Polish black metal band Batushka have just unveiled a dark new music video for their latest track “Liturgiya.” This latest music video features dark undertones and Gothic imagery to reflect the band’s orthodox faith

This latest single is off of their upcoming album, Hospodi, which is set for release later next month, on July 12. The album’s themes are set to follow many aspects that are common among the Eastern European Orthodoxy and associated traditions and mythology.

“The whole album is a concept based on the Liturgy of Death, the prayers for the dead, and Orthodox funeral rites and dirges,” said the band regarding the album in a press release. “It’s all about a ritual that involves the dead and the mourners. We also used a lot of old folk songs and elegies from our homeland. These are sung during the wake, around the casket, in the deceased person’s home. Nowadays, only a few older people know them and still sing them accordingly in our region. We decided to cherish that tradition and I’m glad that with our album these songs and rites will survive.”

During the recent years, the band has faced its fair share of controversy due to the split between two of its key members, Krzysztof Drabikowski the band’s guitarist and principal songwriter, and Bartłomiej Krysiuk the band’s lead vocalist. Both artists claim ownership of the band’s title, and both are planning on releasing an album this year.

“At the end of December, a Batushka concert was announced somewhere on the internet … I was surprised. I thought it was a mistake,” Drabikowski stated in an interview with Dark Art Conspiracy. “I called Krysiuk to find out where this information came from. He did not answer the phone. So I wrote him a message. He wrote back that it was not a mistake, and that he also booked other concerts and that he would announce them soon.He informed me that he will release a Batushka album without me – the founder, intellectual owner and author of all the compositions on the first album. He claimed that it was already recorded, by Paweł Jaroszewicz and Artur Rumiński, musicians that he hired for that. He thinks that Batushkа belongs to him. He even calls himself a producer.”

Hospodi is set to be Krysiuk’s new album, under the name Batushka, however, Drabikowski is set to release his own separate album Panihida under Sphieratz Studio this year.

Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat