Review by Jeger on July 29, 2024.

As the decades have passed and as we’ve developed into the people we are today through whatever traumas and bitter hardships we’ve had to endure. As the once-primordial state of our beloved genre has evolved into the many complex and unique manifestations we know today, it’s been Athens, Greece’s Rotting Christ who have been by our side as they’ve bestowed upon us their glorious musical bounty - blackened volumes of romantic Satanism, cultural exploration, ritualism and philosophy. 

Titans of the proud Greek black metal scene are Rotting Christ and it has been so since their official inception in 1989. Forces ajoined with the likes of Varathron and Necromantia, this institution has lain the path to true black metal in its most artful and imaginative forms. Having established itself alongside the Scandinavian movement of the late 80’s - early 90’s, the Greek scene shares in a noble pedigree and is built upon a most arduously set foundation, but to label its output as it has always stood and as it stands today as a mere carbon copy would be the greatest sin. For it was through the fabled passage to Arcturo and under the guidance of Ade’s winds that a more vital future for the genre was prophesied. And in 1993, Rotting Christ unleashed the catalyst to a more meaningful future for black metal. That year, “Thy Mighty Contract” was released. 

Aside from Emperor’s “In the Nightside Eclipse”, “Thy Mighty Contract” is simply on another level in comparison to the black metal that was coming out of Norway during its time. And even “Nightside” falls short in its reach toward the same caliber of vision as what’s displayed in “TMC”: the melody, the rhythm, the soul and the theatrics like precious rain to an innovation-thirsty second-wave movement. 

It came down to tempo. With “Thy Mighty Contract”, Rotting Christ bombard you not with a perpetual incursion of blast-beats and tremolo riffs but instead offer up big, fat, juicy riffs, segmented compositions, ensnaring melodic passages and a variety of percussive techniques from martial rhythms to some of those aforementioned blasts. But it’s the epic of it all that of course makes the experience so special. Classics: “Transform All Suffering Into Plagues”, “Fgmenth Thy Gift” and “Exiled Archangels” - anthems of what proper Greek but most importantly what genre innovative, standard-setting black metal should sound like. Eerie synth accents provide some enchanting atmosphere during some of the record’s deeper cuts: “His Sleeping Majesty” and “The Coronation of the Serpent” to strike up the visuals and enhance what’s already been a profound journey.

The most important black metal album to have been released during the early 90’s era? Absolutely and by far the greatest if one were to ask my humble opinion. “Thy Mighty Contract” encapsulates every defining element of what makes for great black metal and Rotting Christ were and continue to be intangible adepts in regard to their crafting of what I consider to be the finest art - the art of black metal. 

A lot older, a little wiser and bitterly worn from the tedium of existence now, but as we continue to change, thrive or even just become more miserable, we can rest assured that timeless classics like “Thy Mighty Contract” will be there unchanged and unfaded until the day we face our inglorious demise. Like an old friend, the soundtrack to days both joyous and awful or a pacifier for our craving for truly magnificent music, a truly powerful recording. The greatest! Rotting Christ stand atop their Olympian vantage with austerity now as they overlook the entirety of an international scene that they so integrally played a part in creating. And now with a new album in “Pro Xristou” to boast, the time for celebration is at hand! Bow to no man, only to “Thy Mighty Contract”! Here’s to greatness unrivaled… 

Captivation: 10/10
Concept: 10/10
Cover Art: 10/10
Production: 9/10
Revisitability: 10/10

Final Score: 9.5/10

Review by Nathan on January 29, 2023.

Somebody traded Rotting Christ’s entire full-length discography into a used CD store near me (born again Christian? Who knows). As I had heard good things but never fully gotten around to checking them out, I figured this was as good a time as any to see what was up. I had heard a handful of scattered tracks here and there, but it never gave me the impetus to go any further. I even own Non Serviam but it never really grabbed me despite a couple of tries. Perhaps a full-scale discography binge was what I needed to “get” this band; either that, or I just wasted fifty bucks on a bunch of albums. Might as well justify my purchase by writing about it.

Admittedly, it takes a bit of adjustment to appreciate what Rotting Christ (and Greek black metal as a whole, generally) is going for if you listen to a lot of black metal already. The style is one that’s much more immediately melodic and less aggressive than one might be used to. Even as somebody who prefers more melodic offshoots of the genre myself, the frequent theatrical wandering and lack of overt speed was tough for me to stomach at first. I’ve gotten over it a bit more now and have grown to appreciate the approach for what it is, but there are still a few kinks I haven’t ironed out yet that show up on Thy Mighty Contract. Rotting Christ does have sections where they pick up the pace and sound more like your standard black metal band, but the speedier sections are probably my least favorite parts of the album because I’ve never been a fan of Rotting Christ's blastbeat style. The snare and kick drum drown out the cymbals in the mix, and the lack of variance in the alternating snare-kick-snare-kick patterns can make them really irritating and kill the vibe of the melodies (the beginnings of “Dive the Deepest Abyss” and “Exiled Archangels” are kind of grating). There is a more straightforward approach to drums in general, and it can work really well at times (such as in “Visions of the Dead Lover”), but on the whole the moments more directly inspired by black metal rarely inspire much other than boredom in me. The double-kick patterns are alright because they're nice and steady (a benefit of programmed drums, I guess), but otherwise the more intense Rotting Christ gets, the less engaged I am.

It’s fair to say that Rotting Christ was still finding their sound on Thy Mighty Contract, and that mostly shows in the playfulness of the songwriting and abundance of melodies. The songs are fairly cohesive and all, but it’s also evident that the band is combining ideas and influences from a few different styles and sorting out where they fit. The vocals sound like a holdover from their early death/grind days, not really adding a lot but not detracting much either. The keyboards, which show hints of the gothic vibe the band would explore later in their career, mostly feel like an afterthought on this album. Although Rotting Christ are most certainly black metal here, it doesn’t actually sound like the riffs take a whole lot of influence from it directly. There’s moments I can say sound inspired by early ‘90s death metal, maybe even Iron Maiden with some of the leads and solos, but the black metal tag is mostly attributed to Rotting Christ for the atmosphere they create around the riffs. Greek black metal is kind of interesting for that reason. It sounds like bands from this region have much different influences than the Norwegian bands of the early 90s, yet they still evoke similar enough atmospheres to have the same genre tag - it’s kinda like parallel evolution or something. Sure, there’s maybe a hint of Blaze in the Northern Sky influence on Thy Mighty Contract, but it’s dressed up in syrupy melody. This is much more whimsical and flamboyant than the cold, stark seriousness that often gets associated with black metal.

That being said, I don’t think I’m totally sold on Rotting Christ yet. Sakis Tolis has a great sense of melody and that shines through on a handful of moments, but even the tracks with the best riffs never seem to capture my interest all the way through. There’s a lot of potential on Thy Mighty Contract, no doubt, but at this point it’s still unrealized potential. The production is a bit too thin at this point (I know it’s black metal, but these guys don’t exactly have a cold and minimalist approach), and the band is still trying to figure out what they really want to be. This is sorta an “essential” album because it’s a key landmark in black metal’s development, but I wouldn’t really recommend it as a pleasure listen.

Rating: 6.9 out of 10

Review by Kostas on January 29, 2023.

Rotting Christ is a unique band, as they have a special dark and at the same time powerful approach to metal music. Once checking out their history, one will realise they changed their style and sound several times in the past. However, the key point of their discography, the album that crowned them as kings of the so called Hellenic black metal scene is no other but their debut, "Thy Mighty Contract". An album that marked the 90s and the whole second wave of black metal, receiving mostly glorifying reviews.

My humble opinion is this album is in no way the masterpiece some people claim it is. The recording quality is in fact rather poor. Same goes for mixing. Sure, the studios Sakis and Themis had access to in '92 would not be that advanced, but this doesn't make the quality any better. Despite that, the major downside of this record is the lack of professionalism and musicianship, which is obvious in Sakis' bad harsh vocals and his try to sound evil. This unfortunately has the opposite effect, making his voice sound rather awkward. Ιt is the same story concerning the musical instruments. Playing good electric guitar, bass or drums must have been really difficult to achieve in Athens in the early nineties. To hide their inability, the band members tried to compose tracks with simple and repetitive but also melodic rifts. Those proved to be catchy to some extent, but in the end there is a lack of variety in musical structure.

So, recording quality is bad and the musicians were amateur at the time. And some good rifts don't make a good album, right? The answer to what saves this album from being mediocre is the atmosphere and the cult feel it invokes. There is a retro aura throughout "Thy Mighty Contract", which is due to the very same downsides I mentioned before. One could say that they are even enjoyable and entertaining after several listens, especially in songs like "The Fourth Knight of Revelation" which, alongside "Exiled Archangels", is the big highlight of the album. Plus it takes a lot of courage to release such an album in one of the most conservative parts of Europe in 1993.

In conclusion, the first album of Rotting Christ is not the album every metal fan should own (and definitely not their best), since there are aspects when it comes to quality and structure. On the other hand, there are more than a few parts where you will catch yourself headbanging in harmony with the slow (at least for a black metal record) yet powerful melodies. Many feelings and thoughts will come to mind as well. One such thought might be that the crucial role this debut played in the evolution of black metal and metal in general is undeniable. A role that has not and will not be forgotten.

Rating: 6.9 out of 10