Blood Ceremony is a Canadian

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band formed in 2006 in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. Blood Ceremony's style has been described as "flute-tinged witch rock" and their lyrics are filled with black magic imagery and references to classic horror films. Their music has been also characterized as

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

, psychedelic folk,

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

, and

doom metal Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' ...

. The band is fronted by singer/flutist/organist Alia O'Brien, whose flute solos are reminiscent of Jethro Tull's

Ian Anderson Ian Scott Anderson (born 10 August 1947) is a British musician, singer and songwriter best known for his work as the lead vocalist, flautist, acoustic guitarist and leader of the British rock band Jethro Tull. He is a multi-instrumentalist w ...

. ''

Torontoist ''Daily Hive'', formerly known as ''Vancity Buzz'', is a Canadian online newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia. It began digital publishing in 2008 and became Western Canada's largest online-only publication by 2016. In September 2022 ...

'' has called Blood Ceremony "Toronto's most original band".

History

The band was created by O'Brien with guitarist Sean Kennedy, who is responsible for most of the songwriting. The band's self-titled debut studio album was released in 2008, followed by ''Living with the Ancients'' in 2011, both on Rise Above Records. The albums were reissued on Metal Blade. Blood Ceremony spent the latter part of 2009 touring throughout Europe with Electric Wizard. During the latter part of 2011 and the early part of 2012, they supported

Ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

on their European and North American tours. They have since released two additional albums, ''The Eldritch Dark'' (2013, Metal Blade) and ''Lord of Misrule'' (2016, Rise Above). O'Brien received a

Canadian Screen Award The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media (web series) p ...

nomination for

Best Original Song This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

at the 7th Canadian Screen Awards for "Ghost of Love (Onakabazien Remix)", which she cowrote with Sook-Yin Lee and Adam Litovitz for Lee's film '' Octavio Is Dead!''. She also performs as a member of Badge Époque Ensemble. Blood Ceremony's 5th full length album, ''The Old Ways Remain'' is due for release in early 2023.

Style

Blood Ceremony's style has been described as occult rock, and by their label as "flute-tinged witch rock". In a 2011 interview on Finland's ''NukeTV'', O'Brien called their style "heavy rock" and claimed that their distinct sound is the result of each band member having different musical influences. She cited late 1960s and early 1970s progressive rock as crucial to her inspiration, called Jethro Tull her "very first, favorite band", and also listed

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...

, Uriah Heep, Osanna, Pentagram, Witchfinder General, Electric Wizard and

Pagan Altar Pagan Altar is an English doom metal band formed by Terry Jones and his son Alan in 1978 in the borough of Brockley in London. History Alongside Witchfinder General, they are one of the few new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) bands to ...

as having a major impact. Guitarist and songwriter Kennedy called Blood Ceremony a "folkier Sabbath", and cited "heavier Black Sabbath", 1980s doom metal and British folk artists such as Pentangle and

Fairport Convention Fairport Convention are an English folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Martin Lamble after their first gig.) They started o ...

as influential.

Members

;Current * Alia O'Brien - lead vocals, flute, organ * Sean Kennedy - guitars * Lucas Gadke - bass, backing vocals * Michael Carrillo - drums ;Former * Chris Landon - bass * Jeremy Finkelstein - drums * Andrew Haust - drums

Discography

Studio albums

References

External links

Rise Above Records' Blood Ceremony PageMetal Blade Records' Blood Ceremony Page
{{Authority control Canadian doom metal musical groups Musical groups from Toronto Musical groups established in 2006 Metal Blade Records artists