“It is a really good time to change the band name, there’s a new album, new music, a fresh start”: Patriarkh (ex-Batushka) reveal to Chaoszine

Five years after the release of their critically acclaimed album, “Hospodi”, Polish black metal icons Patriarkh (former Batushka) return with their new concept album “ПРОРОК ИЛИЯ” (Engl. Prophet Elijah). Their label debut will be released on January 3, 2025 via Napalm Records. Without a shadow of a doubt, the band stand as one of the most exciting acts in today’s black metal scene and are now more than ready to bring their bone-shaking essence of arcane black metal to the next level.

On eight completely new compositions, ПРОРОК ИЛИЯ details a true story that happened in the band’s home area of Podlasie, in the village of Grzybowszczyzna, in the 1930s and 40s. The album takes the listener into 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. Patriarkh are spreading their gospel by using an arsenal of folk instruments, such as tagelharpa, mandolin, mandocello, hurdy gurdy and stringed dulcimer, and worked with a symphony orchestra and choirs to give their new creations the most organic and vivid feeling possible. Orthodox sacredness is mixed with black and doom metal, now largely enriched with folk music, neo dark folk, and even film music. The band uses the entire palette of Orthodox music, venturing into the areas of Byzantine monody, liturgical chant and Russian polyphony, neatly adapting folk and liturgical melodies to their own style.

The lyrical side of “ПРОРОК ИЛИЯ” is an interesting mix of theater and pastoralism. Patriarkh use fragments of texts from the theater play “Prorok Ilja” and draws from the messages contained in the works of Włodzimierz Pawluczuk, combining it with folk and liturgical texts. On this album, listeners can hear various languages – including Polish. The album was recorded in January and May 2024 at Tall Pine Records (Behemoth, Zalewski, Afromental), Heinrich House (Behemoth, Vesania, Hate), Wem Studio (Kasa Chorych, Lukasyno, Cira) and Radio Białystok studio. The mixing and mastering was handled by Wojciech Wiesławski at Hertz Studio (Vader, Behemoth, Decapitated), and production by band mastermind and leading vocalist Bartłomiej “Варфоломей” Krysiuk.

Chaoszine had the opportunity of talking to Bartłomiej Krysiuk and guitarist Jakub “Szatan/Boruta” Śliwowski about Patriarkh‘s upcoming album, for an in-depth look into its concept, musical ideas and creative process. They also addressed the ongoing lawsuit about the ownership of the Batushka name, and their new deal with Napalm Records.

You can check out the full interview below: