Blood’N’Roll

On 31 July Bloody Mary played a second Portrait Night with Portrait of Tears at the Sitting Bull in Certosa di Pavia, and that night, in the backstage, they signed with Six Six Six Records, the new British label of Dave Pybus, bass player of Cradle of Filth, who had received one of their demos.

On 28 August Bloody Mary played London for the first time, at the Electrowerkz, at the Italofest, a night of their new label, with Theatres des Vampires, Ensoph and Darkshine — celebrated at home with a poster titled "Blood save the Queen".

At the end of the year the work on the debut album began.

On 15 January the band opened its MySpace page, which would become its main window to the world for years.

Back in Milan, Bloody Mary completed their debut album at the MoonHouse studio with Danilo "Stonehenge" Di Lorenzo, who recorded, mixed and mastered it and produced it together with Aldebran. "Blood'N'Roll" came out on Six Six Six Records — the first album the label ever released. It was presented live at the Underworld in Camden on 29 April 2005, with Theatres des Vampires and The Faces of Sarah; the CDs were already on sale that night, and the video of "Drops" comes from that concert. The label's advert gave 23 May as the release date.

Ten songs, among them "Icy Blue", "Drops", "Judas Spite", "The 2nd Chance" and a setting of Lord Byron's verses, "Cease to Burn"; the cover and the artwork were Aldebran's, the photographs Lazarus's. In England Terrorizer gave the album 7.5 and Kerrang four Ks — its reviewer wrote "This is party music for graveyards", a line the band would remember.

In May, right after the Underworld, Six Six Six Records put "Icy Blue" at the head of "SixSixSix Records Presents", a promotional CD handed out at gigs, beside Draconian Order, DorEterna, Darkening and Theatres des Vampires.

On 28 August the British webzine Metal Coven gave "Blood'N'Roll" 9 out of 10: "Blood 'N' Roll is like the blueprint for bands on how to merge the best qualities of both sounds".

In September the reviews spread: Belgium's Dark Entries asked "Is this the Italian answer to Type O Negative?" (1 September), and Metallus gave the album 7 (11 September). On 23 September the site reached its ninth version, and on 30 September the band played the Mean Fiddler in London, at "The New Breed of Goth Metal".

In October "Blood'N'Roll" reached the Italian shops, distributed by Masterpiece, and Metallus and Metal Italia greeted "a debut in grand style"; Metal Italia's review, on 7 October, gave it 7. On 8 October the band played Black in Mind at the Fabbrica del Vapore in Milan, with Opera Noire, Kalidon, Labyrinthus Noctis and H-less, and on 24 October the site reached its tenth version.

In November came the first tour across England, the Icy Tour: Ipswich (12 November), Coventry (14), Cambridge (15), Brighton (16), High Wycombe (17), Norwich (18) and the closing night at the Underworld in Camden (19), filmed by Redemption TV. It was also a tour with bad luck: the camera with all its photographs was stolen, and almost nothing of those nights survives in pictures. In the same month "Icy Blue" appeared on "Loud Sounds #36", the CD given with issue 38 of the Italian magazine Rock Hard.

The year closed at the Star City near Bologna, at Dark Rave with Clan of Xymox, Lost Reality and Andark (7 December).

The band was already working on the songs of its second album. A first taste came with "Party Music for Graveyards — The Trailers", a demo with three new songs, "A Fallen Christ", "The Right Way" and "Just a Side" — the working title of what would become "The Reason" — released ahead of the album.

In 2006 Bloody Mary divided their time between England and Italy. On 20 May they played Antilight at the Koko in Camden; Metallus's report, on 29 May, told of a Koko dressed in black, a set drawn from "Blood'N'Roll" and a closing cover of The Twins' "Face To Face, Heart To Heart".

In June the band was writing its second album, to be called "Party Music for Graveyards", while Redemption TV kept showing the Icy Tour of the year before.

In July they were back in Italy: at La Madeleine Café in Genoa (22 July), two years after the "underwater concert", and at the Vampyre Club of the Trend in Bosco di Sona, near Verona (28 July). By the end of the month Aldebran had lent his voice to the television advert for the Moschino Friends Man perfume and was recording the vocals of the new album's demos, among them the Ramones' "Pet Sematary", while the band worked on a version of "Spirit in the Sky" with The Doctor of Dr. and the Medics.

On 27 August they returned to Camden for MMMFeast at the Bar Monsta. At the end of the month the T-shirts went on sale at the Six Six Six Records store, and the band launched its street team, the Bloody Mary Attack.

On 1 September the Bloody Mary Attack opened its MySpace. On 8 September the band came home for The Shadow Realm Night at the Zoe Club in Milan.

Meanwhile "Blood'N'Roll" kept travelling: on 16 October it was released in France through Active Entertainment. On 15 October Metallus's report of the Zoe night praised a band "ever more professional", which had previewed two new songs, "Better Down" and "Deathly Gone", and played the Ramones' "Pet Sematary" in Italy for the first time.

The year closed on 7 December at the Rolling Stone in Milan with Dark Day 2006, on the bill with And One, XP8 and Spectra Paris.