Rotting Christ

Rotting Christ’s music has the power to transport you into the scenary and atmosphere of each one of their songs. It could be a bloody war or an ancient Ritual; you get transported, and it’s possible to feel their music because it touches you deeply.
It is also awesome music for working out; you feel motivated and powerful like you could surpass anything.

They are an “old-school Greek Black Metal band” created in 1987 as a “Grindcore” act.
They are renowned for pioneering the underground European Metal scene and are one of this area’s first Black Metal bands. They also contributed to the distinctive Greek black metal sound that became popular in the early 1990s.

They began as a Grindcore band, and during their period of rehearsing, they put out several demos and split albums with nearby bands. The band became one of the forerunners of Black metal at this time by gradually changing their sound in response to proto-black Metal bands like Celtic Frost and Venom. Their 1989 demo, Satanas Tedeum, demonstrated a fusion of Grindcore and Black Metal. The group’s ground-breaking EP, Passage to Arcturo, was published in 1991.

On the “Fuck Christ Tour” in 1993, including Immortal and Blasphemy, the band had one of its significant debuts. Some concertgoers had cut themselves and cut themselves throughout the performance, which led to several hospitalizations. Mayhem’s Oystein Aarseth had expressed interest in distributing the band through his Deathlike Silence Productions label before signing to Unisound Records (a now-defunct independent record label founded in Athens in 1992), but due to Aarseth’s murder the same year, nothing came to pass. Before joining Season of Mist, the band spent ten years on the Century Media roster after signing with them in 1996.

Outside of their native Greece, Rotting Christ has performed in various places, such as the Americas, Greater Europe, Russia, the United Kingdom, Malta, the Middle East, and South Africa.

The group has performed at several Metal festivals across the globe, including the 2003 Wacken Open Air in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. My Dying Bride, Tristania, Tiamat, Vintersorg, Finntroll, Agathodaimon, Old Man’s Child, Malevolent Creation, Anorexia Nervosa, Vader, Krisiun, Deicide, Behemoth, Melechesh, and Nile are just a few of the artists who have previously toured with My Rotting Christ.

Rotting Christ is one of the longest-running Black Metal bands as of 2012 and has been active for 25 years. Non-Serviam: A 20-Year Apocryphal Story, which was recorded in Athens on December 8, 2007, was made available worldwide on February 23, 2009, as a tribute to the band’s longevity.

The group’s tenth studio album, Aealo, was made available in Europe in the US on February 15, 2010, and February 23, 2010.

Katá ton Damona Eauto, their eleventh album, was released in March 2013.

On September 13, 2014, in India (Bangalore Open Air 2014 Edition) and on September 14, 2014, in Sri Lanka, they debuted in South Asia.

Rituals, their eleventh studio album, was released on February 12, 2016.

On February 9, 2018, the group issued a new 7-inch single called “The Call” to celebrate their 30th anniversary.
The record’s b-side features a live rendition of “The Sign of Evil Existence” with guest vocals from Behemoth’s Nergal and Varathron’s Stefan Necroabyssious.





Late in November 2018, the group also released an official biography titled “Non-Serviam: The Official Story Of Rotting Christ,” which was written by Sakis Tolis and British author Dayal Patterson (author of “Black Metal: Evolution Of The Cult,” “The Cult Never Dies Vol. One,” and “Into The Abyss”). It was distributed by the British publishing company Cult Never Dies. Sakis Tolis, Themis Tolis, Jim Mutilator, Morbid, George Emmanuel, and members of the bands Watain, Mayhem, Enslaved, Moonspell, Blasphemy, and Mystifier are all extensively interviewed in the book.

Sakis Tolis, on vocals and guitar, and his brother Themis, on drums, make up the group’s regular lineup. Until 1996, Jim Patsouris, the third founding member, played bass. As Patsouris’ replacement till the end of 2011, Andreas Lagios has played bass since 1997.
Costas Vasilakopoulos was replaced by Giorgos Bokos, a guitarist for Nightfall, in 2005. Bokos made his personal decision to leave the band public in February 2012.
The addition of guitarist George Emmanuel and bassist Vagelis Karzis to the group was announced in December 2012.
In February and May of 2019, George Emmanuel and Vagelis Karzis amicably left the band to work on other endeavours.

George Tolias, George Zaharopoulos (Magus Wampyr Daoloth of Necromantia), and a studio musician going by the name of Panayiotis (on A Dead Poem) had all played keyboards in the band before.
Until the album “Triarchy of the Lost Lovers” was released, the band members went under the aliases Necromayhem for Sakis, Necrosauron for Themis, and Mutilator for Jim (Dimitris). For early EP and split-LP releases up to Passage to Arcturo, George Zaharopoulos used the alias Morbid; for Thy Mighty Contract and Non-Serviam, he used the alias Magus Wampyr Daoloth.

They developed “classic” Greek Black Metal sound early in their career, which can be heard in groups like Varathron and Thou Art Lord. Despite the name, the band has changed its musical direction with each album, incorporating elements like clean melodic baritone vocals, Doom, Gothic Metal, Industrial music traits, and male/female Benedictine chants. The band’s traditional lyrical themes of evil and occultism have also evolved into a more “mystic” path. In recent albums, the band has adopted a more contemporary, quicker, and aggressive approach to its Blackened Gothic style, starting with Khronos. Their 2007 album Theogonia has been characterized as more “atmospheric” and “epic” by their label.

Discography

Studio Albums

Thy Mighty Contract (1993)
Non-Serviam (1994)
Triarchy of the Lost Lovers (1996)
A Dead Poem (1997)
Sleep of the Angels (1999)
Khronos (2000)
Genesis (2002)
Sanctus Diavolos (2004)
Theogonia (2007)
Aealo (2010)
Κατά τον δαίμονα εαυτού (2013)
Rituals (2016)
The Heretics (2019)

EPs
Passage to Arcturo (1991, Decapitated Records)