Holy Blood is a

folk metal Folk metal is a fusion genre of heavy metal music and traditional folk music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. It is characterised by the widespread use of folk instruments and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles (for exampl ...

band from

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

, Ukraine, formed in 1999. The band is notable for being one of the few

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

bands in its genre, and the fact that they are the most successful group on its label

Bombworks Records Bombworks Records is a record label from McKinney, Texas, that formed in January 2004. The label would sign several bands, including Seventh Angel, A Hill to Die Upon, Grave Declaration and Crimson Thorn. The label started careers for bands suc ...

, and the band has been noted worldwide despite being an underground group. Holy Blood has released six albums: '' The Wanderer'', ''

Waves Are Dancing ''Waves Are Dancing'' is the second studio album by Ukrainian folk metal band Holy Blood, released in 2005. The band's and their label's best selling album, ''Waves'' saw the band moving even further towards the highly melodic folk metal style wh ...

'', ''The Patriot'', ''Shining Sun'', ''

Day of Vengeance ''Day of Vengeance'' is a six-issue comic book Limited series (comics), limited series written by Bill Willingham, with art by Justiniano and Walden Wong, published in 2005 by DC Comics. Publication history ''Day of Vengeance'' is one of four lim ...

'' and ''Voice of Blood''.

History

Formation (1999–2000)

Holy Blood was formed in October 1999 and their music leaned towards

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk ...

style. The band consisted of guitarist-vocalist Fedir Buzylevych, drummer Dmytro Tytorenko, and bassist Mykhailo Rodionov. Previously, they played in a band called Voice of Cryeth in which Buzylevych played bass, Tytorenko handled keyboard, and Rodionov was the guitarist. In 2000, the band changed their style to

deathgrind Grindcore is an extreme fusion genre of heavy metal and hardcore punk that originated in the mid-1980s, drawing inspiration from abrasive-sounding musical styles, such as thrashcore, crust punk, hardcore punk, extreme metal, and industrial. G ...

. A year later in 2001 the band was joined by former Revival lead guitarist Oleksiy Furman, female keyboardist Vira Kniazeva and former Maranatha member Yevhen Tsesarev replaced Radionov as a bassist. Rodionov became a rhythm guitarist. After the line up change, Holy Blood changed their style to

melodic death metal Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal (including New Wave of British Heavy Metal). The genre features the heavines ...

and began to record the first studio album.

''The Wanderer'' (2001–2002)

Fedir and Vira were married in August 2001. In 2002 a local small metal label called Core Zone released the first album '' The Wanderer''. In the middle 2002, the guitarist Oleksiy Furman left the band and was replaced by former Maranatha member Artem Stupak. Holy Blood changed their style to folk death-black metal style and Buzilevich incorporated

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

. Rodionov left the band in 2003 and was replaced by former Celestial Call member Serhiy Nahornyi. Artem Stupak focused on his own project, unblack metal duo Evroklidon, and eventually Buzylevych became the rhythm guitarist. Serhiy Nahorny became a lead guitarist. Buzlylevych and Rodionov recorded a death-grind studio project under the name ''Requital'' and released the album ''Retribution for Sin''. It included previously unreleased songs of Holy Blood. In December 2003 bass-guitarist Yevhen Tsesarev left the band and was replaced by Oleksiy Andrushenko (Axxent). In the March 2004, Holy Blood was featured on a compilation of Ukrainian Christian metal bands called ''Total Armageddon''.

''Waves Are Dancing'' and ''The Patriot'' (2003–2008)

On April 18, 2004, the band shot their first music video called "The Spring". During the same month the band launched its website and afterwards their popularity increased notably outside their native country,Morrow, Mat
Holy Blood – The Wanderer
The Whipping Post, retrieved (October 20, 2007) and started writing third album. later that year, Holy Blood caught the interest of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

-based records label

. The band signed a record deal with the label which released "The Wanderer" to available in many different countries. In October band played concerts in Belarus and participated ''Hear My Call Tour''. In 2005, Bombworks Records released Holy Blood's second album, ''

'', and it was also released by young Russian label called ''Musica Production''. On July 2, the keyboardist Vira Kniazeva left the band and was replaced by former Gefsad member Volodyslav Malytskyi. In October, the band was joined by Viacheslav Kirishyn who plays instruments such as bagpipe and flute. In June 2006, Viacheslav has left the band. 2006 year was successful concert year for the band. Holy Blood played in different cities of Ukraine and also played in Moldova and notable foreign festivals such as ''Elements of Rock'' in Switzerland and ''Maata Näkyvissä'' in Finland. On December 1, Jmak Agency shot a professional music video for the self-titled song from the third album ''The Patriot'', released in early July 2008, and the Russian label Musica Production re-released the first album ''The Wanderer'' with new artwork.

''Shining Sun'' (2010–2012)

In late 2008, the band went through major line-up changes: in a press release on their website, it was announced that all other members apart from Fedir Buzylevych left to continue under a different name, Oskord, while Fedir will continue under the Holy Blood moniker with new members, including his wife Vira, who was previously in Holy Blood from 2001 to 2005. With new members surrounding Fedir and Vira, Holy Blood completed fourth album, ''Shining Sun'', in early 2010. The band stated in a MySpace blog that the album features "a combination of traditional Folk Metal with elements of Melodic Metalcore, and elements of new school Hardcore." In 2011, Grigoriy Nazarov replaced Igor Dziuba on rhythm guitar. In 2012, Roman Gerchtun and Poul Guchlencko replaced Ira Klesch and Victor Serbin on bass and drums, respectively.

''Day of Vengeance'', ''Glory to the Heroes'' EP and ''Voice of Blood'' (2013–present)

On December 25, 2013, the band announced they are in the studio working on a new album, and released a promotional video featuring a demo of a new song: "Holy Blood". In January 2014, the band announced the title of the upcoming album to be ''

'', which will be released in the later that year. On February 18, the band's official website was updated, revealing a complete lineup change occurred once again, with the exception of Buzilevich. As a result, Buzilevich wrote and recorded ''Day of Vengeance'' by himself. On December 14, Fedor Buzilevich uploaded "Ukraine", a new song to the band's website and announced he has starting writing for the band's sixth studio album. ''Day of Vengeance'' was released on December 31, 2014 in Russia and May 18, 2015 for the rest of the world. In April 2017, it was announced that Holy Blood had signed to

Vision of God Records Vision of God Records is a Christian record label formed by Duane Keith. The label was formed in 2013 in Muskegon, Michigan. The label is primarily known for re-releasing albums with new artwork, mixing and mastering, but they do also have origin ...

, and released a new EP, ''Glory to the Heroes'', on May 10, 2017. On February 15, 2019, the band released their sixth full-length studio album, ''Voice of Blood''.

Music

Holy Blood plays

with

death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

and

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with t ...

elements. Their music is characterized by elements based on Ukrainian folk traditions and

Celtic music Celtic music is a broad grouping of music genres that evolved out of the folk music traditions of the Celtic people of Northwestern Europe. It refers to both orally-transmitted traditional music and recorded music and the styles vary considerab ...

. They incorporate ethnic instruments such as blockflute and bagpipe. The vocals are high-pitched shrieking but also incorporates folk choirs. The band is influenced by groups such as

Ensiferum Ensiferum (Latin: , n adj., meaning "sword bearing") is a Finnish folk metal band from Helsinki. The members of the band label themselves as "melodic folk metal." History Formation, demos and ''Ensiferum'' (1995−2002) ''Ensiferum'' was founde ...

and

Finntroll Finntroll is a Finnish metal band from Helsinki that combines elements of black metal and folk metal. Finntroll's lyrics are mostly in Swedish, the only exception being the song "Madon Laulu" on ''Visor om slutet''. Finntroll's original singer, ...

. ''The Wanderer'' has been compared to melodic black metal groups such as

Dissection Dissection (from Latin ' "to cut to pieces"; also called anatomization) is the dismembering of the body of a deceased animal or plant to study its anatomical structure. Autopsy is used in pathology and forensic medicine to determine the cause o ...

but is said to be more modern in sound and style. ''The Wanderer'' is also said to contain more variety and complex songwriting than ''Waves Are Dancing'' does. ''Waves are Dancing'' embraced more folk oriented direction as majority of the songs incorporate flute and bagpipe. Several songs incorporate guitar solos keyboards and folk choirs.Morrow, Mat
Holy Blood – Waves are Dancing
2006, The Whipping Post, retrieved October 20, 2007 Holy Blood's lyrical themes tend to revolve around their Christian faith, heaven, and God.

Band members

Current members * Fedor Buzilevich –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

(1999–present),

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

(2002–2013), rhythm guitar (1999–2001, 2003–2008, 2013–present) * Sergeii Khylko – flute (2016–present) * Philipp Kharouk – drums (2018–present) * Andriy Iakovenko – bass (2019–present) Former members * Dmitry Titorenko – drums (1999–2008) * Myhaylo Rodionov – rhythm guitar (2001–2003), bass (1999–2001) * Vera Knyazyova –

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, vocals (2001–2005, 2008–2013), lead vocals, bagpipes (2008–2013) * Eugeniy Tsesaryov – bass (2001–2003) * Olexiy Furman – lead guitar (2001–2002) * Artem Stupak – lead guitar (2002–2003) * Sergiy Nagorniy – lead guitar (2003–2008), rhythm guitar (2003) * Olexiy Andrushchenko – bass (2003–2008) * Vladislav Malitskiy – keyboards (2005–2008) * Vyacheslav Kirishun –

bagpipes Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, No ...

, flute (2005–2006) * Evgeniy Titarchuk – lead guitar (2008–2013) * Ira Klesch – bass (2008–2012) * Igor Dziuba – rhythm guitar (2008–2011) * Olexandr Omelchenko – drums (2008–2009) * Oleg Bogomaz – drums (2009–2010) * Anatoliy Bondarenko – drums (2009) * Danylo Rybin – drums (2009) * Victor Serbin – drums (2010–2012) * Grigoriy Nazarov – rhythm guitar (2011–2013) * Roman Gerchtun – bass (2012–2013) * Poul Guchlencko – drums (2012–2013) * Deny Moshkov – bass (2016–2019) * Lev Kurgansky – drums (2016–2018) Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

*'' The Wanderer'' (2002) *''

'' (2005) *''The Patriot'' (2008) *''Shining Sun'' (2010) *''

'' (2014) *''Voice of Blood'' (2019)

EPs

* ''Glory to the Heroes'' (2017)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Holy Blood Ukrainian folk metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1999 Ukrainian black metal musical groups Unblack metal musical groups Christian metal musical groups Vision of God Records artists Bombworks Records artists 1999 establishments in Ukraine Musical groups from Kyiv