Blót: Sacrifice in Sweden is the second album by Blood Axis

Blood Axis

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.-Early Blood Axis :...

. It was recorded live in November 1997, at the Cold Meat Industry 10th Anniversary Feast in Skylten, Linköping

Linköping

Linköping is a city in southern middle Sweden, with 104 232 inhabitants in 2010. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality with 146 736 inhabitants and the capital of Östergötland County...

, Sweden

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....

.

Overview

The performance incorporated music by 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...

; lyrics from the works of 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...

, Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...

 and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...

; the voices of Oswald Mosley

Oswald Mosley

Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet, of Ancoats, was an English politician, known principally as the founder of the British Union of Fascists...

, Benito Mussolini

Benito Mussolini

Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....

, and wolves. Ian Read

Ian Read (musician)

Ian Read is an English neofolk and traditional folk musician.-History:Read left school at 16, and at the age of 17, he became an adherent of Germanic neopaganism and began studying Germanic paganism . He was particularly interested in galdor or magical metrical poetry and the runes...

's "Seeker" (originally performed by Fire + Ice) was covered

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

; as well as traditional songs like "The March of Brian Boru

The March of Brian Boru

The 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...

" and Dave Cousins

Dave Cousins

Dave Cousins has been the leader, singer and most active songwriter of Strawbs since 1967.-Career:...

' "The Hangman And The Papist".

It was released by the Cold Meat Industry record label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

 in 1998

1998 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1998.-Events:*January 28 – "Weird Al" Yankovic gets LASIK surgery to cure his myopia...

 as a CD and as 2x12"s. Artwork used included Carl Larsson

Carl Larsson

Carl Larsson was a Swedish painter and interior designer, representative of the Arts and Crafts Movement. His many paintings include oils, watercolors, and frescoes...

's Midvinterblot

Midvinterblot

Midvinterblot is a painting created for the hall of the central staircase in Nationalmuseum in Stockholm by the Swedish painter Carl Larsson in 1915. It is Sweden's most debated painting....

, which depicts the sacrifice of king Domalde

Domalde

In Norse mythology, Domalde, Dómaldi or Dómaldr was a Swedish king of the House of Ynglings, cursed by his stepmother, according to Snorri Sturluson, with ósgæssa, "ill-luck". He was the son of Visbur....

. The album was named after the practice of Blót

Blót

The blót was Norse pagan sacrifice to the Norse gods and the spirits of the land. The sacrifice often took the form of a sacramental meal or feast. Related religious practices were performed by other Germanic peoples, such as the pagan Anglo-Saxons...

 from Germanic paganism

Germanic paganism

Germanic paganism refers to the theology and religious practices of the Germanic peoples of north-western Europe from the Iron Age until their Christianization during the Medieval period...

.

Sound assistance was provided by Albin Julius

Albin Julius

Albin Julius is an Austrian martial music and industrial artist; his primary musical project is called Der Blutharsch.Julius founded the history-themed, folk-based ensemble, The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath a Cloud...

. The show was recorded on digital

Digital

A digital system is a data technology that uses discrete values. By contrast, non-digital systems use a continuous range of values to represent information...

 multi-track

Multitrack recording

Multitrack recording is a method of sound recording that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources to create a cohesive whole...

 directly from the mixing board, the tapes were brought back to the U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 to be re-mixed and re-processed by Blood Axis (including Robert Ferbrache).

Track listing

1. "Sarabande Oratoria"
2. "Herjafather"
3. "Seeker"
4. '"Electricity"
5. "Lord of Ages"
6. "The March of Brian Boru"
7. "The Gospel of Inhumanity"
8. "Eternal Soul"
9. "Between Birds of Prey"
10. "Reign I Forever"
11. "The Hangman and the Papist"
12. "Storm of Steel"