lista zespołów Gothic Black Rotting Christ Aealo

Continuing at the same rate, Rotting Christ's new release "Aealo" is their 10th full-length and things seem to be working good with this Greek metal band.

The fact that Rotting Christ is one of the pioneers, not only in Greece but also worldwide, gives those guys some kind of a "Green Light" to try new things in their music and as did so many other "Black" metal bands, Rotting Christ is no longer a black metal band, their music becomes so commercial, but still so unique and so Rotting Christ.

The album opener "Aealo" starts with female vocals followed by mid-speed drums, and continues almost without any changes till the end, the thing is the song is beautiful though some may find it boring, but the good use of the sound effects, the short lyric lines and the background guitars combined with the same mid-speed drums, all these factors give the song its unique sound.

Good guitar solos can be found in the album, but the problem is, they are short, not really noticed, and the band seems to be stuck to the same female vocals in the album. The drums are not always mid-speed, they vary between slow and fast drums, but what remain the same throughout the album are the guitar riffs, almost the same riffs are used in each song, if not the same, they're too similar.

Generally the album has a problem, which is, you can't tell for sure when a song starts and when another ends, all the songs seem to be similar.

The album succeeded in creating the Greek atmosphere, making you imagine getting back in time for 4000 years but it's absolutely not the album of the year, the year of 2010 is still in its first 2 months, many great bands are getting prepared, many albums are upcoming and a final thought, this release wasn't a great job by Rotting Christ, they could do better than this.

so I think this release deserves 18/20.

If there is something difficult about reviewing, writing an objective review about a band which you almost idolize would me the number one. However, the new album Aealo (meaning destruction) has destructed all my prejudices and rebuilt my opinion. The album unlike the most of the older works is one of these which you have to listen to, have a break, listen to it again, then again and again to get really into it.

From the very start, in the title song you are struck by the album’s most outstanding features of the album – the female chorals dragging you right into the ancient Greece and together with fast drums and folk instruments creating almost ecstatic atmosphere. And while listening to the fading war-whoop sounding shouts, you can be sure that the feast has begun.
Eon Aenaos doesn’t chow much change compared to Theogonia, except of more effects, squalls and clearly rhythmic parts. The shorter guitar solos and gradations is something that the band didn’t forget to use as well. The following, in Greek started composition Demonon Vroisis is a very rhythmical yet still very melodic song in a classy Rotting Christ piece of work. The Greek brings a mystic mood, especially through the years of non-speakers and, the guitar solo is so good that you don’t mind all over again repeating (but here and there enlivened) riffs and a little monotonous run of the composition. The vocals sound interesting as closely to the end Sakis is audibly trying to push them as high as possible. ¨

For fans who were expectant of the new album Noctis Era is nothing new since it is the song that was revealed as an allurement some days earlier. To compare with the darker, deeper rest of the album, this song may sound almost whooping, but the energy scintillates from it all around. Shouts, fast rhythms and catchy riffs are anything but boring. The album is slightly curtailment of classic Sakis’ vocals but in compositions like this they are fully compensated, including his slight Greek accent without which their music would never be what it is of course.

Dub-sag-ta-ke is almost absent of the main vocals, but it is not empty at all. The chorals, the shouts (from which for me discernible is only the name of the track) and guitar solo don’t let the listener get bored and keeps him prepared for the following, slightly resembling Fire, Death and Fear. Unfortunately I can’t tell about it much more than that it dovetails into the album, with all the compliments as well as rebukes that it means. As a listener you will enjoy the song but the swiftness doesn’t bring many changes.
Nekron Lahes... is an insertion of nothing but the female chorals, as well as an intro for ...Pir Threontai. The narrative parts underpainted with expressive drums and riffs create transient ominous appeal but it doesn’t lose much of its energy as the solo and male chorals in the background make the composition complex and interesting in general.

Thou Art Lord. Sound familiar? No wonder. Anyway, the clear vocals is a really pleasant chequering not only of the song, but of the whole album as well. On every Rotting Christ album you can find some track that a little exceeds and in this case this is the one, if I pass away the last track. But more later.

Sounding like getting back to the starts comes Santa Muerte in faster tunes and more aggressive mood. But again – I’d swear for few (or too many) moments I hear something from Theogonia. But what is truth is that you can hear more anger in the vocals than in the last album. Occasional higher tessitura makes a difference even without actually spotting it.
That the main inspiration for Rotting Christ is history is not a secret at all. But for those, who are used mainly to the ancient topics, the cover of Orders of the Dead by Diamanda Galas devoted to the genocide in the beginning of the last century would be a surprise. Anyway, prolongation of the original version and adding the usual Rotting Christ elements and adding some “spice” to already amazing work made an epic ending.

To sum up, the album mixes the old well known features of the band’s music with new improvements. Sounding more complex than most of the earlier works it needs more time and more open minded attitude to be able to fully appreciate a piece like this one.

This album was not disappointing, I loved it in fact! The song Thou Art Lord particularly i enjoyed start to finish, very fresh and tribal but with his all awesome vocals (i am a big Sakis fan, i love his strong accent when singing and his screaming and deep rumbling is great!)

The music was not so fast, and lets say evil or dark sounding as Shades of evil for example, in fact this album sounds very different from the rest of their work, this kind of Greek influence was only heard in the odd few tracks on their albums past. Sadly though thats what made those songs so good, like Athaneti Esta, and with Athaneti Este it is the common metal instruments manipulated to give me, a Canadian listener something exotic to listen too. So I think it kind of lost it's magic to me as the tracks went by on Aealo.

I also enjoyed the female vocals and her eastern influence, something different in metal, i don't normally hear such a Mediterranean influence, u know black metal has their opera and nu metal their bad ass chicks, so this was something different. I think a lot of their Greek homage came out in the album compared to albums past. The lyrics in the songs too, like the music is all very similar an ancient Greece based.

But I have to say, it is not my favorite album, and i cannot listen to the entire album in one go because the songs are too similar and the woman's vocals become repetitive. I would say all these songs would be great and a pleasure to listen to, had the entire album not been so similar, but i enjoyed them all none the less, i just have to keep my play list on shuffle.