Years ago, a good friend texted me from a show in Atlanta, saying, “Don, I just saw your new favorite band.” That band ended up being Canadian psych/occult rockers Blood Ceremony. At the time, their current release was the stellar The Eldritch Dark, which was one of my top albums of the year in 2013. Lord of Misrule followed in 2016, which, again, was stellar, and then poof. Blood Ceremony was gone.
Much like the NWOTHM band Christian Mistress, Blood Ceremony dropped out of the scene with little to no news as to the status of the band. I just chalked it up to losing yet another great band but low and behold, in 2023, after seven years gone, Blood Ceremony returns with The Old Ways Remain. The ultimate question was, “Is this album going to be worth the wait?” I just crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.
Opening the album with “The Hellfire Club,” I was not digging it at all. This song seemed to crawl in at an underwhelming pace, and I felt like I got hit in the face with a Nerf ball. Unfortunately, this set the tone for what I thought could be a disappointing ride. But that would all change soon enough. “Ipsissimus” definitely got knee-deep into the flute rock aspect of Blood Ceremony that I love so much, so this one made me feel like we were headed more in the direction I thought we’d go.
“Eugine” is a stellar track and is the best song on this album, if not one of their best pieces of work. Alia O’Brien’s woodsy, witchy voice jumps to the forefront of this one. This is what I think of when I think of Blood Ceremony. The groove, the haunting vibe, the subtle Sabbath-like groove without sounding like a run-of-the-mill Sabbath Worship band. This song reminds me of why Blood Ceremony is hands down one of the best bands of their genre.
“Hecate” was a very unexpected departure from the woodsy flute rock of the norm. This song had Alia channeling the vibe of the Laurel Canyon folksinger/songwriters, with Carole King sounding like an influence on this song and performance. If this isn’t the case, that makes it even more remarkable because Blood Ceremony showed a different side of their creative universe, creating a pleasant surprise.
“Song of the Morrow” was the perfect way to close an album. Once again, Blood Ceremony had me frolicking through the forest of my mind while following a path of rose petals and the smell of incense. The fact that I could even type that without tripping balls or having ingested an edible or two says a lot. I believe that a truly great song takes you places. “Song of Morrow” is full of vivid imagery that it’s not hard to close your eyes and go to where you couldn’t go while conscious.
Blood Ceremony just may have released one of the best “comeback” albums with The Old Way Remains. If they had either left “The Hellfire Club” off of the album or placed it somewhere else, The Old Way Remains would be flawless, but even the greatest of albums have their flaw/flaws. The Old Way Remains is also a reminder that modern bands still do truly great things that are enjoyable for even the biggest music enthusiast.
Some modern artists with a classic sound send me running back to the old-school bands who did first and better. Blood Ceremony is a band that does the opposite. Blood Ceremony is a modern band that gives me hope that there may be more bands to come that will embody the old soul instead of just the old sound because the soul counts more than anything.
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