Rotting Christ – AEALO (2010) Review 8/10

Rotting Christ’s latest effort, AEALO, is meant to be taken as a whole, as an experience, or single piece of art. This is supposed to be what a soldier goes through in battle.

You can really hear this in the music. The music starts and immediately throws us into the fray. You can hear the marching, the weapons, the battlefield. There are even the natural lulls in fighting and then the plunge back into hell. This would be great background music for an epic movie.

The singing is also harsher than I ever remember on a Rotting Christ album. Sometimes Sakis almost sounds like wild dog, barking and snarling the words. It had to get used to it at first. He is almost shrieking on a few tracks. I’ll admit that it sounds really angry, though less sinister than his usual demonic growl.

They have stayed true to their modern black metal sound on AEALO. The guitars drone and vamp. The drums thud along. It really does sound like a march or a battle. Overall, the heavier songs are very similar in style to those on Theogonia. However, I feel like Theogonia had more memorable melodies and guitar parts.

Also, the Greeks blasphemers have added some traditional folk elements. The short song, Nekron Lahes,  is purely a Greek folk song sung by some wailing females. It’s almost too jaring to listen to and I found myself switching to the next track almost every time.

The last song is a Diamanda Galas (a really weird and dark Greek singer) cover and it was really hard to listen to. It’s basically over eight minutes of music with some ominous, spoken female vocals. It’s different to say the least.

Other than that this is a solid Rotting Christ release with some great songs on it. The third track, Demonon Vrosis, is now one of my favorite Rotting Christ songs of all time.

Let me know how you like this release.

8/10

Rotting Christ – AEALO (2010) Review 8/10