Review by Jason Guest
Two and a half decades in and Rotting Christ have run the full gamut of genres in a career that has not once failed to provide something exciting. From their early days as a grindcore band, they have drunk deep from the wells of black, death, doom, symphonic, gothic, and industrial, all the time delivering album after album of incredible quality. Where most bands that experiment with their sound to such an extent tend to fail and sound more like they are dabbling rather than demonstrating a full understanding, Rotting Christ have always proved themselves masters of their musical craft. And with Kata Ton Demona Eaftou, album number eleven for the band, their trajectory soars ever higher.
Opener ‘In Yumen – Xibalba’ brings together doom, solid razor-sharp industrial riffs, blackened blast beats, and a ritualistic vocal line against a lush orchestral backcloth of unremitting might. Majestic and ceremonial in tone and industrial in strength, with ‘P’unchaw Kachun – Tuta Kachun’, the usual doubts that accompany an album from a band so far into their career are brushed aside completely. The foreboding and ominous choir and the regal guitar harmonies of ‘Grandis Spiritus Diavolos’ are incredible, and the vehemence of the title track, with its military drive and war-like vocal, is nothing less than stirring. Their interpretation of the Romanian traditional ‘Cine Iubeste Si Lasa’ is breathtaking, the haunting female soprano and the tremulous piano of the first minute gives way to yet another track laced in grandeur and brimming in emotional heft. ‘Iwa Voodoo’, ‘Gilgames’ and ‘Rusalka’ sees the folk elements further evolve in the melodies against their finely balanced yet intense metal backdrops. With its mantra-like melody, the legions are in full force with ‘Ahura Mazda-Aŋra Mainiuu’, and with ‘Χ ξ ς’ (‘666’ in English) and bonus track ‘Welcome To Hel’ to close the album, Rotting Christ have again wrested fire from the gods and delivered supremacy to the mortals.
An incredible addition to an incredible back catalogue, with Kata Ton Demona Eaftou, translated as “do what thou wilt”, or more precisely – and certainly more aptly in the case of this album – “true to his own spirit”, the Dionysian and the Apollonian are balanced in equal measure for a phenomenal album that has to be heard to be believed.
9 out of 10
Track Listing:
- In Yumen – Xibalba
- P’unchaw Kachun – Tuta Kachun
- Grandis Spiritus Diavolos
- Kata Ton Demona Eaftou
- Cine Iubeste Si Lasa
- Iwa Voodoo
- Gilgames
- Rusalka
- Ahura Mazda-Aŋra Mainiuu
- Χ ξ ς
- Welcome To Hel (Bonus)
