Here is another legal battle raging on courtesy of Debauchery or more like Cruachan vs.Debauchery. The German death metal band, Debauchery, via their mainman Thomas "The Bloodbeast" Gurrath claimed he has copyright for the two words 'Blood God' in the territory of Germany. And Cruachan's last album is titled Blood For The Blood God, so that was the problem. The matter was eventually settled with Trollzorn but the record label can no longer sell merchandise in Germany with the word 'Blood God', among other things. Naturally, Cruachan are not happy about it.

Cruachan released this statement today over their Facebook page: "Hi, Just to give you all an update on some legal crap that has been happening with the title of our latest album. Just before the end of last year our record label received an email from Thomas Gurrath from the German Death Metal band Debauchery. He told them (and showed them) that he has copyright for the 2 words 'Blood God' in the territory of Germany. He threatened our label and told them he will sue them for releasing our album which is called Blood For The Blood God. (Cruachan never heard of Debauchery before any of this). He demanded all products be taken off shelves and nothing be sold with the words Blood God on it. Our label tried to reason with him because this is completely ridiculous, petty and childish. Cruachan and Debauchery are two completely different bands and the name Blood God is relevant to Irish mythology and history as that is how some people refer to Crom Cruach. We really see no reason why he had this mission to stop our albums being sold. He did not care what our label had to say.

"We have never seen anything like this happen in the metal scene, you would expect it from much bigger bands. We fail to see how Cruachan using the name 'Blood God' will affect anything Debauchery do or affect their sales or whatever. So, as a result, our label have come to an agreement where we can sell off the existing Cruachan merchandise but can produce no more to sell in Germany. (We plan to use the title Blood For Crom Cruach going forward for Germany only). He has also received a financial compensation as well. From now on we cannot make any more merchandise that has 'Blood God' written on it. Cruachan have kept out of all of this and allowed the record label try and fix this issue. As they and Debauchery have reached an agreement we feel it was time to tell our fans what Thomas Gurrath has done to us. Our record label can no longer sell merchandise in Germany with the word 'Blood God', we can still sell outside Germany with the original title but Trollzorn are a German label, this is a real disaster for them. Thank you Thomas Gurrath for doing this to us for no real reason! What has happened to artistic integrity? Or empathy with bands trying to survive in this current musical situation, there should be solidarity between bands - not this disgraceful behaviour!"

Source:	facebook.com
Band profile:	Cruachan