''Thy Mighty Contract'' is the first full-length album by Greek
extreme metal
Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tran ...
band
Rotting Christ
Rotting Christ is a Greek black metal band formed in 1987. They are noted for being one of the first black metal bands within this region, as well as a premier act within the European underground metal scene. They are also responsible for creati ...
, released in late 1993 on
Osmose Productions
Osmose Productions is a French independent record label created in 1991 by Hervé Herbaut, after he had spent three years running a small mail order company. They specialize mainly in death and black metal bands.
Many of the groups who began wit ...
.
It was re-released by
Century Black
Century Media Records is a heavy metal record label with offices in the United States, Germany and London. In August 2015, Century Media was acquired by Sony Music for US$17 million.
Background
Century Media was founded by Robert Kampf and Oli ...
in January 1998 with two bonus tracks originally released on the ''Apokathelosis'' EP and different artwork.
Track listing
# "The Sign of Evil Existence" – 2:00
# "Transform All Sufferings into Plagues" – 5:25
# "Fgmenth, Thy Gift" – 4:29
# "His Sleeping Majesty" – 5:50
# "Exiled Archangels" – 5:07
# "Dive the Deepest Abyss" – 3:33
# "The Coronation of the Serpent" – 4:06
# "The Fourth Knight of Revelation (I & II)" – 6:49
# "Visions of the Dead Lover" (bonus track on re-issue) - 4:45
# "The Mystical Meeting" (bonus track on re-issue) - 5:03
Credits
*
Sakis “Necromayhem” Tolis – guitar, vocals
*
George “Magus Wampyr Daoloth” Zaharopoulos – keyboards
* Jim “Mutilator” Patsouris – bass
*
Themis “Necrosauron” Tolis – drums
Contrary to popular belief that drum programming was used on this album, the drums were actually recorded live using an electronic drum kit.
Musical style
Rotting Christ plays fast black metal in the Greek style, which was, according to ''
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
'' journalist Eduardo Rivadavia, “slightly over-reliant on furious
blastbeats
A blast beat is a type of drum beat that originated in hardcore punk and grindcore, and is often associated with certain styles of extreme metal, namely black metal and death metal,Adam MacGregor, ''PCP Torpedo'' by Agoraphobic Nosebleed revi ...
”, but showing “a budding flair for melody”.
[ Chad Bowar of '' About.com'' describes the style as black metal which “took on a melodic, slightly heavy metal-ish format“, with a “limited supply of rhythm blasting and lifeless ]tremolo
In music, ''tremolo'' (), or ''tremolando'' (), is a trembling effect. There are two types of tremolo.
The first is a rapid reiteration:
* Of a single Musical note, note, particularly used on String instrument#Bowing, bowed string instrument ...
riffing”.[Chad Bowar]
''Retro Recommendation: Rotting Christ - Thy Mighty Contract''
.
Reviews
''Allmusic'' journalist Eduardo Rivadavia called ''Thy Mighty Contract'' “a promising first long-player”, although “the album's production may have been somewhat subpar, and its songs slightly over-reliant on furious blastbeats, but none of this mattered a lick to hardcore extreme metal fans”.[ ''About.com'' featured the album as a ''Retro Recommendation'' and criticised the drums for being “too loud, and given the repetitive beats played, it becomes distracting at times. However, the bass is audible, which automatically makes the record something to cherish.“][
]
References
1993 albums
Rotting Christ albums
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