Les Légions Noires is a group of French underground black metal

Black metal

Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....

 musicians and their bands, centered mostly around the city of Brest

Brest, France

Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...

, in Britanny. The bands involved limited their releases to very small numbers, and distributed them among friends and close workers.

History

Possibly the circle was formed in the late 1980s, early 1990s, in response to or inspired by the supposed Norwegian "Black Metal Inner Circle." According to a 2005 series in Terrorizer magazine on the history of black metal, "A bunch of corpsepainted characters, rumoured to be drawn from such acts as Mütiilation

Mütiilation

Mütiilation is a French one-man black metal band that was affiliated with the Black Legions. Since parting from the The Black Legions in 1996, Meyhna'ch has continued to create music under the band's name.-The Beginning and The Black Legions:...

, Torgeist and Vlad Tepes

Vlad Tepes (band)

Vlad Tepes was a French black metal band which was formed in Brest in 1992. The name originated from the 15th century Wallachian ruler, the inspiration for Bram Stoker's fictional vampire Dracula. The group belongs to The Black Legions. Worlok Drakksteim also has a side project named Black Murder....

 named themselves the 'Black Legions' as a tribute to the so-called 'Black Mafia' Norwegian BM heroes Darkthrone

Darkthrone

Darkthrone is a Norwegian black metal band. They formed in 1987 as a death metal band, but after embracing the black metal style in 1991, they became a driving force in the Norwegian black metal scene. For most of this period Darkthrone has consisted of just two musicians, Nocturno Culto and...

 and Burzum

Burzum

Burzum is a musical project by Varg Vikernes . It began during 1991 in Bergen, Norway and quickly became prominent within the early Norwegian black metal scene...

, who were supposedly ready to terrorize Christians a couple of years before." The first recordings of LLN members came about in the early 1990s, and their influence was acknowledged in the same issue of Terrorizer: "One should never count out France, primarily as the home of the inscrutably influential Black Legions of ridiculous rawness during the mid-90s."

Regarding their influences, Wlad Drakksteim of Vlad Tepes

Vlad Tepes (band)

Vlad Tepes was a French black metal band which was formed in Brest in 1992. The name originated from the 15th century Wallachian ruler, the inspiration for Bram Stoker's fictional vampire Dracula. The group belongs to The Black Legions. Worlok Drakksteim also has a side project named Black Murder....

 referred, in an interview with Petrified magazine, to Hellhammer

Hellhammer

Hellhammer was an influential extreme metal band from Switzerland, active during 1982–1984. They are regarded as being one of the first extreme metal bands and are a key influence on later black metal and death metal bands.-Biography:...

 and especially Bathory

Bathory (band)

Bathory was a Swedish heavy metal band, formed by Quorthon in 1983. They are regarded as pioneers of both black metal and viking metal. Quorthon remained the main songwriter and member of Bathory for more than two decades. Bathory was permanently ended after Quorthon's death in 2004...

: "Every True Black Metal Horde should play in old Bathory style." When asked about the "Norwegian Black Metal Mafia," he said, "Norwegian mafia did lots of 'bad' things to this world. With Euronymous death MAYHEM is definitely dead and it's better like that as it will help Black Metal to return to darkness. [Euronymous] must be in peace now so I don't complain [lament?] him. And about Varg Vikernes (BURZUM) I don't have any opinion. WE have OUR opinions and he certainly knows them so..."

The best-known bands of the LLN are Mütiilation

Mütiilation

Mütiilation is a French one-man black metal band that was affiliated with the Black Legions. Since parting from the The Black Legions in 1996, Meyhna'ch has continued to create music under the band's name.-The Beginning and The Black Legions:...

 (the one-man band formed by William Roussel, also known as Meyhna'ch), Belketre, Torgeist, and Vlad Tepes.

Vlad Tepes have been outspoken in the goals of their black metal: "We are Black Legions of Satan, we are the immortal warriors of Black imperial blood. We are here to pervert christian worms and they shall face the Black holocaust. It's near!"

Discography

• Mütiilation
  Mütiilation
  Mütiilation is a French one-man black metal band that was affiliated with the Black Legions. Since parting from the The Black Legions in 1996, Meyhna'ch has continued to create music under the band's name.-The Beginning and The Black Legions:...
  
  : Hail Satanas We Are The Black Legions
  Hail Satanas We Are the Black Legions
  Hail Satanas We Are The Black Legions was Mütiilation's first studio recording. It pays a direct homage to The Black Legions, which Mütiilation had just joined...
  
  (1994)
• Vlad Tepes
  Vlad Tepes (band)
  Vlad Tepes was a French black metal band which was formed in Brest in 1992. The name originated from the 15th century Wallachian ruler, the inspiration for Bram Stoker's fictional vampire Dracula. The group belongs to The Black Legions. Worlok Drakksteim also has a side project named Black Murder....
  
  : War Funeral March (1994)
• Vlad Tepes / Belketre: March to the Black Holocaust
  March to the Black Holocaust
  March to the Black Holocaust was a split album by Vlad Tepes and Belkètre. It was the only CD released by Belkètre and the first of two by Vlad Tepes...
  
  (1995)
• Mütiilation: Vampires of Black Imperial Blood
  Vampires of Black Imperial Blood
  Vampires of Black Imperial Blood was Mütiilation's and The Black Legions first full-length album. It was also the first full-length CD publication from Drakkar Productions, a French record label freshly established in 1994 by fellow musician Noktu .-Reissues:Originally limited to 1000 copies, the...
  
  (1995)
• Vlad Tepes / Torgeist: Black Legions Metal
  Black Legions Metal
  Black Legions Metal is a split album by Vlad Tepes and Torgeist, two French black metal bands belonging to the "Black Legions" circle. It follows the earlier split album March to the Black Holocaust, and features mostly the same personnel, as the Torgeist line-up includes both Aäkon Këëtrëh and...
  
  (1996)
• Belketre: Ambre Zuèrkl Vuordhrévarhtre (1996)
• Vlad Tepes: La Morte Lune (1997)

Bands and projects

|
Personnel:

AäK = Lord Aäkon Këëtrëh

BLT = Lord Beleth'Rim

VRD = Vordb Bathor Ecsed (aka Vordb Dreagvor Uezeerb)

WOR = Worlok Drakksteim (aka Vorlok Drakkstein)

WLD = Wlad Drakksteim (aka Vlad Drakkstein)

NFL = Nifleim

NAI = Naimlambre

KRS = Krissagrazabeth

MYH = Meyhna'ch

Meyhna'ch

Meyhna'ch , who also goes under the alias Melancholic Lord of Torments, is the man behind the one-man bands Mütiilation and Satanicum Tenebrae....

ADS = A Dark Soul>

Function: ┿ = member (┿) = former/past member all = all instruments dr = drums Drum kit A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person .... vo = vocals Singing Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments... gt = guitar Guitar The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with... ba = bass guitar Bass guitar The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

Project name	AäK	BLT	VRD	WOR	WLD	NFL	NAI	D.K.	MYH	KRS	ADS	Releases
Aäkon Këëtrëh	┿											3 demos
Amaka Hahina		┿										3 demos, 1 cd
Belathuzur										┿		2 demos
Belketre	┿		┿									4 demos, 1 cd
Black Murder			┿	┿	┿							2 demos
Brenoritvrezorkre			(vo,gt,dr)	┿		dr						4 demos
Dvnaèbkre				┿	┿							1 demo
Dzlvarv			┿									1 demo
Moëvöt			┿				┿					7 demos
Mütiilation Mütiilation Mütiilation is a French one-man black metal band that was affiliated with the Black Legions. Since parting from the The Black Legions in 1996, Meyhna'ch has continued to create music under the band's name.-The Beginning and The Black Legions:...									┿	(dr)		1 cd, 1 ep
Satanicum Tenebrae									all			3 demos
Seviss					┿							2 demos
Susvourtre			dr	vo,ba								1 demo
Torgeist	gt	gt,vo	ba								dr	3 demos ,1 cd
Uatrb Vélèpr			┿									1 demo
Vagézaryavtre				┿								1 demo
Vérmyapre Kommando				ba	gt,vo,dr	(dr)						1 demo
Vlad Tepes Vlad Tepes (band) Vlad Tepes was a French black metal band which was formed in Brest in 1992. The name originated from the 15th century Wallachian ruler, the inspiration for Bram Stoker's fictional vampire Dracula. The group belongs to The Black Legions. Worlok Drakksteim also has a side project named Black Murder....				ba,vo	vo,gt,dr	(dr)		(dr)				10 demos, 2 cds
Vzaeurvbtre			┿		┿							3 demos