Sixth Comm is a British experimental

Experimental music

Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...

, rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 and synth pop group founded by Patrick Leagas

Patrick Leagas

Patrick Leagas is a British musician. Leagas was a founding member of Death In June. After leaving Death In June in 1985 during a tour in Italy, Leagas formed Sixth Comm in 1986 and began working under the name Patrick O-Kill. Leagas later met vocalist Amodali at a Liverpool club in 1989. The two...

 in 1986. Sixth Comm is influenced by Norse magic and mythology

Norse mythology

Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...

. Leagas would appear to be the main force behind this outfit, which somewhat confusingly, releases albums both as Sixth Comm and as Mother Destruction

Mother Destruction

Mother Destruction, formerly Six Comm / Mother Destruction, is a neopagan electronic music project of Amodali and Patrick Leagas.- Discography :* 1990: Sixth Comm/Mother Destruction - Seething* 1990: Sixth Comm/Mother Destruction - Archive 1...

. Both names are sometimes present on the CDs.

Overview

Patrick Leagas was originally vocalist and percussionist for controversial neo-folk/post-industrial group Death in June

Death in June

Death in June are a neofolk group led by English folk musician Douglas Pearce, better known as Douglas P. The band was originally formed in Britain in 1981 as a trio, but after the other members left in 1984 and 1985 to work on other projects, the group became the work of Douglas P. and various...

. The earliest recordings of Sixth Comm contain different versions of a number of Death In June songs. A Nothing Life cassette was initially labelled as being a joint effort, although later reissues made no mention of his former band.

Early works continued in the familiar neo-folk direction, but gradually Sixth Comm found their own voice. Leaving behind the imagery of Death in June, Leagas renamed himself O'Kill, and began to introduce electronic beats. The songs began to revolve more and more around neopagan imagery, and somewhere along the line the female vocals of Leagas' wife, "pagan priestess" Amodali were added to the line-up. The group headed further into an experimental direction and began to utilise tape-loops and tribal beats, to provide musique concrète

Musique concrète

Musique concrète is a form of electroacoustic music that utilises acousmatic sound as a compositional resource. The compositional material is not restricted to the inclusion of sounds derived from musical instruments or voices, nor to elements traditionally thought of as "musical"...

-influenced soundscapes of a genuinely eerie dimension, a wild pagan passion driving unsettling atmospherics. These albums started to be released under the moniker Mother Destruction.

Albums

• A Nothing Life (1987, Eyas Media; 1990, Kenaz)
• Content with Blood (1987, Eyas Media)
• Fruits of Yggdrasil (1987, Eyas Media)
• Asylum (1990, Eyas Media)
• Seething (1990, Kenaz)
• Grey Years (1993, Kenaz)
• White Rose Live (1995, Kenaz)
• Headless (2006, Schwarzrock)

Compilations

• Turn of the Wheel (1988, In9)
• Archive 1 (1990, Kenaz)
• Archive 2 (1990, Kenaz)
• The Little Death (1994, Celtic Circle Productions)
• Recoil (2001, Paragoric)

Singles, EPs

• "The Taste For Flesh" (1987, Eyas Media)
• "Born Again" (1988)
• "Paradise" / "Calling" (1989, Eyas Media)
• "Morthogenesis" (1990, Eyas Media/Kenaz)
• "The Birth Of The Seven" (1993, Feuergefährlich!)
• "Birth Of The Seven Chapter One: Serpent Dance" (1994, VUZ Records)
• "Serpent Dance" (1994, Glasnost Records)

Albums

• Pagan Dance (1994, Pagan Dance Label)
• Hagazussa (1998, Schwarzrock)
• Chemantra (2000, Trinity)