Info
- Band(s): Rotting Christ
- Label(s): Century Media
- Release Format(s): 12" vinyl, CD
- Release Year: 1997
- Review Date: November 24, 1997
- Author(s): Saldiac, Yulon Zhu
2007’s ‘Theogonia’ is the monolithic album that really brought Rotting Christ to the ears of many. They were finally acknowledged as an important band in Metal, having had a musical career of 20+ years and evolving into a wondrous testament to how Black Metal can be more than just the stereotypical corpse paint wearing, satan hailing, goat loving, nihilistic Black Metal. Classics like ‘Passage to Arcturo’ and ‘Triarchy of Lost Lovers’ are also fantastic monuments to the immense amount of passion that this Greek Black Metal band puts into their music, though the term Black Metal is a severely limiting term to use for such a band.
1997’s ‘A Dead Poem’ is another unforgettable, highly atmospheric album with melodious and lilting passages cascading throughout its duration. The first two tracks ‘Sorrowful Farewell’ and ‘Among Two Storms’ are amongst the best Rotting Christ songs ever written. They both have beautiful, flying riffs full of enchantment that captivates you, never getting old. Featuring support vocals from Moonspell’s crooner Fernando and Samael’s Xy on keyboards, ‘Among Two Storms’ with that guitar in the beginning, is a song that brings a smile to every true fan of Rotting Christ. Sakis’ amazing vocals are both harsh and euphonious, with the memorable guitars ingraining this song into your memory forever. Majestic whispers line the beginning of title track, ‘A Dead Poem.’ It contains a soft interlude of the whispers again mid-song that sound great against the pained vocals, bringing up the subject of the lyrics. The lyrics hold much emotion and are definitely something to pay attention to.
Another stand out track is ‘As If by Magic,’ which is glorious guitar-centered masterpiece that has Sakis exploring a sort of loud-speaker type vocal for a short while. ‘Ten Miles High’ brings a truly lovely, slow-paced instrumental break. The last song ‘Ira Incensus’ ends with a powerful beat accompanied by a mystical acoustic guitar. ‘A Dead Poem’ is without a doubt the most beautiful Rotting Christ album and a must have for fans of these Greek masters or anyone who enjoys a Gothic-styled metal album without a joint female vocalist, over dramatics, or with too much reliance on keyboards for atmosphere. (Yulon Zhu, 01-07-2008)
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Well, people who still see this band as the Black Metal band of the past are in for a surprise. Not that this is bad, on the contrary, this is the best they have ever released!
They have now expanded to a 5-piece line-up and can finally be seen with a keyboardist live as well. I missed that on their previous tour of their ‘Triarchy of the lost lovers’ album, but on this tour I could finally enjoy the songs in their entirety. They also played songs from all their albums so I could finally hear some live from ‘Non Serviam’.
With songs like ‘Sorrowful Farewell’ and ‘Full colour is the night’, this album can’t be faulted by me! And then there’s also a bonus CD with songs from bands that are also on Century Media. I’ll name a few: Sentenced, Alastis, Moonspell, Samael, The Gathering etc. All this for only 30 guilders! If you don’t buy this, you need to have your head checked. (Saldiac, 24-11-1997)
Century Media
- Country: Germany
- Style: Black Metal, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Thrash Metal, Other
- Links: Homepage, Facebook, Instagram, Bandcamp, Youtube
