Review Summary: Good production, dark atmosphere and beautiful riffs make this a memorable (melodic) black metal album that may attract fans from other genres as well.
Coming from Greece, a country with limited tradition in metal, Rotting Christ have managed to break through the borders and become the most recognized Greek metal act. They got a lot of hard criticism due to their highly blasphemous name which is quite unfair since it doesn't represent their music at all.
In 1997 they released their masterpiece called "A Dead Poem". This is easily (as far as I have heard) their most somber and "calming" album. Unlike other black metal acts the production in this album is crystal clear without it taking away any aspect of atmosphere
The keyboards and the guitar melodies create an overall dark atmosphere that at times may be reminiscent of gothic. Listening to the album creates intense emotions with the beautiful twin guitar harmonies which can be found in songs like "Among two storms", "As if by magic" , and my personal favourite "Full colour is the night" while energy and heaviness are not absent as can be heard in the hard hitting and most energetic song here "Sorrowful Farewell". Unfortunatelly the bass cannot be easily heard as it is in their later albums, nonetheless it does its job well whenever it is heard.
The vocal performance of Sakis is pretty good. He can easily sound evil while being coherent throughout the whole album. However his vocals lack variety and may become tiring to the ear.
Having such a name and being Black Metal one would expect some highly anti-christian lyrics. The lyrics are abstract and poetic and will take lots of thought for someone to actually interpret them correctly. Perhaps in a twisted way they could be talking about atheism/satanism but I cant tell.
I would certainly recommend this gem to any metal fan in the world. It has the power to attract fans out of the genre as well.
Pros:
Good Production
Nice atmosphere and beautiful guitar melodies
Accesible while not mainstream
No fillers
Cons:
Unvaried vocal performance
Songs may seem to drag on at times (very rarely)
Parents wont let you listen to this because of the band's name
Recommended Tracks: It is a matter of taste but I'd pick those :
Sorrowful Farewell , Full Colour Is The Night, Among Two Storms
4.2/5
This Message Edited On 01.01.09This Message Edited On 01.02.09
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