Live @ Tons of Rock 2024
(June 29th, 2024 - Oslo, Norway)

Sadly, Batushka is one of the many bands embroiled in legal battles due to creative differences between the original members. As a result, there are currently two bands that call themselves Batushka, one led by Krzysztof Drabikowski and one led by Bartłomiej "Bart" Krysiuk. The band that played at Tons of Rock was Krysiuk's line-up.

LINEUP
Варфоломей (Bartek Krysiuk) - lead vocals
Лех (Paweł Jaroszewicz) - drums
Тарлахан (Rafał Łyszczarz) - guitars & bass
Джейкоб Борута (Jakub Śliwowski) - guitars & bass
Хиацынтос Яца (Jacek Wiśniewski) - choir
Архангел Михаил (Michał Staczkun) - choir

The trouble, as far as I can tell, boils down to Drabikowski essentially wanting full creative and managerial control over the whole project without informing or agreeing with the rest of the original line-up in advance. Predictably this led to strife with both of the other original members and also several touring members.

In 2018, after over three years of what amounted to a cold war behind the scenes, Drabikowski and Krysiuk had grown so far apart that they almost simultaneously fired each other. Since then, the war has moved to the courtroom, and, for now at least, there are two Batushkas.

Krysiuk's iteration of the band has been far more active and is in the middle of a very successful international tour that included a set at Tons of Rock in Oslo.

I have always liked both monasterial chanting and heavy metal, but I was genuinly surprised by how thoroughly I enjoyed the blend of old Church Slavonic chanting and black metal.

The ambience they managed to create with that combination and their elaborate stage performance, left both me and the rest of the crowd simultaneously mesmerized and electrified.

The voices in my head, except the one who was worried that admitting to liking it would be akin to blasphemy, all gave it a flaming skull. The rest of the voices have agreed to burn the dissenter at the stake. But until his skull burns, nine out of ten it is.

*This last image is just because one of the voices considers herself an artist and insisted on turning one of the pictures into a painting. After a long debate, the rest relented but insisted it had to be an addendum after the review. Against our wishes, she removed the ring from one of his fingers (because "a monk wouldn't wear a wedding band") and lit all the candles (only about half were actually lit in the original shot).*