Rotting Christ

A Dead Poem

(c)1997 Magic Arts Publishing

(p)1997 Century Media Records

Review by Neil St.Laurent

If any one company is going to lead death metal into the mainstream, it will be Century Media. Following the excessive maturing and progression of music seen in Sentenced, Sammael, Cemetary (now Sundown) and Moonspell, Rotting Christ's "A Dead Poem" marks a significant improvement in all respects of the music, except for aggressiveness and harshness. Ties to these other bands also comes in the form of Xy and Matthias lending a hand in production and engineering, and Fernando doing guest vocals on "Among Two Storms". It is very tempting to want to be able to accuse Century Media for dilluting the genre, but the fact is that all of these bands newest releases are great music.

Although it isn't truly fair to say that Rotting Christ has become more melodic, since their "Triarchy..." recording's major attraction was the melody, it is fair to say the growth in this area of the music is significant. The continuous rumblings that once formed a typical Rotting Christ song has become more of a rich fluctuating melody. Keyboards now further extend the atmosphere, something which has become a little less dark and somewhat more approachable.

As goes the trend at Century Media the focus of the music is on emotion rather than technicality. Yet without doubt the timing and strength of "A Dead Poem" is simply amazing. Structurally the music has gone towards a more approachable and less extreme goal; as far as one would venture to say, the riffing is more popular than underground in style. The tracks of the music unto themselves are very simple and without much note, but these layers coalesce to form "A Dead Poem"'s very soothing death metal. While soothing may not be the best word to apply to a traditionally harsh genre, it nonetheless applies. In fairness to the band however, the music still retains a certain edge that emits more of a serious state than a carefree one.

Alas, it was the dark that was lost, and upon the music of Rotting Christ did the sun shine. Many were drawn to Rotting Christ for the sheer dark aspect, the rumbling low end and hopeless atmosphere. Fortunately the lyrical portrayals of "A Dead Poem" are quite dark and depressing, not a single glimmer or happiness to be found. The title and title track contain the most appropriate description, "I spell meaningless words, a poem for sorrow and death".

Whilst not maintaining the true brilliance of the depressive "Triarchy...", "A Dead Poem" is without a doubt a musically superior album in almost all respects. The production was done by some of the best in the industry, and it really shows in the quality of the music. It is unlikely that Rotting Christ fans will not be impressed with this album, and being much more approachable than former releases, "A Dead Poem" should garner the band many more followers.

BTW, the CD insert is beautiful.

Rotting Christ is:
Sakis - Guitar, Vocals
Themis - Drums, Backing Vocals
Andreas - Bass
Kostas - Guitar
Panayotis - Keyboards

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