Interview: Blood Legion no comments

Blood Legion is a Death Thrash Metal band hailing from the muddy banks of Kuala Lumpur. They got 1 demo and 1 promo under their belt. I was so impressed by the sound of their 2012 promo (read my review here) that I made it a mission to get an interview with the band. I managed to get in touch with the band and got Pat, their bass player to answer a couple of questions so that the metalheads around the world  (me included)can get to know more about these thrashing maniacs. One of the most exciting band for the year 2012 in my opinion. Read on.

The Mighty Blood Legion

TBB - Greetings. Hello there. Kindly let the readers know, who is answering this interview?
Pathman - Hey Hafeez! I’m Pathman, and I play bass for Blood Legion. Thanks so much for interviewing us. My apologies for getting back to you late.

TBB - Can you please give a brief write up on the History of Blood Legion? How it was formed, when and why?
Pathman - Blood Legion was formed in early 2008 by Shan, Jai and yours truly. It was quite random, honestly. We’re all fans of metal and being good friends for quite a while, we thought it’d be a great idea to start a band together and play the stuff we love.

TBB - Who is the current line up of the band and their respective instruments?
Pathman - The current lineup is Shan on vocals, Jai on guitars, myself on bass and Chris on drums.

TBB - To my ears, you guys played some sort of a Death Thrash metal with an awesome old school vibe. Cerebral Fix and Benediction came to mind. I am sure you got that a lot. But from the bands perspective, what sort of music that you are trying bring forward with Blood Legion? What are your influences?
Pathman - Ok I’ll start off with our personal favorites first cos they’re the guys who we grew up listening and influenced our playing:

Shan: Iron Maiden, Cannibal Corpse, Obituary, Slayer, Carcass, Entombed, Amon Amarth, Dark Tranquility, Hypocrisy.

Jai: Scorpions, Iced Earth, Slayer, Cannibal Corpse, Rage Against The Machine, Obituary, Deicide, Kreator.

Pathman: Iron Maiden, Rainbow, Cream, Motorhead, King Diamond/Mercyful Fate, Sepultura, Death, Atheist, Emperor, Sodom.

Chris: Iron Maiden, Symphony X, Dream Theater, Judas Priest, Metallica, Nightwish, Saxon, Helloween, Deep Purple, Genesis.

Individually we’re influenced by different bands and genres. As a band, we wanna play stuff we like to hear and the stuff that influenced us. That’s why we don’t filter or limit our music to a certain style. There’s a mixture of traditional heavy, thrash, and death metal. In other words, we’re a ‘rojak’ band. Shan’s growling vocals is the only reason we’re called a Death Metal band haha! I know this, to some, might sound as if we’re not focused or being ambitious about our music, but from our point of view it gives us freedom. Freedom to break the rules, to do whatever we want. As long as the shit’s heavy, we’re game. And that in my opinion, is what metal’s all about anyway.

TBB - You released your first demo back in 2008, Exsanguination. Took a break and began to play again in 2012 and released a 3 track promo. Does the sound of the band changed since the first demo?
Pathman - The demo was written when the band was merely months into its existence. It consisted songs we thrashed out in the studio during our jams and most of them were at skeletal level.We have improved since and you can say that our playing and songwriting now are more complex. But the core remains the same – janji layan. We love to hear and play headbangable stuff, and we intend to keep it that way.

TBB - Your songs gave a lot of emphasis on grooves and headbangable rhythm sections. Was it intended to be so or it was never planned?
Pathman - You could say a bit of both. Intended as in we want to write headbangable/layanable stuff. Never planned as in we never know what we’re going to write. I know it sounds contradicting and silly but that’s how we approach our songs. We never tell ourselves “Ok, we’re gonna write a typical or brutal song now. It’s gonna start with a particular rhythm, spiced with this and that scale on the bridge, have a LaRocque-ish lead, then end it with a doomy part”. Nope.We just hit the first note, and take it from there. See what comes to mind and what fits. As long as it’s heavy, catchy and fun to play. And to tell you the truth, all the songs we have were conceived when we were just mucking about with our instruments.

TBB - You have been sending the promo to all over the world. How are the feedbacks so far? Why do you think metalheads should check out Blood Legion.
Pathman - The feedback we’ve received is great. A lot of people have commented on our sound, just like you have in your earlier question. We’re really pleased that there are people who appreciate what we’re doing. As to why metalheads should check Blood Legion out, that’s a tough question. I personally don’t like blowing my own trumpet. But if you like the sound of a blender and animal mating calls, give the band a listen. Whether you like it or not, it’s totally up to you.

TBB - You have been doing gigs here and there. How was the reaction from the metalheads so far? Any awesome/unfortunate experience that you would like to share?
Pathman - All our shows since the beginning have been encouraging. A lot of people who have seen us play have said really nice things about us, and that drives us to keep improving show after show.For us, a show is to entertain the crowd and have fun at the same time. That’s why we treat every show, however big or small, the same. Whether its 3 or 30 people watching us, we’ll just get up there and give our all. And when we see people moshing and headbanging, we get more energetic too. That’s when we go back with sore backs and necks haha! As for experiences, I think all of them are good, even that once when Shan elbowed me right in the face, forcing me to hit the wrong note. I know that’s probably a ‘bad experience’ but it added comic relief to a show that’s normally full of brutal ‘aaarrggghh’ and ‘uurgghs’. And that’s good in my opinion.

TBB - Any future plans? A follow up release maybe? Merchandise? how can one get in touch with the band?
Pathman - We plan to release a full-length hopefully end of this year. We’re currently compiling whatever material we have and rehearsing them. We don’t have any merch at the moment but we’re planning to release some during the full-length. If anyone’s interested in Blood Legion, they can contact us on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/bloodlegion666. We still have our promos to give away for free, so interested peeps, hook us up!

TBB - Thank you for your time, mate. Any last shout outs to the readers of thebulletbeltblog?
Pathman - Once again, thanks Hafeez for your time, support and this interview. It’s a real pleasure. And to all you out there who have been supporting us, you guys are the best! Never stop supporting your local bands! Thank you!

Visit Blood Legion at their facebook page now.

Blood Legion | Facebook