Batushka is a band formed in 2015 in Białystok. Their songs deal with Orthodox Christianity, and the lyrics are written in Old Church Slavonic. The band’s name comes from the word for “father,” referring to any Orthodox priest or hieromonk. Multi-instrumentalist Drabikowski came up with the idea of founding the band while reading YouTube comments under videos of Orthodox music, where people wrote that “holy songs are more metal than any satanic black metal.” From the start, the band chose to remain anonymous and masked, in a way stripped of identity so that listeners would focus more on the music itself.
The band released their first single “Yekteníya VII,” followed by their debut album Литоургиіа (Litourgiya, “Liturgy”) in December 2015. The album became a major hit on the metal scene, earning the band great popularity and slots at numerous festivals, although their concerts in Russia and Belarus were canceled due to protests.
Batushka soon split into two bands: one led by Drabikowski, and the other fronted by Bartłomiej “Bart” Krysiuk, which is now called Patriarkh. In 2019, Drabikowski released the album Панихида (Panihida, “Requiem”) with his band, featuring eight tracks that received excellent reviews and were very well received by the metal community.
In May 2024, Polish courts ruled in favor of Drabikowski in a first-instance decision regarding the rights to the band’s name. However, the legal dispute over the name “Batushka” has still not been fully resolved.