PATRIARKH Vinyl & CDs

Review: Patriarkh (formerly Batushka) can most succinctly be described as "Orthodox black metal", with their haunting fusion of blackened doom metal married to neo-folk elements including use of a vast array of instruments such as tagelharpa, mandolin, mandocello, hurdy gurdy and stringed dulcimer, as well as the inclusion of a symphony orchestra and choir. Returning over half a decade since 2019's Hospodi, their third full-length Prophet Ilja tells the true story that happened in the band's home area of Podlasie, in the village of Grzybowszczyzna, in the 1930s and 40s, detailing the world of Eliasz Klimowicz, the titular Prophet Ilja, an illiterate peasant who was the leader of the Orthodox Grzybowska Sect, active until the 1960s, cultivating and transmitting the history of the self-proclaimed prophet. Drawing on the myriad forms of Orthodox music, pulling from Byzantine monody, liturgical chant and Russian polyphony, whilst neatly adapting folk and liturgical melodies into their blackened sonic maelstrom, while lyrically delving into texts from the theatre play "Prorok Ilja" and drawing from the messages contained in the works of Wlodzimierz Pawluczuk, the heightened sense of theatrical pastoralism, period accurate aesthetic, and head-melting sonics provide a uniquely religious black metal experience unlike anything else the scene has ever heard, past or present. No corpse paint here, we're afraid.