While being one of the first black metal bands to emerge from the so called second wave of black metal, these notoriously named Greek pioneers developed their own style and created a sound that quickly became trademark for most Greek black metal bands (Necromantia, Varathron etc.). “Thy Mighty Contract” is a (lost) black metal classic exactly because it displayed Rotting Christ’s uniqueness.
In “Thy Mighty Contract” the breakneck speed that characterized most black metal albums at the time is just a guest who doesn’t visit too often. The guitar sound is thick as opposed to the thin sound of most black metal bands and the production is raw, but not chaotic. This way the listener is allowed to enjoy Rotting Christ’s main attraction; riffs and melodies. In fact in this album there is actual musicianship. Rotting Christ distance themselves from the whole Nordic sound in that their black metal is not about the ambience, the frost, or the solitude. If there is one album this record relates to (from the Nordic black metal scene) that would only be “De mysteriis dom Sathanas” and again, we’re not talking about close relatives here. There are heavy melodic riffs everywhere and the band doesn’t hesitate to use lead guitars (not solos, usually melodies). That’s why “Thy Mighty Contract” is probably one of the easiest black metal albums for a non-black metal listener to get.
The viciously dark “The sign of evil existence” is crushing, the misty melodies from «Transform All Sufferings into Plagues» are gripping and by the time “Exiled Archangels” or “Fourth Night Of The Revelation” hit the stereo everyone ought to be convinced that Rotting Christ are the riff-masters of the domain . But it’s in "Fgmenth, Thy Gift" that Rotting Christ offer us this album’s absolute highlight; the Burzum-generated conception of the band’s singer Sakis screaming in the middle of the track is jaw-dropping and it’s the best proof that as musical (for a black metal record of course) as this album might be, it doesn’t lack any of the extremity or the darkness of any black metal band of the second wave.
