Oh, but I like the idea of bands that take pride in describing their cultural background and give the whole thing a tint of folklore. I think it’s amazing when they succeed.

In the case of Holy Blood from the Ukraine, the success is minimal, however, as they make a stab at pomp and fury and pagan flutes and black metal-ish sounds. Moonspell seem to be idols for the young hopefuls, but, sadly, they still have a long, long way to go before they will reach the same quality of music and style as their Portuguese peers.

The scene is set from the outset with howling wolves (Moonspell, eh?) and all, but what sounds as a promising beginning with lots of atmosphere soon turns into a hollow experience of messy musicianship and semi-bad production. The flutist sounds as if he’s drunk, for Pete’s sake! He’s all over the place.

I can’t believe that this is the third album from Holy Blood, but there you go, the ways of Wyrd are weird.

Get thee back to the rehearsals, and come back once your probably wonderful ideas have been turned into music of a completely different caliber!