Rotting Christ – The Heretics album review

Well. It’s about time! Rotting Christ released a new album on February 15^th 2019 via Season of Mist. You can listen to the new album here, via the official Rotting Christ YouTube page!  So, this is our review of their latest release!

Rotting Christ’s 13^th studio album The Heretics is an epic piece of art, from head to tail! The album opener, In the Name of God starts with priests chanting and a short speech before the band enters the scene. The song starts with this „marching” opening riff. Sakis’ vocals contribute to the magnitude of this tune greatly! And the occasional priest chorus in the background really creates a unique atmosphere! The next song Vetry Zlye (Evil Winds in some Slavic language) is more melodic when compared to the previous track.  This one features mesmerizing female vocals and some flutes in the background. This song will give you the goose bumps, that’s for sure! Heaven and Hell and Fire also contains this sounds-of-war feel with chanting chorus. I mean, let’s face it! Greece is the country with the most percentage of priests in Europe! If there’s any good coming from it, it’s the Greek death and black metal scene. Sakis Tolis’ vocals haven’t been grazed by the time. On the contrary, this guy’s vocals get better as the time goes by! And you just have to give credit to Sakis for he’s been doing all the song writing, including vox, guitars, bass, keyboards and percussions. And his brother, Themis Tolis is his partner in crime on the drums. Hallowed be thy Name is the band’s original song; don’t expect no Iron Maiden cover here! The song starts slow with infallible melancholic church chants. This is a mid-tempo song with pretty hypnotic singing. The church bell sample hits right to the head!

Dies Irae has by far the best priest chant at this point and is one of the best songs on this album! I Believe (Πιστεύω) is a poem originally written by Nikolaos Kazantzakis and it’s entirely spoken by Sakis in Greek.  The song ends with some traditional singing. Fire God And Fear is basically a song about atrocities committed in the name of God and religion. It incorporates this tasty, melodic black metal riff that carries the whole song forward. As always, Sakis delivers some major guitar leads that will leave your jaw taped to the floor for sure! Song The Voice of the Universe is another great tune. Drums of war beat + priestly chants is a win-win combination!  It’s good to note that this song features Achmedi of Melechesh as a guest vocalist. The New Messiah incorporates all the elements of this album – chants, melodic riffs, Sakis’ beastly vocals. The last track The Raven was based on an Edgar Allan Poe poem. Sakis delivers these outbursts of poetry really well!

Rotting Christ’s The Heretics is truly an epic release! The fusion of black metal blasphemic philosophy and the whole church-choir thing went really well in the end! Rotting Christ fans will be pleased by this unorthodox release, that’s for sure! The album is really easy to listen and you’ll probably enjoy every second of it!

Rating: 8/10

Track-list

1. In the name of God
2. Vetry Zlye (ВЕТРЫ ЗЛЫЕ)
3. Heaven & Hell & Fire
4. Hallowed be thy name
5. Dies Irae
6. I believe (ΠΙΣΤΕΥΩ)
7. Fire God and Fear
8. The Voice of the Universe
9. The New Messiah
10. The Raven

Studio: Pentagram Studios (Athens, GR)
Producer: Sakis Tolis
Sound Engineer: George Emmanouil
Mix/studio: Jens Borgen, Fascination Street Studios (SE)
Guest Musicians:

Irina Zybina (GRAI): Vocals on 'Vetry Zlye'
Dayal Patterson: Intoning on 'Fire God and Fear'
Ashmedi (MELECHESH): Vocals on 'The Voice of the Universe'
Stratis Steele: Intoning on 'The Raven'

Line-up

Sakis Tolis: vocals, guitar
Themis Tolis: drums
Vangelis Karzis: bass
George Emmanuel: guitar

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