BLOOD CEREMONY The Old Ways Remain [CD]

Mesmerising and multi-faceted, Blood Ceremony have spent the last several years blurring the lines between heavy music’s past and present. Formed in Toronto, Canada, in 2006, they were swiftly heralded as a cut above the retro rock pack, armed as they were with a sound that incorporated the riff-driven power of doom, the woozy, warm glow of psychedelia and the flute-fuelled magick of acid folk and rootsy prog. After releasing their self-titled debut album through Rise Above Records in 2008, Blood Ceremony have been a superlative presence in the underground; expanding their sonic vision in multiple directions, as albums like 2013’s The Eldritch Dark and, most recently, Lord of Misrule (2016) set a new standard for kaleidoscopic, analogue fervour.

Seven years have passed since Blood Ceremony last released a full-length album, but that all changes in 2023. Pieced together during lockdown months, and brought to fruition with a host of esteemed special guests, the Canadians’ fifth album, The Old Ways Remain, is set to emerge in the spring. Diverse, hypnotic and eminently groovy, the new songs push Blood Ceremony’s sound into new territory while also honouring the atavistic ethos that has led them to such triumphs in the past.