Label: Season of Mist
Date: May 24th, 2024
A lot of water has passed under the bridge since I discovered Rotting Christ, I will be free to say, when I “accidentally” attended their concert in Belgrade, Serbia, in 2007. Although the band had 20 years of experience and eight albums by then, somehow in the years of wars, living under the communism and having not so much possibilities to explore the metal realm, it is not a wonder, but after that concert Rotting Christ impressed me that much so seventeen years later I remain their fan. Why? Because they are different. Because they are unique.
The legend says that Rotting Christ was created in 1985 by the name Black Church. Dimitris Patsouris (Δημήτρης Πατσούρης aka Jim Mutilator – bass) at the age of 14, formed a band called Black Church with the Tolis brothers. Two years later, brothers Tolis changed the band name to Rotting Christ. I will say the rest is history, because if I start writing we could have another book easily.
For all those who might listen to Rotting Christ for the first time, the band’s sound was evolving over the years. They started as a (believe it or not) grind core band. Luckily, as long as I am concerned, they changed the course. From black metal, over gothic metal to the phase when they included folk elements and if you must define their music again, almost four decades later, you could simply use the epithet: epic!
The album itself is a tribute to the last Pagan kings who resisted the onslaught of Christianity. Tribute to all those who were able to preserve their values and knowledge. And also to the Norse mythological kings.
Pro Xristou” begins with the title track, an introduction to the deities by name: Hades, Xibalba, Titan, Prometheus, Zeus, Shiva Mahadeva, Taran. Asmodeus, Hail-Ra, Hail-Baal, Hail-Nyx, Hail-Tyr.
“The Apostate” is opened with the words of Flavius Claudius Julian, known for his rejection of Christianity, and his promotion of Neoplatonic Hellenism in its place. The song has great rhythm, very powerful and perfect combination of Greek and English verses, singing and narration parts performed by Andrew Liles.
“The end and aim of the Cynic philosophy, as indeed of every philosophy, is happiness, but happiness that consists in living according to nature, and not according to the opinions of the multitude.
No wild beasts are so dangerous to men as Christians are to one another And concerning the book you gave me to read,”
I read, I understood, I condemned
Flavius Claudius Julianus – (331-363 A.D) – The last Pagan Emperor
It would be absolutely unnecessary to say this is a majestic track because after you hear the whole album, with no doubt, you will say that the all songs are simply as that – majestic.
Pro Xristou was announced three months ago (February 20th, 2024) with the first single “Like Father, Like Son”. The song delivers very atmospheric vibe, it has great melody and involves a lot of emotions.
On the sixt day, according to Genesis, God created land animals and people. Listen to the song “The Sixth Day” and see from which perspective Rotting Christ writes about this topic.
“La Lettera Del Diavolo” (The Devil’s Letter) feat. Amdroniki Skoula is furious, aggressive, chaotic, darker while the next one, “The Farewell”, slows down, it delivers great atmospheric sound and here you can confirm that Rotting Christ are the masters of languages insertion to emphasise the dramatic in their songs. Vocal interpretation is a bit spooky here especially when it comes to Greek verses:
“Κα-λο Ταξιδι / Κα-λο Ταξιδι/Κα-λο Ταξιδι / Κα-λο Ταξιδι“.
“Pix, Lax, Dax” travels us to the ancient era and is one of the best tracks of the album. You will notice the repetition of “The Apostate” which puts this song on the pedestal of my personal choice for the best song on the album. Androniki Soula helped to make this song sound masterful.
“Pretty World, Pretty Dies” bought me with its melody and its chorus and maybe the strongest message that it delivers. The song is opened by the verses of Thomas Stearns Eliot’s poem The Hollow Men, (1925):
“This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but with a whimper”.
Once in 1958, Eliot was asked if he would write these lines again, and his answer was no. Your homework is to read the poem and Rotting Christ’s lyrics “Pretty World, Pretty Dies” and find out why the answer was negative.
“ᛦᚵᛑᚱᛆᛋᛁᛚ (Yggdrasil)” is another epic piece of art, definitely the best song of the album according to my personal standards and parameters. The song is dedicated to Yggdrasil, an enormous and central sacred tree in Norse cosmology. Around it exists all else, including the Nine Worlds.
The grand finale, “Saorise” (freedom); sound of swords, narration, powerful choral part:
“Hail Freedom/Hail Freedom/Our Freedom/Our wisdom”,
and motivation lyrics:
“Die like a hero, live like a man
Fight for your freedom fall, arise, rebirth
Ride like the wind, fight like a hero
From west to the east, from zero to a hero…”
The song is dedicated to:
“The last High King to follow the pagan rituals
The King of Tara the High King of Ireland
The last king to resist the expansion of christianism
Diamat Mac Cerbaill-Ri na Tara-Ard-Ri Eireann.”
Epic, epic, epic!
The beauty of this album that Hellenic metal masters are providing among else is rounded by participation of many guest musicians, some already mentioned, but I will not forget to mention Nikos Kerkiras (keyboards); Christina Alexiou, Maria Tsironi, Alexandros Loyziotis, Vasilis Karatzas (choral parts).
In one of his interviews, Sakis said that the music they are creating is atmospheric, it comes from the soul, it is unique. I totally agree with him, and with his words I will close this chapter.
