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 Wale ...

band formed in 2006 in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. 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 heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

psychedelic folk Psychedelic folk (sometimes acid folk or freak folk) is a loosely defined form of psychedelic music that originated in the 1960s. It retains the largely acoustic instrumentation of contemporary folk music, folk, but adds musical elements common ...

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

, 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 best known for being the chief vocalist, Flute, flautist, and acoustic guitarist of the British rock band Jethro Tull (band), Jethro Tull. He is a multi-instrumentalist who also p ...

. ''

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 Rise Above Records is a London-based independent record label owned by Lee Dorrian, former member of Cathedral and Napalm Death. Founding Lee Dorrian started Rise Above Records in 1988 without the intention of the label being an ongoing pos ...

. The albums were reissued on

Metal Blade Metal Blade Records (often shortened to Metal Blade) is an American independent record label founded by Brian Slagel in 1982 based in the U.S. state of California. The label primarily focuses on heavy metal. History Metal Blade Records was ...

. Blood Ceremony spent the latter part of 2009 touring throughout Europe with

Electric Wizard Electric Wizard are an English stoner metal, stoner/doom metal band from Dorset. Formed in 1988 under the name Lord of Putrefaction, the band have recorded nine studio albums, two of which have been considered genre landmarks: ''Come My Fanati ...

. During the latter part of 2011 and the early part of 2012, they supported

Ghost In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...

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 () 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) productions. Given annually by the Academy ...

nomination for

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

at the

7th Canadian Screen Awards The seventh annual Canadian Screen Awards were held on March 31, 2019, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2018.Sook-Yin Lee and Adam Litovitz for Lee's film '' Octavio Is Dead!''. She also performs as a member of

Badge Époque Ensemble Badge Époque Ensemble is a Canadian musical project led by Max Turnbull. They are most noted for their self-titled debut album, which was a longlisted nominee for the 2020 Polaris Music Prize. In addition to Turnbull, the band includes guitarist ...

. Blood Ceremony's 5th full length album, ''The Old Ways Remain'' was released in May 2023.

Style

Blood Ceremony's style has been described as

occult rock Occult rock (also known as doom rock or witch rock) is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the late 1960s to early 1970s, pioneered by bands such as Coven and Black Widow. The genre is influenced by hard rock, proto-metal, psychedelic ...

, 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 are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...

, Uriah Heep, Osanna,

Pentagram A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha, pentangle, or star pentagon) is a regular five-pointed star polygon, formed from the diagonal line segments of a convex (or simple, or non-self-intersecting) regular pentagon. Drawing a circle around ...

Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins ( 1620 – 12 August 1647) was an English witch-hunter whose career flourished during the English Civil War. He was mainly active in East Anglia and claimed to hold the office of Witchfinder General, although that titl ...

and

Pagan Altar Pagan Altar is an English heavy metal and doom metal band. It was formed by Terry Jones and his son Alan in 1978 in the borough of Brockley in London and was part of the new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM). History Pagan Altar's only ...

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 Pentangle may refer to: *Pentagon, a five-sided polygon *Pentagram, a five-pointed star drawn with five straight strokes *Pentangle (band), a British folk rock band ** ''The Pentangle'' (album), a 1968 album by Pentangle *Miss Pentangle, a character ...

and

Fairport Convention Fairport Convention are an English British folk rock, folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson (musician), Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Marti ...

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