The Greek band Rotting Christ returns with another tribal black metal work after 3 years called “Rituals”. Do not expect only ethnic pieces of music during this eclectic record, but something more. There is epic chorus, tribal folk parts, a sense of desert war, and diverse lyric languages (English, Greek, and even French). We are talking about a band that built their legacy around black metal so, these rituals are most of them, related to Satan himself, making us think something usual in the genre, but listening to the album, we actually found that all songs sound really fresh and different, like if the band had created their own genre.
“In Nomine Dei Nostri” is an excellent presentation of what we’re going to get. The Greek songs “זהנגמר (ZeNigmar)”, “Ἐλθὲκύριε (Elthe Kyrie)”, and Ἄπαγε Σατανά (ApageSatana)” are the songs that shape the concept of the album. The song in French “Les Litanies de Satan (Les Fleurs du Mal)”, is a tremendous exercise of how versatile this band can be, not fearing taking risks to create something new. The album has two covers songs: “Τουθάνατου (TouThanatou)” from Nikos Xylouris, and “The Four Horsemen” from Aphrodite’s Child. As we’ll hear, these covers fit really well in the concept of the album.
“For a Voice like Thunder”, “Konx om Pax” inspired by the Aleister Crowley book with the same name, and “देवदेवं (Devadevam)”, are other songs that complete this opus. Apart of being recorded at Devasounds studios, Athens, Greece, probably one of the best reasons the album sound so good it’s because it was mixed and mastered in Fascination Street Studios, Örebro, Sweden, known to us for producing some of the best records when it comes to underground music. The record ends with the bonus song “Lok’tarOgar”, and the feeling that we’re going to listen to this more in the near future.
8/10
