GENESIS AND MAETHAMORPHOSIS OF A RIDDLE
Blooding Mask started as a one woman project founded by Maethelyiah in 1992, when she used to live in the Roman Hills, in Italy.
Her music background has been heavily influenced by artists such as Peter Gabriel, Pink Floyd, Franco Battiato, 80s new wave/post punk bands like Joy Division, Adam & The Ants, The Danse Society and mostly by classical composers. She is an international opera singer since 1988 and with her multi octave vocal range she performed arias as a contralto to a soprano as well as building recorded choirs ranging from male notes to birdsong. She performed as a soloist Rossinian Soprano at Roma Tre choir in Rome from 1997 until 1999.
With this background in mind and after years performing with a successful Italian dark metal band (featured on Videomusic television in 1991), Maethelyiah reached an epiphany when she suddenly felt she needed to unleash notes and visions from “other dimensions” without feeling held back by other musicians that struggled to understand the messages she hears.
Unlike most artists and projects, Blooding Mask lets people find Her when the right time comes, rather than focusing on releasing an album a year or chasing supporters. The strong esoteric content and music features operatic atmospheres with tribal and electronic beats sometimes wrapped in odd tempos. The sound has been labelled as esoteric prog, industrial, apocalyptic pop, new classical and all of them are both right and wrong at the same time.
The reviews lead with comparisons to Kate Bush, Diamanda Galas, Dead Can Dance, Annie Lennox but none of those singers sound like the others.
Rather than a project, Blooding Mask is a sonic riddle on all levels.
The lyrics are written in several languages and sometimes contain magic rituals and spells.
Live shows tend to totally hypnotise the public. It’s no surprise that despite being a niche project, Blooding Mask counts supporters from nearly every country, including celebrities (does the big lips of The Rocky Horror Picture Show film give you a hint?), and some of them proudly wear a tattoo with the distinctive mask on the logo.
DETAIL HISTORY & BIOGRAPHY
Founded in Italy in 1992. First gig in Rome in 1992.
First album All the Colors of Death was firstly released on MBR Records (Germany 1993) then released on Apollyon/Antiphone Records (Germany 1994) after the owner of MBR records was found dead with the album playing. The project featured several musician guests across Italy for a very few intimate gigs.
The second album What That Hollow Shows Through was also released on Apollyon Antiphone Records (Germany 1994). In 1999 Maethelyiah founded I.A.P. UK, an independent label which released both the first two albums. In 2001 Maethelyiah moved to Southern UK and released the third album The 9 Pearls on the Trail (2003) and The Five Monsters (2008).
2010 launched the Most Haunted Tour across the UK, where Maeth appeared on stage with three of the 6 musicians of Italian prog cult band Il Segno Del Comando. All the chosen venues were known as haunted and the purpose was to awaken some of the ghosts. The musicians are Diego Banchero on bass, Fernando Cherchi on drums and Roberto Lucanato on Guitars. Both projects are often seen sharing a stage. Awesome band Calatrilloz supported the tour, featuring Monument’s guitarist Dan Baune.
In the same year, with the amazing contribution of actors David Bickerstaff, Anthony Townsend (both seen in Dr Who), Ricky Gellissen, Jude East and Allan Allsopp, an audio movie version of The 5 Monsters was recorded with all the actors playing the part of The characters of 5 Monsters novel, which inspired The 5 Monsters album.
In 2011, Maeth moves to Yorkshire and founder member and guitarist of The Danse Society Paul Nash joined Blooding Mask. Together, they released a cover of Heart Filthy Lesson/Black Star in tribute of David Bowie and a cover of Beltane Walk of Marc Bolan featured on a Black Widow compilation A Tribute to the Mad Men https://blackwidow.it/readmore_cat.php?id=629
An extremely dark version of Carol The Bells was released on the 1st December 2021 with Paul on keyboards and guitars and Maethelyiah singing in her trademark 20+ own choir. You can watch and hear it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwaX1pxacjY
A track from the yet to be released new album album ‘L’incubo’ has already been featured on the critically acclaimed film ‘Upside Down’ directed by Luca Tornatore
The 5th Album Autopsy of a Dream presale will be announced on the 7th June 2022 which marks 30 years anniversary of Blooding Mask music.
Website
Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/user/UKImhotep
Bandcamp
https://bloodingmask.bandcamp.com/