KERRANG! 55BAPФOЛOMEN
(VOCALS)Tell us about the non-
metal elements that make
up Hospodi...
“Well, almost everything that we
do is in the service of the mystery
and atmosphere of our ritualistic
live performances. There is much
here taken from the Eastern
Orthodox Liturgy of Death – not
an interpretation of that religion,
but to some extent a reflection of
the themes and ceremony. There
are also themes taken from the
folk culture specific to where we’re
from in Poland: chants and folk
singing. Where I grew up, culture
and religion are very interrelated- Orthodox Christians, Catholics,
Turkish Muslims and Jews. There
are also ideas taken from Byzantine
music. We wanted to step forward
as musicians and draw on that.”
Why did you want to explore the
themes of death and mortality?
“We wanted to continue on from
what we had already explored on
[2015 debut album] Litourgiya, while
expanding the theatricality aroundthat. There is also a lot of influence
directly from my memories. There
is a picture that has stayed with me
almost my whole life from back in
my village after my grandmother
had died. She was just lying there
in the coffin with all these people
standing around her singing these
folk chants. Everything flows from
that. Death is special because
it’s not just another sacrament
but something that affects you
personally, regardless of faith.
There’s an emptiness there.”Is there a message for the listener
in Hospodi?
“I think there is some kind of
philosophy in there but, again,
much is at the service of the live
show that we want to deliver, with
the funeral procession and all the
things that you have to see us live
to really understand. It is about that
ultimate mystery. There is obviously
a sadness around death, but there
can perhaps be happiness, too.
Maybe there is something there
after we go, and maybe there is
nothing – who knows?”Q&A
“REGARDLESS OF
FAITH, DEATH
AFFECTS US ALL...”
BAPФOЛOMENMysterious Polish clergy BATUSHKA take black
metal to strange new places on second album
INTERVIEW:SAM LAWB
lack metal has been
twisted into some
weird and wonderful
shapes over the
decades. That feral
aggression at the core of the genre
has been whipped up to dramatic
symphonic highs by the likes of
Dimmu Borgir, and taken down
to melancholy ambient lows by
mysterious solo artists like Xasthur,
while Norwegian legends Ulver
have found themselves in the
world of trippy electronica and
beat-driven synth-pop.
Now we have Batushka.
This mysterious Polish act have
their own take on black metal,
combining religious mysticism and
Eastern Orthodox liturgical music, along with
some more familiar elements. The result is a
band with a grand vision, a stunning sound and
a unique identity. Imagine if Ghost were more
of a serious philosophical treatise and you’ll be
in the right aesthetic, if not musical, ballpark.
Batushka are also a band that reward
total immersion. When they appeared at
Download a couple of weeks ago, they
delivered their ceremony undiluted. In a tent
largely rammed with people sheltering from
a downpour alongside underground fans in
the know, a set that saw the band spending
half their time ceremoniously lighting candles
left the majority of the audience bemused
and, in some cases, audibly angry. They are,
however, superb when taken in their own
time and space. Hospodi is a loose concept
album based on the Liturgy of Death, funeral
rites and dirges, often punctuated by long
passages of religious chanting. The metal
tracks stand up as individual monuments
of atmosphere and noise, but the whole
brilliantly transcends the sum of its parts.
It starts with a tolling bell, which isn’t
particularly shocking – Black Sabbath kickedoff heavy metal as a whole
with an ominous dong on their
eponymous debut album, after all- but as opener Wozglas sets the
scene with choral chanting and a
sense of echoing, sacred space,
it feels like it couldn’t begin any
other way. That chanting is a
huge element of Hospodi, but
it’s not the cod-Latin, Omen-
referencing type that’s more
typical of any extreme metal
band with a slightly occult bent.
This is delivered in Old Church
Slavonic, and thus has a more
authentic feel. It’s also intricately
constructed and wrapped around
the other elements, used as an
integral building block and an
instrument in its own right.
The vocals as a whole are hugely
impressive, whether deployed as a rasping
blackened scream or a rich, clean, almost
baritone boom. The music ebbs and flows
behind these vocal interplays, going from
lilting acoustics and floating ambient passages
to fiery flashes of coruscating aggression.
There are slashing riffs reminiscent of later
period Darkthrone and chugging grooves that
are closer to Satyricon, but the melodies are
epic, and the effect is stately and grandiose.
To add to the drama of the band and in
keeping with their religious aesthetic, there
has already been a major schism in Batushka’s
ranks. There are currently two warring versions
in existence, and a divided fan base. Court
battles seem unfortunately prosaic in the
context of their soaring music and intriguing
mysticism, but there’s still more than enough
magic on display here to distract from all
that. Hospodi is a brilliantly inventive and
subversive work of intelligent, immersive
darkness from a band that deserve your full
attention right now. PAUL TRAVERS
BATUSHKA
HOSPODI
(METAL BLADE)KKKK