If you’ve heard Rotting Christ since the release of 2007’s game-changing and enrapturing Theogonia album, it may come as no surprise to learn that the Greek scene-leader’s new full-length is an an opus of epic proportions.
What will blow away any remaining sense of human scale, however, is just how much frontman Sakis Tolis and his crew have upped their ambition since their last, already-pretty-massive-sounding Κατά τον δαίμονα εαυτού album. For Rituals, due to descend from the Season Of Mist Records-shaped parting in the clouds on February 12, sounds like the next level in Rotting Christ’s attempt to conquer metaldom. A vast, imperious and cinematic invocation of ancient cults, mythological tales and the massed chants of armies on the eve of war and inevitable victory, it’s an album that never loses sights of its metal underpinnings or sacrifices colossal weight for over-elaborate posturing.
Featuring guest appearances by the likes of Paradise Lost and Bloodbath frontman Nick Holmes and Samael’s Vorph, Rituals is a towering achievement that takes Rotting Christ’s rich, groove-laden sound into jaw-dropping new territories, and you have an early opportunity to cower before it, as we’re streaming the entire album in its entire, civilisation-levelling splendour.
Accept your destiny and meet your new metal masters below!
Pray for mercy at Rotting Christ’s Facebook page here!
And steal (well, buy) fire from the gods by pre-ordering Rituals here!
