PRO XRISTOU
SEASON OF MIST
A new wave of singalong, Hellenic blasphemy
PARAGONS OF RELIABILITY, Rotting Christ are widely acknowledged to be one of those rare bands that never release bad records. Rather than engaging in nervous speculation, long-time fans can simply sit back and wait for the band’s next imperious statement, safe in the knowledge that everything Rotting Christ do, they do with distinction.
Impressively, they remain eminently capable of surprises. Deep into their fourth decade, Sakis Tolis and his comrades seem to have made the most overtly accessible album of their careers. Pro Xristou is still resolutely dark as fuck, of course, but listeners could find themselves humming these tunes, even as humanity circles the plughole.
There have been many significant milestones in Rotting Christ’s recorded history to date. Few fans of underground metal would question the seminal impact of 1993 debut, Thy Mighty Contract, or the way 2007’s critically lauded Theogonia seemed to freshly define Rotting Christ’s portentous cacophony. Somehow, Pro Xristou feels equally important to those records, if not more so. A perfectly timed entry point into their vast legacy, the band’s 14th full-length deserves to be one that introduces them to a much bigger audience. Put simply, these songs are so good that even a band called Rotting Christ should be able to capitalise.
The focused flipside to the frantic intensity of 2019’s The Heretics, Pro Xristou is almost entirely delivered at a regal mid-pace. Rotting Christ’s sound has always hinged upon grandeur and dark melody, but these songs have been given extra space to breathe, and the clear and concise results are glorious.
After a typically bombastic overture, The Apostate establishes this new and more emotionally potent formula, wherein absurdly memorable hooks are woven seamlessly into a haughty barrage of guitars, and every fist in the room suddenly finds itself heading skywards.
