I love metal. Whether it be Power Metal, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Glam Metal or Black Metal, I love metal! Though there is one band that stands out to me and that is a crazy Polish band called Batushka. Why is this band crazy? Well, their lyrics are written exclusively in ‘Old Church Slavonic’ which is why their lyrics sound like the chants we would usually hear in Orthodox Churches. When I first heard them, I thought of the music in The Assassin’s Creed Games that took place in the Renaissance Era. But it doesn’t stop there, they even dress up in actual religious habits and Eastern Orthodox Schemas during their live performances where they remain masked up. The pictures of the band look weird and different and although they are singing, chanting and sometimes screeching in this language that I do not understand, I’ve looked up the lyrics and it’s what you’d expect. The themes are religious in theme but this is no religious band, they just have religion and the whole theme of the Eastern Orthodox as their main inspiration. To me they are somewhat Occult in nature. The occult and religion have seemed to go hand-in-hand in the past and if you look at many of the pagan traditions and folklore from central and eastern Europe, you’ll see how it has blended in with the Christian/Catholic faith. Some may consider this band blasphemy… especially when looking at their album covers though I have always maintained that art doesn’t care about your feelings and neither should it.
The band has quickly become one my favourites and I’m looking forward to seeing what they do next. Some people may listen to Gospel… this is my church music though… no literally, I dare you to listen to it. It is literal old school church music with screaming and electric guitars.
Pretty wicked if you ask me.
And on that note, Happy Halloween!
