You really don’t hear of too many bands coming out of the Ukraine these days. Low and behold enter HOLY BLOOD. Formed in 1999 by guitarist/vocalist Fedor and drummer Dmitry after… *gulp* church services. HOLY BLOOD has since seen a few different incarnations since then, abandoning a previous grind core/death metal style for the now black metal folk style they have currently adopted. This five piece is complete with the cliché female keyboardist. Let us see how The Patriot holds up in the music department.

We begin with In The Night Gloom. I notice that it starts out with swirling ever present over zealous keyboards. Then the heavy guitars kick in and suddenly a scream. Fedor’s vocals are at times screamed like a ferocious raven and when the song calls for it, they are sung cleanly. The drums are packed with blast beats. There is, however, a pan flute involved in nearly every song, and after awhile, it gets rather annoying. The guitars are incredibly melodic and have pretty classical and technical riffing, though at times they are turned down too far in the mix. Sometimes HOLY BLOOD’s songs start off brutal, but then get soft in the middle. I will say that the song Blood Of Christ stays heavy all the way through and is probably the most brutal song on The Patriot. The last track, entitled Wind Of Death (Remix), is actually worth skipping all together, because it is a rather horrible techno song. If I did not read the lyrics of The Patriot I would not know that this is indeed a Christian band. They even look the part of an extreme metal band, clad in black with long hair flowing in the wind. Insert shock here. I did not know, nor did I want to know that a band like HOLY BLOOD existed. Overall, The Patriot is not a bad album, music wise. The lyrics aren’t really preachy either. Fans of Satanic Black Metal steer clear of HOLY BLOOD unless you want the power of the riff to compel you.