Blood Ceremony

Blood Ceremony

Blood Ceremony is a Toronto-based group active since 2006. Their line-up includes Alia O'Brien, Sean Kennedy, Lucas Gadke, Michael Carrillo, Andrew Haust, Jeremy Finkelstein and Chris Landon.

Style and influences

The group plays a form of occult rock that blends doom metal, hard rock, heavy psych, metal and progressive rock. Their sound combines Black Sabbath-style riffing with flute-led passages associated with Jethro Tull, giving the music a distinctive flute-tinged witch rock character. Their songs also draw on folk and an early 1970s downer-rock atmosphere, with references to horror, Euro-horror, 1960s saturnalia and occult themes.

Career

Before recording, the group studies a large number of witchcraft films and uses that material as the basis for its songs. Its self-titled debut album is mixed by Billy Anderson and released by Rise Above in 2008. In 2009 the band tours Europe in support of Electric Wizard. Its second album, Living With the Ancients, adds vintage organ, gritty guitars and flute harmonies, and is recorded in Chicago by Sanford Parker, who completes the final mixes on Samhain Day. By 2023 the group has released five full-length albums.

Instrumentation and writing

Alia O'Brien's flute is a central part of the band's arrangements, with flute solos used as a key feature of its songs. The group's imagery and titles are tied to ancient occultism and horror-inspired subject matter.