I won't lie -- I was waiting, very much waiting for the new album from the blasphemous Greeks. Year after year they delight us with great music. And on the new disc Theogonia, Sakis and his tight-knit crew, now joined by new guitarist George Bokos, deliver a truly 100% ROTTING CHRIST experience. It has absorbed the energy and power of GENESIS, the beauty and melodicism of KHRONOS and SANCTUS DIAVOLOS, and naturally, that inimitable atmosphere unique to ROTTING CHRIST.
But don't think that Theogonia exploits techniques and tricks already worked out in past battles. Not at all. The album sounds very fresh, and the newly introduced Eastern motifs coupled with expressive melodicism yield an excellent result.
Overall, of course, there are no fundamental changes, but there is no sense of the material being derivative, although many of these compositions would have fit nicely on GENESIS, for example.
What we get is an excellent, high-quality album -- consistency at such a high level is a mark of mastery.
P.S. Owners of the limited edition, which comes as a beautiful double digipak with a bonus DVD, will be treated to a tour report in support of the SANCTUS DIAVOLOS album and a Making Of... documentary about the creation of Theogonia. Incidentally, the tour footage includes material from the moscow concert.