Simply excellent. ROTTING CHRIST's second (and best) album is one of the main recordings that shaped the "Greek" black metal sound. It also started an enormous flood of clones (too many to name), but none could even come close to this. "Thy Mighty Contract" is alot more melodic than the usual style I listen to, not to mention "clear" production. But the riffs and guitar harmonies sound very fucking dark, something that good black metal cannot lack!! Most songs hang around the slower-to-midpace level with fast breaks. The vocals are fairly low for black metal, quite original sounding. Some keyboards presented, giving an even darker feel in parts. Too bad the band don't sound like this now-a-days, although I hear rumors they're going back to the vein of this album. Guess I'll just wait and see...

© 2000 bathym