Editing Blood Axis

{{More citations needed|date=January 2010}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2022}}
{{short description|American band}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name            = Blood Axis
| image           = Blood Axis 2016 3.jpg
| caption         = Blood Axis performing in 2016
| image_size      =
| alias           =
| origin          = United States
| genre           = {{hlist|[[Experimental music|Experimental]]|[[Folk music|folk]]|[[martial industrial]]|[[neofolk]]|[[Neoclassical music|neoclassical]]|[[Post-industrial (music)|post-industrial]]|[[spoken word]]}}
| years_active    = 1989–2016
| label           = Storm
| associated_acts =
| website         =
| current_members = [[Michael Moynihan (journalist)|Michael Moynihan]] <br> Robert Ferbrache <br>Annabel Lee
| past_members    = 
}}
'''Blood Axis''' were an American band, made up of journalist and author [[Michael Moynihan (journalist)|Michael Moynihan]], music producer Robert Ferbrache, and musician and author Annabel Lee.<ref>Liner notes of the ''Ultimacy'' compilation</ref>

==History==
===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]]''.<ref name="firstinterview">[http://home.online.no/~janbruun/writings/blood.html An interview] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151030200805/http://home.online.no/~janbruun/writings/blood.html |date=30 October 2015 }} by Jan R. Bruun</ref> The first output from the new appellation were two songs, "Lord of Ages" (employing lyrics from [[Rudyard Kipling]]'s poem on [[Mithras]]<ref name=MITHRAS>[http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/K/KiplingRudyard/verse/p2/mithras.html Kipling, Rudyard. "A Song To Mithras"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060213055209/http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/K/KiplingRudyard/verse/p2/mithras.html |date=13 February 2006 }}</ref>) 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]]''.<ref name="esoterra">[http://www.esoterra.org/moynihan.htm Interview] from the EsoTerra #5, 1995</ref>

In 1995, Moynihan released the first full-length studio LP, ''[[The Gospel of Inhumanity]]'' with the help of Robert Ferbrache.<ref name="gospel">the album notes read "''The Gospel of inhumanity was [...] entirely performed, recorded and engineered [...] by Michael Jenkins Moynihan and Robert Ferbrache''".</ref> The album wedded the music of [[Johann Sebastian Bach]] and [[Sergei Prokofiev]] with modern [[electronic music|electronic]]s. Moynihan implemented a recording of [[Ezra Pound]] reading from his ''[[The Cantos]]''.<ref name=POUNDCANTO>[http://www.etymonline.com/poems/canto.htm Pound, Ezra. "The Cantos"]</ref> He also included lyrics from [[Nietzsche]] and [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow|Longfellow]]<ref name=LONGFELLOW>[http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/longfellow.html#challenge ''Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth—The Challenge of Thor"]; Pitt; .</ref> 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).<ref name="blot">from the notes of the album ''Blòt: Sacrifice in Sweden''</ref>

===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.<ref name="heavenstreet">from the interview for the Heaven Street magazine, Issue 3, spring 2006, available online on [http://www.myspace.com/heavenstreet/blog/154258005 Heaven Street website].</ref> 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.<ref name="triumvirat">the flyer of the festival is available on [http://soleilnoir.ch/pages/triumvirat-festivalder-feuerkreinerdie-weisse-roseknotworkianvavisionsblood-axisles-joyaux-de-la-princesseh.e.r.rof-the-wand-and-the-moonallerseelen.php soleilnoir.ch event page]{{dead link|date=November 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</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''.<ref name="ultimacy">from [http://www.occidentalcongress.com/interviews/OC3MM.html “Goodmorning Europa!”, an interview with Michael Moynihan] made by [http://www.occidentalcongress.com Occidental Congress] during winter 1998/1999</ref> 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.<ref name="baarchives">from the [http://bloodaxisarchives.wordpress.com/2009/01/11/born-again/ 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]].{{sfn|Schnurbein|2014|pp=254–255}} Beginning in the 2000s, he has been influenced by the neofascist movement ''[[Nouvelle Droite]]'' and [[Alain de Benoist]].{{sfn|François|2007|pp=35–54}}

==Discography==

===Albums===
* ''The Gospel of Inhumanity'', 1995

===Collaborations and split releases===
* ''Walked in Line'', 1995
* ''The March of Brian Boru'', 1998
* ''Witch-Hunt: The Rites of Samhain'', 2001
* ''Absinthe: La Folie Verte'', 2001
* ''Absinthe: La Folie Verte LP box'', 2002
* ''The Dream / Fröleichen So Well Wir'', 2010

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
{{Refbegin|indent=yes}}
* {{cite journal |last=François |first=Stéphane |author-link=Stéphane François |year=2007 |translator-last=Godwin |translator-first=Ariel |title=The Euro-Pagan Scene: Between Paganism and Radical Right |journal=Journal for the Studies of Radicalism |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=35–54 |doi=10.1353/jsr.2008.0006 |issn=1930-1189 |jstor=41887576 |s2cid=144508250 }}
* {{cite book |last=Schnurbein |first=Stefanie von |author-link=Stefanie von Schnurbein |year=2014 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LMDWBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA254 |chapter=Germanic Neo-Paganism – A Nordic Art-Religion? |editor1-last=Schlehe |editor1-first=Judith |editor2-last=Sandkühler |editor2-first=Evamaria |title=Religion, Tradition and the Popular: Transcultural Views from Asia and Europe |location=Bielefeld |publisher=Transcript Verlag |isbn=978-3-8376-2613-1 }}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Blood Axis}}

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20010220180805/http://www.bloodaxis.com/ Official Blood Axis website]
* [http://bloodaxisarchives.wordpress.com/ Blood Axis Archive] - the new location of the bloodaxis.com fansite
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121012032510/http://www.heathenharvest.com/article.php?story=20050514073345369 Michael Moynihan Interview; Between Birds of Prey] from [[Heathen Harvest]], 2005

{{Blood Axis}}

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[[Category:American folk musical groups]]
[[Category:Neofolk music groups]]
[[Category:Musical groups established in 1989]]
[[Category:American industrial music groups]]
[[Category:Martial industrial groups]]
[[Category:1989 establishments in the United States]]
[[Category:Modern pagan musical groups]]