PATRIARKH are a Polish black metal band from the Podlasie region, led by vocalist and producer Bartłomiej “Варфоломей” Krysiuk. The group adopted its current name in late 2024 after previously operating as the Krysiuk-led incarnation of Batushka, choosing to move beyond the long-running dispute surrounding that name and establish a distinct musical identity.
Their earlier catalogue includes the full-length album Hospodi, the Raskol and Carju Niebiesnyj EPs, and several live releases. The first studio album issued under the PATRIARKH name, ПРОРОК ИЛИЯ (Prophet Ilja), arrived through Napalm Records in January 2025. Its eight compositions recount the history of Eliasz Klimowicz, an illiterate peasant who became the self-proclaimed Prophet Ilja and led an Orthodox religious community around the village of Grzybowszczyzna during the 1930s and 1940s.
Musically, Prophet Ilja expands the band’s black and doom metal foundation through Orthodox chant, Byzantine monody, Russian polyphony, symphonic arrangements and folk instruments including tagelharpa, hurdy-gurdy, mandolin, mandocello and hammered dulcimer. PATRIARKH present this material through elaborate, ritual-like concerts combining choirs, religious imagery, theatrical performance and multimedia, turning regional history and sacred musical traditions into a particularly atmospheric form of contemporary extreme metal.
