Album Review: Rotting Christ - ΠΡΟ ΧΡΙΣΤΟU (Pro Xristou)
Reviewed by Richard Oliver
Rotting Christ are a band that can claim 35 years of evil existence. A band that has come to encompass Hellenic black metal whilst reinventing themselves multiple times throughout their career from their grindcore beginnings in the late 1980’s to defining the melodic Hellenic black metal sound and dabbling into gothic metal throughout the 1990’s to their epic reinvention in the 2000’s and beyond. The musical journey and evolution of Rotting Christ has been a stunning one and they show no signs of running out of steam on their fourteenth album “Pro Xristou” which translates as “Before Christ”.
Since the release of the “Theogenia” album, Rotting Christ have had a far more epic and melodic sound incorporating elements of traditional Greek folk music and neo-classical and symphonic sounds whilst incorporating ritualistic chants and grandiose choirs. This is a sound that has served them well over the past five albums and resulted in some of the most spectacular music in their long career and it is the sound that continue with on “Pro Xristou” though this time there is far more atmosphere, far more melody and far more grandiosity.
It is by far the most relaxed sounding Rotting Christ album to date whilst still maintaining a certain degree of extremity but the songs which make up the album are generally far slower in pace and take their time to take the listener on a journey as can be heard in songs such as ‘Like Father, Like Son’, ‘The Farewell’ and ‘Pretty Word, Pretty Dies’ which double down on the atmosphere incorporating gorgeous melodies with those awe-inspiring chants and choirs The pace does pick up on songs such as ‘La Lattera Del Diavolo’ with a steady use of blast-beats and inclusion of operatic vocals, “Pix Lax Dax” with the driving double kick working tremendously with the majestic choirs and haunting clean vocals and ‘Yggdrasil’ which has a driving rhythm and wholly epic feel to it.
“Pro Xristou” is definitely the most dramatic and theatrical sounding album in the Rotting Christ discography to date and it is definitely the least black metal sounding release they have done. The harshness of their sound has been toned down for a far more bombastic sound with even the harsh vocals from Sakis Tolis taken down a notch. Some of their older fanbase may disagree with the sound on “Pro Xristou” but it feels like this is a direction the band have naturally been heading in when you listen back to their last few releases. As a fan of epic and melodic metal I found myself thoroughly enjoying this album. It is still unmistakably Rotting Christ but a less tempered iteration of the band. Whilst I wouldn’t class it as one of my favourite Rotting Christ releases it is still a damn good album from a band that really doesn’t have a dud in the discography. The melodies, choirs, chants, clean vocals and symphonic elements all combine together to provide a spectacular listening experience which will guarantee chills.
