There was a time when the gods were born, a time dark and full of mystery. According to the ancient Greek mythology, theogonia is the time when the gods were born. According to the Greek Heavy Metal history, there was also a time for the pantheon to accept a unity of young (that time) and talented gods. It was the start of a whole new era for the Black Metal pantheon...

It was in 1987, when the Black Metal pantheon grew bigger with the addition of ROTTING CHRIST. Until then, nobody expected that a Greek Black Metal band could stand proud next to the titans of the genre. They have up to now released numerous demo CD's, EP's, split CD's, compilations, one DVD and ten full-length albums, all those through labels such as Unisound, Osmose, Century Media and now, Season Of Mist. After twenty years of existence, ROTTING CHRIST are here to deliver their tenth studio album, an album that I am here to review.

I will start with a really important clue. This album was featured as the front cover of the well-known Terrorizer magazine. As most people know, this magazine is the Metal bible for the extreme genres and the front cover usually features bands with really big balls! ROTTING CHRIST have shown that they have the guts and the talent to do something great from their very first years as a band! Now, with a new guitarist (George Bokos, ex-NIGHTFALL), the Greek unholy union manages to impress the Metal press with their tenth masterpiece! The name of it, Theogonia. While still having their own, unique sound, they managed to mix their music with Greek traditional music! As their frontman, Sakis, claimed in an interview, Black Metal always has to do with Scandinavian mythology and culture, why not Greek culture? So, as you see, what we have here is a mix of great Black Metal, with Greek traditional music.

I thought that it would be nice by starting the review with some comments on each song but since I have listened to the album more than ten times, I realized that I really cannot mention the best songs in Theogonia, simply because the whole album kicks major ass! I can just mention my favorite track, which is no other than the magnificent piece of the Black Metal art, Keravnos Kivernitos. A song that kicks in with an incredible riff and great melodies and can really teach some original Black Metal to the Metal audience!

This time, it was Sakis who handled the whole production thing and I admit he has done a great work! The drums sound heavy as fuck, the guitars have exactly the sound they should have and the voice is clear and dark. I just think that the bass should be a bit louder. There are times when it seems buried. I think that bassists who listen to the album have the same opinion.

I think that the Black Metal scene needs bands like ROTTING CHRIST. Especially nowadays, that Black Metal lacks of good bands and the good bands lack of fresh ideas. The only thing I have to say is that you have to let ROTTING CHRIST show the way and you just have to follow...