Part Metal, Part Religious Ceremony
This is one of the most interesting and exciting albums I have heard for a while. This Polish outfit who used to be called Batushka have recently released their second album under their new moniker (Jan 3 2025) on Napalm Records. It is a concept album about a cult religious group headed by the “Prophet Ilja” (real name I believe being Eliasz Klimowicz) that was active in their area of Poland in the 30s and 40s.
The group were still active until some point in the 1960s. From my understanding, some of the lyrics are taken from his teachings, although as most of the album is in various languages including their own it is hard to tell. The PR describes the lyrics as “an interesting mix of theatre and pastoralism“, and that is a sentence I never thought I would ever type!
Despite some sites describing the band as “black metal” this album is part that, but a whole lot more. There is folk, film score, and all forms of Orthodox music and yet again more. The album is part metal, part rock opera and part religious ceremony.
Fascinating Sounds And Instruments
The good news? It works. Oh, how it works! The mix is magnificent, interesting, challenging and absolutely entertaining. As I said I don’t really understand it, but I can assure you over its running time I am utterly captivated by it. I find that after I hit play, the next thing I know is that is over. It is roughly 40 minutes long and is broken into 8 tracks that share the same name but are numbered.
The band not only feature the usual instruments, you know guitars, bass, drums but also use an arsenal of folk instruments, such as tagelharpa (wiki describes it as a bowed lyre that can be 2 to 4 string and the strings being made from horse hair), mandolin, mandocello (a baritone version of the mandolin), hurdy-gurdy and stringed dulcimer, and they have also worked with a symphony orchestra and choirs. This they say is to give their new album the most organic and vivid feeling possible. As you can tell this is not just an ordinary rock/metal album.
Strange Sounds
Right from “Track 1” the scene is set with strange-sounding instruments, choral arrangements and spoken word. It is a short piece leading into “Track 2” which has choral vocals over what is a remarkable groovy riff for an album by a “black metal” band. ВАРФОЛОМИЕЙ (according to Google Translate Bartholomew) comes in with death metal vocals in amongst all the other voices. There are some very sweet female vocals on this and throughout the album.
One of the things I do appreciate is the thunderous double kick drumming that goes on underneath the lovely choral arrangements. This is like being church, but a very evil-sounding one worshiping who knows what! “Track 3” opens with more spoken word with a very eerie-sounding stringed instrument that made me think of a Jews Harp (it isn’t but it has that vibe). The switching between male and female vocals is very effective. The song features another singer from Poland called Maciej Maleńczuk. The folk ending is gorgeous.
From Black Metal To Gentle Folk
“Track 4” has some stunning haunting vocals from Eliza Sacharczuk. Once again the drums of ЛЕХ (Google Translate says Lech) pound
away underneath some melodic vocals giving a very different feel to what is going on. Bells chime from the end of this into “Track 5” where the spoken word starts to get more manic sounding. Perhaps a sign that Prophet Ilja is losing the plot, I don’t know obviously but that is how I read it. This is the most black metal song on the album.
The choirs are a lot less and the screamed howled vocals are more front and centre. “Track 6”‘s spoken word intro is quieter, almost prayer-like like and leads into something akin to mandolin and is a duet featuring the dulcet tones of Eliza once again. This is the most folk-sounding of the songs. The mix of vocal harmonies and gentle “mandolin” is quite stirring. The fact they go from the heaviest to the lightest song is an interesting choice.
A Film Score
“Track 7” opens with a crack of thunder, birds (sound like crows) squawking amongst other things as the choir sing. Another spoken word that sounds different from the others (not sure this is part of a sermon, sounds more like a storyteller giving us an update, I could, of course, be wrong). Part of it is melodic with clean vocals and part intense black metal vocals. The switches between the genres and styles happen fast and hard. There is a fun bit in the middle between vocals and military-style drum parts.
The last track starts with tolling bells, but sounding more ominous than previously. Being the longest piece there is even more drama in the build-up. It starts as a mix of classical and folk for the first couple of minutes. When the change comes in it is full-on vicious black metal with vocals to match. Choirs and melody are never to far away from coming through the mayhem. Just to add to things orchestration comes in adding another dimension. As it continues it becomes more like a film score. The drums continue to sort of power everything underneath. As the music slowly fades the choir sing and then the final spoken words are spoken ending the story.
Most Creative Album
I cannot recommend this album highly enough. It is like nothing I have heard recently that is for sure, helped by the ethnic instruments which are fresh to the ears. The choirs are used beautifully, the mix of male and female depending on the mood being expressed is clever. The orchestrations are not overused, but complement the songs. It is very cinematic as well as dramatic.
Is it black metal? I would say yes. It isn’t only that though. There is classical and folk aplenty and the whole thing is very progressive both as a concept and use of styles. One of the most creative albums I have heard in a long time. The fact it is in different languages doesn’t matter as the music is so good and with headphones I heard so many little touches and sounds that I was kept captivated and entertained, and I am sure anyone taking the time to check this magnum opus out will be too. Fantastic album. It is out now on Napalm Records. Do yourselves a favour and check it out!
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Check out my other reviews and articles here. Tom
