It was the beginning of a rainy Friday night at Rio de Janeiro (yes, it rains a lot in the city during the two last months of the year), but nothing could keep the public from seeing ROTTING CHRIST's third show in the city.

The crowd was somewhat shy for the AS DRAMATIC HOMAGE show - which marked the release of "Enlighten" - their new EP on the city, yet even with few people in the venue and the little space on the stage (due the equipment for ROTTING CHRIST being already there), Alexandre Pontes (vocals, guitars), Alexandre Carreiro (guitars), Fabiano Medeiros (bass), Leonardo Silva (keyboards) and Vinícius Rodrigues (drums) played a very good set of Avant-garde Metal with songs from across all of their releases.
 

The performance was not as great as it could have been due the reduced space on the stage, and the sound quality wasn't the best, but it was still good, and the communication between Alexandre and the public was excellent. With all that's been said, their show was indeed very good, with songs like "Ominous Force for Ascencion", "Enlighten" and "Monumental" leaving the public applauding them a plenty after their show.
 

Hope to see another one of their shows as soon as possible!

Setlist:

Astral Infernal
Awake to the Twilight
The Lover's Funeral
Ominous Force for Ascension
Enlighten
Monumental
Idyllic
From the Battle of Pain

After a few minutes that were used for to prepare for the show, the Greek kings of Black Metal stormed the stage. Yes, for the third time since 2013, ROTTING CHRIST were unleashing their musical fury on the city.
 

Obviously, Sakis Tolis (vocals, guitars), George Emmanuel (guitars), Van Ace (bass) and Themis Tolis (drums) were effusively applauded by the public at the venue, and they repaid the gesture with an excellent show!
 

The band were really amazing, with excellent performances and attitude on stage. Sakis' communication with the public was excellent, and Ace and George were headbanging and supporting him with backing vocals as they moved along the stage. Themis too played hard and heavy as always, with perfect tempo.
 

Their setlist was short, but they played great old songs such as "Κατά τον δαίμονα του εαυτού", "The Sign of the Evil Existence" and "Grandis Spiritus Diavolos", but also one from the album "Rituals", which was "Ἐλθὲ κύριε" (given that "Ze Nigmar" is a climatic and somber intro). They ended the show with an encore where they played "Gaia Tellus" and their old and great anthemic hymn "Non Serviam". The public was in ecstasy!
 

Photography by Luciana Pires

Setlist:

Ze Nigmar
Κατά τον δαίμονα του εαυτού
Athanati Este
Ἐλθὲ κύριε
King of a Stellar War
The Sign of Evil Existence
The Forest of N'Gai
Societas Satanas
In Yumen-Xibalba
Grandis Spiritus Diavolos
Noctis Era
Gaia Tellus
Non Serviam

It was another great night for Metal in the city, and it seems that the events are starting to have gather great crowds yet again.

Of course, we want to thank a lot Be Magic Produções for making our work easier, and to Luciana Pires for the photos we are using in this live review.