Kristallnacht
Bloodrenched Memorial

I explicitly declare that I do not wish in any way to support, with this writing, racist ideology. The choice of the initial quote is due to my desire to stay in line with the martial atmosphere, clearly inspired by the Nazi regime, which is characteristic of the album. I wish to emphasize through it, in an absolutely neutral manner and devoid of propagandistic ends, the charisma of those ideas that were the cause of the outbreak of World War II, charisma that so strongly influences the music of Kristallnacht.
Some may accuse me of paying too much attention to the ideological aspect of the band: I defend myself by asserting that it is impossible to talk about Kristallnacht without explaining their conceptual motivations. Furthermore, I chose to review this particular album because it is a "summary" not only of the musical production but also of the group's history.
For the sake of clarity, I make it clear that in writing the review I relied on the information contained in the booklet of "Bloodrenched Memorial."
Although I speak of the songs as belonging to various releases, they are all present on the album I reviewed in the order presented. I describe them as belonging to their original album because they were not remastered on the occasion of publishing the collection, and are therefore exactly the same as those published on the various albums.

"My honor, my loyalty"
                         
                             From the engraving on the blade of combat knives assigned to the SS

Thus closes definitively one of the most representative chapters in the history of the extreme scene, after the one written by Burzum with the murder of Euronymous. Thus dies definitively the Kristallnacht project, whose blood, shed on French soil, fueled the nascent Black Legion. The journey of the band that best embodied the message of hatred advocated by Black Metal finds in this "Bloodrenched Memorial," chronological collection of all the unmastered releases of the group, its end and its pinnacle.
The story begins in 1994, when guitarist\bassist L.F., abandoning the Death Metal influences that had characterized his production with Final Silence until then, decided to create a band inspired by the nascent Scandinavian black scene. Aided by Black Christ, his friend and guitarist in Blessed In Sin, who temporarily involved the singer of his primary band in the new project, and drummer Pascal, L.F. formed Pure Desecration, dedicating himself to a primitive and malevolent black metal. In his opinion, however, the results were not satisfactory, and so the band dissolved, also following organizational problems. Keeping the formation alive were L.F. and Black Christ, who decided to change the group's name to Funeral. In 1995, having found it impossible to find a drummer in Toulon, L.F. asked Krof, drummer of Maleficum Orgia, a Marseille band, to join his project. The proposal was accepted, and with the recording of the demo "Black Flame Of Unholy Hate" the band's official production began. The three pieces that composed that first release are also those with which "Bloodrenched Memorial" opens. The compositions are very reminiscent of Darkthrone of Transilvanian Hunger, also in terms of production, but are characterized by greater attention to melody ("Black Flame Of Unholy Hate") and the martiality of the guitar lines ("Night And Fog"). The result is a dark album, with cruel passages, which finds its best point in "Coronation In Pure Blasphemy." The main innovation lay, however, in the topics discussed. For the first time in the French scene, a group explicitly supported Nazi ideology, through topics such as the myth of the Ubermensch, war, the cult of blood, opposition to the "lie from the desert," racial hatred. The propaganda of Funeral was not to be considered purely political; L.F., in particular, advocated National Socialist ideas as a new morality, rather than a social doctrine. He was ultimately a proponent of a change mainly internal to man and, consequently, institutional.

The demo was nevertheless a good success, which served to expand the band's popularity and gain new connections. In the summer of '95, singer Xaphan, a member of Seigneur Voland, joined the lineup, but at the same time, Black Christ had to abandon the project due to increasingly pressing live commitments with Blessed In Sin. L.F. then took over the guitar while continuing to handle the bass. The proposal of "Black Flame Of Unholy Hate" was nonetheless interesting, and it was only a matter of time before contract offers arrived. The first came from A.M.S.G., a French underground label, which proposed a split with Osculum Infame to the band. It was at this point Funeral decided to infuse their sound with a majestic touch that enhanced the already present pathos, highlighting its martial character. They then invited Metatheos, keyboardist in Blessed In Sin, as a session member.
The result was the creation of three magnificent pieces, among which the grand "For Resurrection Of Our Movement," whose angry stride is sublimated by the grandeur of the keyboard intertwine. Without technical virtuosity of any kind, using highly impactful guitar lines, fast and primitive timings, and an extreme ideological message, flaunted with pride and power, in line with the political tendencies of the new nationalist generation, Funeral knew how to inflame the minds of all those who could be counted among the ranks of the European underground black metal, making their name, now notorious, a matter of pride for all French blacksters.
Those were the years of contact with the C.H.S., a clandestine French movement of National Socialist roots. The spokespeople of that organization saw in L.F. the key figure for a turning point in their activity. They had been forced, until then, to act in the shadows and in constant fear of the authorities. Now, through the strong charisma of L.F., the same ideas they professed were publicly glorified and supported by a new, great environment, made up of strongly motivated young people, and not the usual xenophobic bourgeoisie who during the day made a good face to the complete opening of borders to immigration, and at night gnawed their livers without having the courage to act. Spontaneous groups began to form, dangerously mixing National Socialism and interest in the occult. The various members of Funeral led them, or at least influenced them, encouraging their spread. It should be noted, however, that L.F. kept his distance from all this, observing those childish manifestations of social malaise from above. My personal opinion is that he looked beyond the social situation of France in those years, shocked by the large influx of foreigners, beyond mere politics, and consciously longed for the utopia of being able to erase the corruption of the human soul with his music.

The situation that had developed could not remain long hidden from the authority's eyes. In June 1996, Xaphan and Black Christ were arrested for tomb desecration and corpse violation. The crime, both horrendous and stupid, brought the media and public security forces' attention to the extreme French scene and its political ramifications. The repercussions on the band were heavy: Krof left the project, followed shortly thereafter by Metatheos. L.F., coming out clean from the investigations, found himself at a crossroad: to renounce his musical creature and all that it had represented ideologically, to return to traditional BM, or to continue along his path, alone and under the strict control of the authorities. Consistently with his principles, he decided to go on. Not only did he not seek to go unnoticed after that critical decision, but he even changed the name of the band one last time to show the world that he did not fear being what he was. Funeral became Kristallnacht at the end of October '96: the die was cast. At the beginning of 1997, L.F., aided by Duke Satanel, frontman of Godkiller, began a new series of recordings, which were to be part of a split with Capricornus, eventually canceled due to the label's financial problems. From this collaboration came "Reigning With Honour And Tyranny," one of the group's best pieces, in whose epic notes all of L.F.'s desperate fury is perceivable. The composition was used a few months later in the split with the Germans Morke: it was perhaps Kristallnacht's best chapter. The powerful emotional charge of "Reigning With Honour And Tyranny" was amplified by Morke's nostalgic style; the audience was enthusiastic.  Meanwhile, in September, as a result of judicial investigations on the black metal political front, new arrests were made. L.F. emerged unscathed once again. However, Metatheos and Xaphan (who had been on probation for only four months) were both condemned for incitement to racial hatred and apology of crimes against humanity. With the same charges, Malkira, drummer in Blessed In Sin, and a skinhead friend of his close to the C.H.S. movement, were detained in 1998. The connection between musical and political extremism was strengthened by that arrest: a month later, L.F. was incarcerated because he was suspected of collaboration with the C.H.S. . Throughout the entire investigative phase, he exercised his right to remain silent. His pretrial detention lasted three months. He was released in May, awaiting the first-degree trial, which took place only at the beginning of 2004. During this period, L.F. gave his consent for the appearance of "A Strife...A Victory," a piece from the split with Osculum Infame, on a compilation that is remembered as the first NSBM release, produced thanks to the voluntary contribution of the underground members, titled "The Night And The Fog," alluding to the song contained in the demo "Black Flame of Unholy Hate."

Upon leaving prison, L.F. immediately began a new recording session, leading to the production of the miniCD "Warspirt," another pinnacle of Kristallnacht's production. Although the sound remained the same as previous releases, the atmospheric approach was changed through  modifications to synth distortion: the expressivity was thus enhanced. The solemnity of pieces like "Warspirit" was simply exhilarating: the combination of inhuman drumming and "ceremonial" keyboards recalled the best Emperor. The solution proposed by Kristallnacht, however, was enriched by sudden slowdowns of the drums, filled by nostalgic guitar riffs. Additionally, a reinterpretation of "Reigning With Honour And Tyranny" according to the band's new line was inserted. Despite the huge success of the stylistic renewal of the keyboards, L.F. released another miniCD shortly after "Warspirit," composed of the title track "Soldiers of Triumphant Sun" and a new version of "For Resurrection Of Our Movement,"  in which the synths were completely abolished. Martiality and solemnity remained, both rendered by a perfect guitar rearrangement. The solidity of the drumming, provided by Rimmon of Seigneur Voland, contributed to making the new sound more brutal, but not less melodic for that. Despite initial skepticism from the audience, even "Soldiers Of Triumphant Sun" was eventually recognized as another peak of Kristallnacht's discography. In the meantime, L.F. had joined Seigneur Voland on the proposal of Xaphan, released in April '99. This, however, did not prevent him from traveling to Paris in August '99, where, in 2000, with the help of Hylgaryss, drummer for Winter Funeral, he composed the best piece of Kristallnacht's discography: "Legitimate Defence (The Law Of Blood)." Enthralling guitar passages, loaded with pathos and expressiveness, unfold on a carpet of dry and cruel blast beats, allowing themselves to be dominated by L.F.'s masterful vocal interpretation, which follows the alternation of tones with a continuous adaptation of his scream. The piece was joined by a majestic intro titled "Introduction to Blood Cult" in the split between Kristallnacht, Seigneur Voland, and Blessed In Sin, which was released after the first, memorable live date of Kristallnacht, who performed at the Empire Festival in 2001, with Black Christ and Rost (Seigneur Voland) on guitars, Rimmon (Seigneur Voland) on drums, and L.F. on vocals and bass. During the same concert, Aborym, Arkhon Infaustus, and Blessed In Sin played. Kristallnacht's songs gained surprising aggressive momentum on stage; and the audience's response was astonishing, applauding L.F.'s band more than the much-anticipated Aborym of Attila.

After this date, a sort of official alliance was formed between Kristallnacht, Seigneur Voland, and Blessed In Sin, called Concilium. In addition to leading to the publication of the aforementioned split, it had, according to rumors, also purely human connotations: L.F. visited the members of Seigneur Voland who ended up in prison several times, and Blessed In Sin gave economic support to L.F.'s family when he was incarcerated.
With some members who performed with him at the Empire Festival, L.F. recorded a new miniCD, "The Praise For War," featuring the title track and a cover of Absurd's "Pesttanz," which was recorded live during a small unofficial concert. In 2002, he recorded, with the help of Rost, some other pieces that were to be included in the new Ep, titled "Adversary." Various songs were planned, including a cover of Judas Priest and a cover of Burzum, recorded years before and never released.
L.F. was starting to show signs of weariness. What had started as his utopian crusade with strongly philosophical connotations back in 1994 had become a mere political tool. Even among the audience, there were no signs of real adherence to what he wanted Kristallnacht's spirit to be; a spirit of moral, not social renewal. Moreover, his example had led to the rise of a sort of "Nazi fashion" among newcomers to the genre, which deeply disgusted him. Kristallnacht's last official release was "Adversary." After eight long, bloody years, in which Paris, Toulon, and Marseille had been plundered by extremist militias, after an epic of trials, incarcerations, and criminal measures, after leaving an indelible mark on Black Metal history, L.F. decided to bring Kristallnacht to an end. A final thrust of the group was represented by the mini "Creation Through Destruction," in which keyboards were exceptionally reintroduced, and which gathered some songs that had not found a place in previous releases. The group reformed exceptionally in 2003, shortly before L.F.'s trial, for a concert in Germany with Absurd, Magog, and Totenburg. The pressure from authorities was such that the organizers had to change the location of the live at the last moment. Despite this, the law enforcement managed to track it down, and during Absurd's show, raided the venue. The ensuing battle saw three police officers injured and eight concertgoers in serious condition. Kristallnacht's performance was nonetheless exhilarating: the public saluted with honor and devotion the last act of the most important band's history in the French scene. After this date, Kristallnacht died definitively.

This collection, called "Bloodrenched Memorial," is released two years later, to meet the needs of all those who had not been able to obtain the band's hard-to-find releases. L.F. continues here, after the trial ended and the sentence served, to want to keep his name secret. Whatever it may be, these two letters will forever remain engraved in the empyrean of extreme metal, for better or worse.