Review for the darkest album of Rotting Christ "Rituals"

Review for the darkest album of Rotting Christ "Rituals"

It's almost thirty years as brothers Necromayhem and Necrosauron persistently improve Rotting Christ’s famous branded style. From 1988, when the band was knocked together, these guys have an immense bunch of ideas and inspiration, and now the musicians release their twelfth full-length album "Rituals". Each CD of the Greek metallers is the new experiment, the new sound formula, based on skillfully combined genres of dark/black/gothic metal, folk motives and other elements.

Rotting Christ’s discography is quite diverse: from the bold, expansive grindcore that became career-breaking style, the band gradually goes to melodic, heavy riffs, deep passages so noticeable on the albums "Triarchy Of The Lovers" (1996) and "Dead Poem "(1997). However, subsequent recordings were gradually enriched with speedy rhythms. Quite noticeable folk motifs appeared, including bagpipes, distinctive keyboard parts, choral singing and, nowadays, inalienable traits of darkened madness, that distinguished the records "Khronos" (2000), "Theogonia" (2007) and very saturated "Aealo" (2010). As it turned out, even the eleventh studio recording "Κατά τον δαίμονα εαυτού" (2013), including all of the above features, was not the limit of the band’s powerful, atmospheric sounding. By sharing the official stream of the new LP "Rituals", Solis brothers simply hit the nail on the head, calling their work “the darkest” album ever made.

Tracklist:

  1. In Nomine Dei Nostri
  2. זה נגמר (Ze Nigmar)
  3. Ἐλθὲ κύριε (Elthe Kyrie)
  4. Les Litanies de Satan (Les Fleurs du Mal)
  5. Ἄπαγε Σατανά (Apage Satana)
  6. Του θάνατου (Tou Thanatou)
  7. For a Voice like Thunder
  8. Konx om Pax
  9. देवदेवं (Devadevam)
  10. The Four Horsemen (Aphrodite's Child cover)

Bonus track:

  1. Lok'tar Ogar

Gloomy "Rituals" will delight its listeners with the coherence material. Holistic sinister atmosphere of madness plays the first fiddle of each track. Juicy guitar sound, bottomless bass parties are masterfully complemented with the mystical, feasible ritual folk elements: thunderous percussions, subtle sound of bagpipes, powerful vocals with alternating high and low voices of the possessed shamans. All these elements affix heavy, fast riffs and melodic passages of the firm Rotting Christ style. In other words, the musicians managed to combine their dashing traits of the early period and those density, liveliness of the recent works.

The recording process was attended by some guest musicians that were able to enrich the "Rituals" with curtain special elements of singing. Among them you may hear the guitarist and vocalist The Magus (Necromantia), who performed the vocal part of the song "In Nomine Dei Nostri", the actress Danai Katsameni (National Hellenic Theater), her gloomy occult chants are heard on "Elthe Kyrie", Vorph (Samael), authoritatively quoted Charles Baudelaire's "Les Fleurs Du Mal" in the track "Les Litanies De Satan (Les Fleurs Du Mal)", Paradise Lost’s frontman Nick Holmes and his monologue on "For A Voice Like Thunder" and Kathir (Rudra), who sang in the song "Devadevam".

Also the album contains the splendid cover for the hit "The Four Horsemen", originally recorded by the Greek, Demis Roussos’ iconic band Aphrodite's Child. Despite the large number of existing cover versions, "The Four Horsemen" by Rotting Christ becomes completely new, mighty and very aggressive composition.

The release comes out on February 12 via Season Of Mist. Rotting Christ’s nearest tour dates can be found here.

By Yuri Somov

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