Rituals is the 11th full length album by Rotting Christ, a Greek band that has pioneered their type of music, in their geographical region specifically. Throughout the years, they have released records of all sorts – grindgore, black metal, gothic metal – and currently they are described as extreme metal, with lyrical themes such as anti-Christianity, occultism and mythology. This album is a great reflection of these things, or at least as far as I can tell. This album is definitely one of the best, most authentic releases of the year so far, and if you care to know why, then by all means: READ THIS REVIEW!
Rituals is literally mind blowing from start to end. Inspiring. Powerful. Epic. These are words that come to mind when describing the entirety of this masterpiece, the sound of which is so vigorous, it could have been the soundtrack to a legendary fight between man and god(s). In Nomine Dei Nostri, Roman for In the Name of Our God, is where the album kicks off and pretty much proves every word said so far. A short fragment of what appears to be an army, marching, followed by relentless instrumentals that will soon after develop into a divine battle hymn. It won’t even bother you not knowing what they are saying, since most tracks are self-explanatory and it should go without saying that Rotting Christ has done a tremendous job putting emotion into the music itself. My personal favorite is track #3, Elthe Kyrie, definitely the angriest song and features female guest vocals. It is a very powerful song with two sides to it, both of which emanate their emotion so well, you will feel overwhelmed. It’s almost as if you are watching a great movie that you are being pulled into. Tou Thanatou is a track you might’ve already heard. It was the first single released and in my opinion, the album’s second best song due to outstanding guitar work, though honestly, each and every track is absolutely killer!
Now, I really don’t want to spoil anymore, even though I am itching to tell you guys all about how awesome it is, but there is one last thing: the bonus track Lok’tar Ogar is a reference to a popular game, can you guess which?
This album deserves a 9/10, but only considering a 10 would have be absolute perfection, something I don’t believe in, this is as good as it can get!
