UMUR "Satanas Tedeum" is the 3rd demo by Greek death/black metal (later black/gothic metal) act Rotting Christ. The demo was independently released on cassette tape in October 1989. Rotting Christ started life as a grindcore act and that´s also the music style heard on their first two demos "Leprosy of Death" (November 1988) and "Decline's Return" (January 1989), but things have obviously changed a lot since the release of "Decline's Return" (1989).

Stylistically the material on the 5 track, 17:11 minutes long demo is death/black metal. The vocals are death metal growling and I´d predominantly label the instrumental part of the music death metal too, but there are some black metal traits in the music pointing in the future direction of the band ("The Nereid of Esgalduin" is for example a black metal tinged track, although the vocals are death metal growling). Atmospheric (horror tinged) keyboards occasionally play a role in the music and to great effect.

"Satanas Tedeum" features a well sounding demo production, where all instruments and vocals are audible in the soundscape. The demo reeks a dark and occult atmosphere, and it´s one of the great assets of the release. Considering the low quality of songwriting (or at least the one-dimensional nature of it) the band displayed on the first couple of demos, "Satanas Tedeum" comes off as a very impressive release, and it did lead to the band being signed by Decapitated Records for the release of the May 1991 EP "Passage to Arcturo". A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.