The first studio release for probably the best known and the longest-lasting of the Black Legions bands (Willy Roussel’s Mütiilation), this EP was also the first proper Black Legions release. Surprisingly the recording isn’t typical of the Black Legions’ work: it’s a very clean disc of music with none of the bristly and brooding dark lo-fi production values that characterised the work of other bands in the scene, particularly the dark ambient bands like Moevot and Amaka Hahina. This is a very rock’n’roll recording with distinctive and catchy tunes, stop-start rhythms, hard-edged riffing, and robust and energetic percussion (not usually a strong asset for Mütiilation, not on his later recordings anyway). Probably the one drawback here is that the vocals are far back in the mix and clouded over with too much reverb so that the emotion and world-weariness associated with Roussel’s singing are lost. Songs are not fast though they may have brief sections where the drumming approaches blast-beat speed.
“Desecrate Jesus’ Name” starts impressively with a strong riff sequence before wandering up hill and down dale with various other riffs. Dominated by the sharp and clean percussion, the whole song is very tight: the guitars are light and the vocals are a faint banshee presence. Likewise, “Remembrance of my Past Battles and Times” features varied drumming and quite good riff sequences. The pace runs from near-slacker casual to brisk to hurried and the song can be quite jaunty. An ambient interlude of groaning savage animal voices leads into the last track which is fairly stodgy compared with the earlier tracks. Far off in the distance though they are, the vocals are the best thing about this track: floaty, faint and shrieky, they suggest a mind far gone in its delusions and madness.
This would be the release to start with if you don’t know any of Mütiilation or the Black Legions bands’ work and are coming from an old school melodic black metal background: there’s enough conventional song structure here with just enough of the theatricality that Mütiilation would later be known for. This is competently performed and recorded music, far from the delirious music that Roussel would make in the mid-1990s or the more militant and faster work with machine-gun percussion of later years.
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