Track By Tracks: Blasfeme - Black Legion (2024)

"Purified by the High Flames of Hell" is about ritual self-sacrifice in order to rise from the dead with the purpose of destroying Christianity. The intro/outro riff is recycled from an old NWOBHM-style project that never made it out of the rehearsal room.

"Wolves of Karpathia" imagines the animals as a savage pack that chases down and slaughters human prey. I'm well aware wolves don't really do this, but that would be a much more boring song. We needed one more song for the record, and this one wrote itself in about 5 to 10 minutes. Just one of those lightning-in-a-bottle moments, likely never to be duplicated.

"Cachtice 1611" is based on Countess Bathory. Describing the content is redundant seeing as the song tells the story! The main drum beat has such urgency and drive, and the song ebbs and flows differently from the others on this record. It feels like "Reditus Ignominiam Internecion" from Iniquity In Salvation, and "Fuck Your Starving Planet" in its feel and open approach to rhythms and melodies, while still providing the claustrophobic darkness the lyrics need. Timothy Vincent who recorded the album said it's "the most intense history lecture you'll ever hear."

"Ritualistic Exsanguiation" came about from a painting I can't remember the name of, which alluded to an old tale of a Jewish village draining young children of their blood.. how true this is or isn't doesn't matter, as I never let the truth get in the way of a good story. Especially one about human sacrifice!

"Czernobog" is based on the myth of the old god by that name. It contains lyrics taken from "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman, which he himself OK'd the use of. It's basically more blood sacrifice and Christian death. By this point, you should be used to it.

"Black Legion" is about the mercenary army of Hungary in the 1400s. Their military prowess was exceptional, and they even used firearms in battle. They wore black armor which is obviously metal as fuck, and they lay brutal waste against whomever they were told by King Mathias Corvinus.

"Bound by the Blood Upon Our Swords" is an acoustic song, just one track, mostly written in the studio as the other versions for a similarly styled song were not working. The main riff is very old, I cannot remember when I wrote it, but this is the only place it had ever worked. The story is of soldiers returning home, victorious but defeated in themselves, depleted and wounded, they arrive to a bittersweet but hearty, rowdy reception that plays out the night.. only for them to have to saddle up the next day, to traipse out to ward off invaders and do battle once more...