Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
The Blood of Christ was formed in early 1994, in London (Ontario) by Jeff Longo and Marek Kopala. Drummer Jason joined shortly thereafter and has been providing blast beats and grooves ever since. We have played hundreds of shows since then, released 4 albums, and participated in several large tours. In 2019, we were joined by Hank Bielanski on bass & vocals.
How would you describe your style? Which bands influenced your music?
Our style is a unique blend of death metal, black metal, and doom metal with some rock attitude too. Our numbers are usually a progressive form of dark metal and we chose to call it “Epic Dark Metal” back in 1995 and that descriptor has stuck. Some main, huge influences for us are Carcass, Sepultura, Enslaved, Emperor, Black Sabbath, Slayer, Megadeth, Immolation, Morbid Angel… and so on. I don’t think we sound like them though, I am hopeful that our craft is our own stamp on the heavy metal genre.
Why should a metalhead buy your demos/albums?
I would hope that if they do, the music will give them great feelings of power and triumphant urges to get up and mosh. I feel that we offer something creative and unique that has a lasting, memorable spark in your anima.
What have you released so far and how were your releases received by the public/media?
We have released 3 demonstration cassettes, 4 full-length albums, one 7” single, one 7” split, and a split album. Every album or release we create and issue has its own life and tome of emotions. We hope to never repeat ourselves and are always exploring our Epic Dark Metal realm to create exciting music. I feel that our albums have been well received by both critics and fans alike.
Do you play live as well? How's your live activity so far?
We play live gigs a lot, always have and hope to for as long as physically possible. We are a live band and a tight one at that. Death metal is meant for the stage and the mosh pit. 2020 and the beginning of 2021 have been different for all artists, bands and entertainers though – for obvious reasons. We hope that once everyone is safe and free of the pandemic, that we can get back to what we love doing soon and play a lot of gigs in new regions far and wide.
What should labels/zines/promoters know about your band? Why should they be interested in it?
They should know that we have some old-school clout and we are leaders, not followers. We are purveyors of real, analog, classic death/black metal – no gimmicks, just grind. We are extremely passionate about our craft and that sines through in our albums and live performances.
What plans do you have for the near future as a band?
In the immediate future, we have the 25th anniversary reissue of our third demo “The Lonely Flowers of Autumn” coming out with bonus tracks on CDN records, in mid-spring 2021. After that, we will release our 5th album in mid-autumn via CDN Records. The album, “Chaos & Anguish” is a reworking of our third and fourth albums with all-new bass, lyrics, vocals and some re-recorded guitars. In all, it’ll be an anthology that includes 13 songs! CDN Records will also be pressing our second demo, “Frozen Dreams” on cassette sometime around May 2021. We have a lot of stuff in the works!
Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
We are on Bandcamp and physical copies can be purchased from CDN Records. There is also a full-album stream of our 4th album up on youtube, as well as a few singles.
March 2021