/95, it was performed, recorded and engineered at Absinthe Studios by Michael Jenkins Moynihan and Robert Ferbrache....
, Blood Axis acquired Moynihan's partner Annabel Lee, previously of Amber Asylum
Amber Asylum
Amber Asylum is a highly-variable San Francisco-based music group that serves as a platform for composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist Kris Force...
, as a permanent member contributing vocals, violin, viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
, accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
and various other instruments. This resulted in a considerably less electronic sound, a larger focus on Germanic polytheism and a more acoustic folk-based approach as well as covers of traditional recordings, particularly from Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, and continued use of historical European references. The first appearance of these changes took place in 1997
1997 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1997.-January:*January 9 – David Bowie performs his 50th Birthday Bash concert at Madison Square Garden, New York City, USA with guests Frank Black, The Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth, Robert Smith of The Cure, Lou Reed, and Billy...
, when Blood Axis played a concert for the tenth anniversary of Cold Meat Industry, a Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
record label. The band consisted of Michael Moynihan (vocals, bodhrán), Annabelle Lee (melodeon, electric violin) and Robert Ferbrache (guitars, keyboards). The performance was recorded, and later remastered and released as BLOT: Sacrifice in Sweden
Blot: Sacrifice in Sweden
Blót: Sacrifice in Sweden is the second album by Blood Axis. It was recorded live in November 1997, at the Cold Meat Industry 10th Anniversary Feast in Skylten, Linköping, Sweden.-Overview:...
.
Contemporary Blood Axis (2000-present)
This period saw Blood Axis playing live shows in PortugalPortugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
as well as various appearances with In Gowan Ring, whose main member, B'eirth
B'eirth
Jon Michael better known as B'eirth or B'ee , is the vocalist and conductor/composer in the experimental psych folk band In Gowan Ring.-Biography:...
, Blood Axis have appeared with as Witch-Hunt playing largely traditional Irish folk music
Music of Ireland
Irish Music is the generic term for music that has been created in various genres on the island of Ireland.The indigenous music of the island is termed Irish traditional music. It has remained vibrant through the 20th, and into the 21st century, despite globalizing cultural forces...
. Out of this collaboration, they released the album Witch-Hunt: The Rites of Samhain, in 2001.
During the same time, they produced a collaborative album with French artist Les Joyaux De La Princesse
Les Joyaux De La Princesse
Les Joyaux De La Princesse is a French industrial band, founded in 1986 by Erik Konofal. The musical style is a mixture of ambient and neo-classical, often utilizing samples from original works in tandem with French chansons, operatic works, and historical speeches...
elaborating on the theme of absinthe
Absinthe
Absinthe is historically described as a distilled, highly alcoholic beverage. It is an anise-flavoured spirit derived from herbs, including the flowers and leaves of the herb Artemisia absinthium, commonly referred to as "grande wormwood", together with green anise and sweet fennel...
appearing on The Gospel of Inhumanity. The album, entitled Absinthe - La Folie Verte, came in deluxe editions relating to the Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
ian use of absinthe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This material was largely experimental
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
, neoclassical and post-industrial in sound.
In 2005, Blood Axis released a lyrically modified cover of Brian Pearson's The Ride, to a 2005 compilation entitled Looking For Europe. 2005 also saw Blood Axis play the German Flammenzauber
Flammenzauber
Flammenzauber is an annual festival held at the Wasserburg castle in Heldrungen, Germany. The festival showcases various musical artists within the neofolk, martial and post-industrial music spectrums, as well as artists working within other media....
festival, showcasing reworked live versions of several previously released songs, an amount of Irish folk songs and the live debut of a few new songs. They also made an unusual appearance in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on Easter Sunday (called the "Black Easter" concert) alongside Changes
Changes (band)
Changes are an American folk band formed in 1969 by cousins Robert N. Taylor and Nicholas Tesluk. Changes saw three distinct periods with rotating band members before their contemporary incarnation, heavily associated with the neofolk genre....
and two other bands, in what was their first, and what Moynihan himself said on stage would likely be their last, performance in the city. 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.
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. On the 2nd of 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. Eventually the album got released on the 21st of March 2010.
On June 10, 2011 Blood Axis announced about their forthcoming mini tour in Europe, playing five concerts in Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Finland and Lithuania. The concerts eventually took place the last two weeks of August with final concert in Lithuania's post-folk and alternative music festival Mėnuo Juodaragis
Menuo Juodaragis
Mėnuo Juodaragis is an annual independent and non-profit Lithuanian music festival for various post-folklore, folklore, neo-folk, alternative, experimental music and contemporaty Baltic culture.-Concept:...
(MJR). The line-up was: Michael Moynihan
Michael Moynihan
Michael Moynihan may refer to:*Michael Moynihan , author of The Coming American Renaissance*Michael Moynihan , American journalist and founder of Blood Axis...
, Annabel Lee
Annabel Lee
"Annabel Lee" is the last complete poem composed by American author Edgar Allan Poe. Like many of Poe's poems, it explores the theme of the death of a beautiful woman. The narrator, who fell in love with Annabel Lee when they were young, has a love for her so strong that even angels are jealous. He...
, Robert Ferbrache, David E Williams (keyboards), Aaron Garlan (bass), and John Murphy
John Murphy
-In politics:*John Murphy , American Democratic Governor and Congressman from Alabama*John Murphy , Member of the UK Parliament for East Kerry, 1900–1910*John W...
(percussion). The set included new (Born Again, 2010) and old material. The compilation titled Ultimacy was eventually released in september.
Albums
- The Gospel of InhumanityThe Gospel of InhumanityThe Gospel of Inhumanity is the first album by Blood Axis. Conceived in the winter of 1994/95, it was performed, recorded and engineered at Absinthe Studios by Michael Jenkins Moynihan and Robert Ferbrache....
, 1996- CD and 2xLP. Released by CthulhuCthulhuCthulhu is a fictional character that first appeared in the short story "The Call of Cthulhu", published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales in 1928. The character was created by writer H. P...
/Storm. - CD rerelease on Elfenblut/MisanthropyMisanthropyMisanthropy is generalized dislike, distrust, disgust, contempt or hatred of the human species or human nature. A misanthrope, or misanthropist is someone who holds such views or feelings...
/Storm in 1998. - CD rerelease with deluxe packaging on Tesco Distribution/Storm in 2001.
- CD and 2xLP. Released by Cthulhu
- Blót: Sacrifice in SwedenBlot: Sacrifice in SwedenBlót: Sacrifice in Sweden is the second album by Blood Axis. It was recorded live in November 1997, at the Cold Meat Industry 10th Anniversary Feast in Skylten, Linköping, Sweden.-Overview:...
, 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 AllerseelenAllerseelenAllerseelen are the experimental, post-industrial and military pop music works of Austrian musician Gerhard Petak, aka Kadmon. The German name is translated into English as All Souls' Day. Their music is inspired by nature and has a strong philosophical/alchemical context inspired by the writings...
. Released by Storm Records.
- Split 7" EP with Allerseelen
- The March of Brian BoruThe March of Brian BoruThe March of Brian Boru is a Blood Axis/Allerseelen Split 7" single that was released by Stateart in 1998. Some of the arrangements begin with a classic quote by Calgacus, a statement of resistance against Roman occupation ending with the famous observation that 'where they create a desert, they...
, 1998- Split 7" EP with AllerseelenAllerseelenAllerseelen are the experimental, post-industrial and military pop music works of Austrian musician Gerhard Petak, aka Kadmon. The German name is translated into English as All Souls' Day. Their music is inspired by nature and has a strong philosophical/alchemical context inspired by the writings...
. Released by Stateart.
- Split 7" EP with Allerseelen
- Witch-Hunt: The Rites of Samhain, 2001
- Collaboration with In Gowan Ring. Privately released CD-R.
- Absinthe: La Folie VerteAbsinthe: La Folie VerteAbsinthe: La Folie Verte is a concept album by Blood Axis and Les Joyaux De La Princesse. It is an homage to the cordial absinthe.It was released by Athanor in 2001 as a digipack CD...
, 2001- Collaborative CD with Les Joyaux De La PrincesseLes Joyaux De La PrincesseLes Joyaux De La Princesse is a French industrial band, founded in 1986 by Erik Konofal. The musical style is a mixture of ambient and neo-classical, often utilizing samples from original works in tandem with French chansons, operatic works, and historical speeches...
. Released by AthanorAthanorIn alchemy, an athanor is a furnace used to provide heat for alchemical digestion. An athanor is a self-feeding furnace, designed to maintain a uniform temperature....
.
- Collaborative CD with Les Joyaux De La Princesse
- Absinthe: La Folie Verte LP box, 2002
- Collaborative 2x10" LP box with Les Joyaux De La PrincesseLes Joyaux De La PrincesseLes Joyaux De La Princesse is a French industrial band, founded in 1986 by Erik Konofal. The musical style is a mixture of ambient and neo-classical, often utilizing samples from original works in tandem with French chansons, operatic works, and historical speeches...
containing remixes of Absinthe: La Folie VerteAbsinthe: La Folie VerteAbsinthe: La Folie Verte is a concept album by Blood Axis and Les Joyaux De La Princesse. It is an homage to the cordial absinthe.It was released by Athanor in 2001 as a digipack CD...
. Released by Athanor. - Rereleased on CD as Absinthia TaetraAbsinthia TaetraAbsinthe: La Folie Verte is a collaboration of Blood Axis and LJDLP celebrating the virtues of Absinthe. The complete tracks from ATNR 016. Tracks 1-10 recorded live in Sintra, Portugal, 22 Oct. 2001...
by Athanor in 2004
- Collaborative 2x10" LP box with Les Joyaux De La Princesse
- 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, Oct. 31, 1999
- Welcoming By Harold McNeill
- I Lay Stretched On Your GraveI Am Stretched on Your Grave"I Am Stretched on Your Grave" is a translation of an anonymous 17th-century Irish poem titled "Táim sínte ar do thuama". It was translated into English several times, most notably by Frank O'Connor.It was put to music by musician Philip King in 1979....
/ Morning Dew - Two Magicians
- Sea Ritual
- Dead Men's Slip-Jig
- The Rolling of the Stones
- The Black One
- Bonus tracks:
- The Rolling of the Stones - In Gowan RingB'eirthJon Michael better known as B'eirth or B'ee , is the vocalist and conductor/composer in the experimental psych folk band In Gowan Ring.-Biography:...
, from the compilation The Pact of the Gods - The March of Brian BoruBrian BoruBrian Bóruma mac Cennétig, , , was an Irish king who ended the domination of the High Kingship of Ireland by the Uí Néill. Building on the achievements of his father, Cennétig mac Lorcain, and especially his elder brother, Mathgamain, Brian first made himself King of Munster, then subjugated...
- Blood Axis, from the compilation 10 Years of Madness - Follow Me Up To CarlowFollow Me up to Carlow"Follow Me Up to Carlow" is an Irish folk song celebrating the defeat of an army of 3,000 English soldiers by Fiach Mac Aodh Ó Broin at the Battle of Glenmalure, during the Second Desmond Rebellion in 1580.-Composition:...
- Blood Axis, previously unreleased
- The Rolling of the Stones - In Gowan Ring
External links
- Official Blood Axis website
- Blood Axis Archive - the new location of the bloodaxis.com fansite
- Michael Moynihan Interview; Between Birds of Prey from Heathen Harvest, 2005