Atrocity - Leichenfeier

Atrocity - Blut (1994)

Southern Germany's Atrocity is a band which demands a lot of pacience and tolerance from the listener.
In the early 1990's, they started as a death metal band ("Hallucinations" (1990) and "Todessehnsucht" (death wish, 1992). Two years later, in 1994, they published "Blut" (blood), heavily influenced by Bram Stoker's Dracula, as you can see by the CD's design. If you check the reviews on Metal Archive, you recognize that this CD polarizes. Some love the mixture of death metal with experimential influences, others hate the "hardcore-like" attempts. I bought the CD more than 15 years ago and listened to it very often in the beginning, but just 3-4 times within the last ten years. But still I like it - as I recognize right now while I'm listening to it again - because of the mood and the disharmonic and somewhat spooky atmosphere. On this record, they also experimented with ethno music - something they've done later on again.
I didn't buy their following records - as I mentioned above, I couldn't follow their mixture of mediocre death metal, 80's cover versions, ethno rock and industrial. But still I think Blut is on of their most fascinating records.

There is a song called "Leichenfeier", sung in German. At the end, they sing the latin phrase Deus diabolicus - In immortalitate - Parentalia, which means: diabolical God - in immortality - Parentalia.

Parentalia was an ancient Roman feast, celebrated on February the 13th. The name derives from parentes, which mean, as you can guess: parents. The Romans believed that ghost of the ancestors were wandering among the living during these days, to take revenge for injustice they had suffered in life. So they assembled bread, salt and wine to appease the ghosts.

Maybe you are interested in the meaning of the German lyrics of "Leichenfeier":

feast for the dead

Cursed shall be the day I was born
Cursed shall be the night in which I saw
how appearance and reality become mine.
Where I wander all is gone
what has been once before,
just dark souls and
devil's horde.
Not praying, but without words
I kill the god inside you.
Flesh and sin, blood and
love: thoughts in black.
your wifes are crying, your
sons are hunting you, they've become
my servants.
I enjoy your agony,
I sip your blood
and devour your heart.
I follow damnation's call,
the light in the dark, cold
in the neck, and the immortal bones.
I follow the damnation,
the passion
in red, wicked, depraved
and unbelieveable beautiful.
Crosses are sinking down, bells fading away
in the passionate evening red
of a slaugther feast.

Diabolical Devil
in immortality
Parentalia.