siLLy puPPy Although ROTTING CHRIST is categorized usually as black metal it definitely has elements of death metal woven into the mix but apart from the marriage of those two metal styles what stands out more on their ninth album THEOGONIA (Greek for “Birth Of The Gods”) is how they infuse the folk music of the Balkans and their native Greece into the tapestry of their songwriting while still maintaining the fury and bleakness of black metal with the incessant brutality of death metal. There is also a touch of goth to the mix but beginning with this album RC also added symphonic elements at times giving this more of an atmospheric feel than previous albums.

Despite all these influences it is really the songwriting, the delivery and performance that makes this an excellent album. It takes all the elements of disparate aspects of music and puts them together into a cohesive whole sound that RC makes all their own. The primary goal here to is present a melodic experience and on that front they truly accomplish their goal. Comparisons to Viking metal are well founded since like their Scandinavian counterparts they incorporate the rich diverse sounds of their Greek heritage into the music and lyrics to the point that even the guitar solos remind me of a folk diva and even as the album ends and the metal drops out we get some medieval Eastern Orthodox chant stuff as the closing sounds leaving you with a timeless yet modern feel to the whole thing.