Blood Ceremony – “The Eldritch Dark”

Blood Ceremony are a bit of an oddity. Since the band’s debut they’ve been associated with the metal, and most specifically doom genres. It’s an oddity as most of the time the band’s style has been more reminiscent of Jethro Tull than Sabbath, this being most obvious in their frequent use of the flute. Ultimately this has led to the group being placed firmly into the “occult rock” category that seems to be all the rage these days.

Seeing as occult rock bands seem to “trendy” at present, what sets Blood Ceremony apart from the others? Well, not much really. Most of these types of band’s have gorgeous, mysterious frontwomen with amazing pipes to match, and true to form so does Blood Ceremony. Yes, the flute playing is unique, but is it enough to really make you stand out above the crowd? No, not really.

The above being said; however, Blood Ceremony are excellent songwriters with a knack for creating hooky songs. For example on “Ballad of the Weird Sisters” they take what sounds initially almost like a folk song, and turn it into one of the album’s highlights. Also, the lead off single, “Goodbye Gemini”, sounds like something straight off of classic rock radio.

So, the band isn’t original, but really who cares? Not everything needs to sound different in order to satisfy, and The Eldritch Dark is really satisfying. It ticks off all of the boxes on what an occult rock record “should” be quite nicely, and fans of the genre will love it. And really, that’s all that matters.

Track Listing:

01. Witchwood
02. Goodbye Gemini
03. Lord Summerisle
04. Ballad of the Weird Sisters
05. Eldritch Dark
06. Drawing Down the Moon
07. Faunus
08. The Magician

Release Date: May 27, 2013
Run Time: 40:52

Check out the song “Goodbye Gemini”