Les Légions Noires
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Les Légions Noires | ||
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| Background information | ||
| Origin | France | |
| Genre(s) | Black metal Dark Ambient Ambient Noise |
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| Years active | 1987 – Present | |
| Label(s) | Drakkar Productions Embassy Productions Full Moon Productions Tragic Empire Records |
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| Members | ||
| Lord Aäkon Këëtrëh Lord Beleth'Rim Vordb Bathor Ecsed Worlok Drakksteim Wlad Drakksteim |
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| Former members | ||
| D.K. Dark Wizzard Of Silence Krissagrazabeth Lord Meyhna'ch Mørdrëd Nifleim |
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Les Légions Noires (also known as "The Black Legions" or simply abbreviated to "LLN") is a French group of black metal bands that has made a severe impact in the underground scene. The bands were known to limit their releases to very small numbers, and to distribute them among friends and close workers. Because of this, Les Legions Noires' releases have become extremely obscure, expensive, and rare among collectors.
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[edit] Overview
The Black Legions started out in 1987 when some of the members were still in high school. However they did not make music at the time, but the ideas were still present. Later on the members started creating music and recruiting others with a similar mindset to join the circle. The group ended up making many releases and bands with the few members that came and went. Today the circle is still alive, despite a lot of false information added to commonly visited websites by fans.
[edit] Rumors and Bootlegs
Most of the rumors concerning The Black Legions revolve around their recording sessions; e.g. inserting a microphone into a rat's anus to record the Mogovtre demo. Later, however, it was stated to have been a Bichon dog. It was also rumored that the circle lived in a castle. The castle was stated to be Meyhna'ch's house at the time. After his leaving of the circle, the members spent time living in the forest. They had no income for a period of time. A lot of the rumors are started on forums, but many have been discussed and been approved or denied by some of the members themselves 1.
The Black Legions are arguably the most bootlegged out of any black metal bands. The most famous bands, such as Vlad Tepes and Mütiilation have been circulating on eBay for a long period of time. Few have been proven to be valid other then the ones that were pressed on approved labels such as Drakkar Productions, Embassy Productions and Tragic Empire Records. Many of the bootlegs are compilations or bear covers taken from the 1995 magazine The Black Plague - First Chapter (And Maybe Last One), a magazine pressed by Meyhna'ch featuring interviews with most of the members during that period of time. Those bootlegs also feature tapes that were only made after 2000, but bearing music from the 1990s.
The Tragic Empire Records releases have many times been rejected as official, however they are the owning label of Embassy Productions who released the Vlad Tepes and Belketre split album March to the Black Holocaust. They are therefore in full contact with the members and have had their approvals for the releases. Other labels such as End All Life Productions have re-released some of Mütiilation's works as well with the collaboration of Meyhna'ch.
Most of the home-printed and gold hand-numbered compilations on eBay can be considered false, and put up for auction by greedy users. The compilations "Black Legions Projects: Compilation 1994" and "Black Legions Projects: Compilation 1995" are the most widespread bootlegs and have even been mistakenly considered official on some fan sites.
It has also been proven that many of the listed albums in some of the more obscure bands discographies, on fan sites, are simply the same demos put in different track orders, and cut short or added by a few distorted blank seconds. This was most likely done by fans who wanted to have "exclusive" releases on their trade lists.
[edit] Fakes and Parodies
Not only was it enough to bootleg many of The Black Legions' work, but some fans even tried to re-create some of the views and release them under the circle's banner. Bands such as Boreb, Hölgräpezúvzaubervörké, Lepetitgrëgorytvrezorkre, and Vorlevrunkzrevborposphinctre are single members making parodies of The Black Legions.
Other more obsessed fans have gone to re-create circles redoing what The Black Legions have done before, but have been mistaken by less common fans for actual LLN bands.
Such circle are: En Culteu Noirev who actually re-created a fake Black Legions language for their band names and releases. Mortogtre, Vegevtre, Voicyb Doket and Black Plague are examples. And Movretmakre Indvlrihbrost Anderkrasüp who bares bands such as Trörkrvisätänsrökrëh. The Hate Korp, also formed a circle coping most of the ideas that The Black Legions followed, but still do not reach the degree of their actions.
Many French bands have also been mislabeled as Black Legions for their resemblance in the styles and artwork. This is the case for many post-1995 Meyhna'ch bands such as Gestapo 666, Hell Militia and Malicious Secrets as well. Even Satanic Warmaster from the finnish black metal scene has the same problem, for using Black Legions-esque symbols on his album cover and homepage.
Other bands on the Drakkar Productions label have also been reported to be part of the circle but they are not. Vermeth was for a long time rumored to be a fake but has since been proven to be part of the active bands of the circle, and confirmed on the Drakkar forum. Many of the internet found "project" names can not be positively approved as there were so many that the members themselves could not list them all.
Myspace has, in the last year, become a big spot for fake Black Legions pages. Real fans try to report them as they spot them, but obsessive fans persist in creating these fake pages to spread the plague. However, in an attempt to counter this, Meyhna'ch created an official page of his own, on which he posted rare pictures and work of himself, so he could prove the page to be real. Any other pages are fake, and are only there to mislead the users and to share the music in an inappropriate way.
[edit] Bands and Projects
- Aäkon Këëtrëh
- Aäkreëbemutre
- Amaka Hahina
- Ambre Moörtt
- Avaëthre
- Belketre
- Belathuzur
- Beraeabtre
- Black Murder
- Brenoritvrezorkre
- Brevorot
- Bvrolarimnambde
- Chaos
- Clairon
- Drakksteim
- Dremeburtre
- Dvnaèbkre
- Dzlvarv
- Dzvambre
- Eakre
- Eëtheryarkluatre
- Errance & Tristesse
- Ezkrvbtre
- Hvrúmbzgnrvóme
- Kerevartre
- Mavbtreëh
- Medieval Spectral
- Moëvöt
- Mogovtre
- Moörtt
- Mundzuk
- Mütiilation
- Mveprebrartre
- Necro Paris Catacombes
- Norzbgorobtre
- Psyche
- Pütreefaction
- Sadie Mae Glutz
- Satanicum Tenebrae
- Seviss
- Susvourtre
- Terpre Moörtt
- Teëbzrerkl
- Torgeist
- Torture
- Tovrte
- Tvebrumtre
- Vagézaryavtre
- Valäabrëeh
- Valérie
- Vampire
- Vbrutlezorkre
- Vèrhzlav
- Verhzlevaryavge
- Vermeakbevtre
- Vermeth
- Vérmyapre Kommando
- Vlad Tepes
- Vladre
- Vlartbre
- Vrepyambhre
- Vrueamte
- Vutrëeh Oartre
- Vutreemamabre
- Vzaeurvbtre
- Vzakpre Vemekr
- Zatänii
- Zlaévatan
- Zuèrkl
[edit] Trivia
- Even if a band was a "project" it could not be determined as the covers bear no "Project" word. It is only assumed to be so by the amount of members and the length of the release.
[edit] External links
- Metal-Archives Info on some of the LLN bands.
- Street Metal Forum Forum based on Les Légions Noires. Used as citation "1" for legit analyzations.
- Street Metal Forum Gallery (Under Construction)
- Drakkar Productions
