Blood Axis
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Blood Axis is the name under which journalist and author Michael Moynihan composes and releases music.
Moynihan formed Blood Axis in 1989 after touring Japan 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 Der 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.
The first album can be seen as a Pagan ode to the forces of Nature. It wedded the musics of Johann Sebastian Bach and Sergei Prokofiev with modern electronics. Moynihan implemented a recording of Ezra Pound reading from his 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 Wicker Man.
In 1997, Blood Axis played a benefit concert for the tenth anniversary of Cold Meat Industry, a Swedish record label. The performance was recorded, remastered, and released as BLOT: Sacrifice in Sweden. Other releases have included a collaboration with Les Joyaux de la Princesse based around the "Absinthe" track from The Gospel of Inhumanity.
Discography
| Title | Form | Label |
| Walked in a Line | split 7" EP with Allerseelen | Storm Records |
| The Gospel of Inhumanity | CD | Cthulhu/Storm |
| The Gospel of Inhumanity | CD | Elfenblut/Misanthropy/Storm |
| BLOT: Sacrifice in Sweden | CD | Cold Meat Industry |
| BLOT: Sacrifice in Sweden | 2x12" LP | Cold Meat Industry |
| The March of Brian Boru | split 7" EP with Allerseelen | Stateart |
| The Gospel of Inhumanity | CD | Tesco/Storm |
| Witch-Hunt: The Rites of Samhain | CD-R | private |
| Unreleased/Surround Sound | CD-R | private |
| Absinthe: La Folie Verte | collaboration CD with LJDLP | Athanor |
| Absinthe: La Folie Verte | collaboration 2x10" LP with LJDLP | Athanor |
Reviews
External links
- Blood Axis Archives (http://www.diaboli.com/bloodaxis/) ("NOT an official website". Interviews, newsletter, discography.)
- Blood Axis biography, gallery, and guestbook (http://welcome.to/bloodaxis) (interviews inoperative; links, releases, catalogue, and contact info outdated)
- Michael Moynihan / Blood Axis Interview (http://home.online.no/~janbruun/writings/blood.html) by Jan R. Bruun