Entry 1593 - Rotting Christ - Theogonia

Style: black metal with additional elements mixed in

Thoughts: There are few bands that have released as good of albums as Rotting Christ did during their run from 2000 to 2004. Each of those albums ranges from good to absolutely mind blowing in quality. They still have several good albums out of that time period, but they vary in quality. Theogonia is one such album.

To be the album to follow up Sanctus Diabolos is going to be hard. A masterpiece of that magnitude comes around maybe once every few years. The band wisely decided to evolve their sound further rather than try to replicate the sound found on the previous album with Theogonia. The results are a bit mixed, but overall the album is one of the better ones in their discography.

The band has settled in on a much more straight forward approach this time, stripping away many of the choirs and layers of orchestral arrangements that the previous album had. The band leans further into the melodic leads with a few elements sprinkled throughout the songs to flesh out the sound. 

The quality of the album as a whole is above average for the band, but some songs are quite excellent. Nemecic has an amazing use of a lead instrument that sounds like a cross between a flute and a bagpipe. I can't quite place what the instrument is but it certainly is used to excellent effect here. Phobos' Synagogue works in a great deep riff with some keyboards that mimic early second wave black metal. Helios Hyperion has a fantastic lead guitar melody with a galloping rhythm. 

While the guitars in general seem to be a bit more focused on the bottom end on this release the songs themselves seem to be less focused on a general theme. Rather they each have their own ideas that are contained within the song. This makes the album feel more like a collection of tracks rather than a full album. Not a good or a bad thing, but certainly different than the last few albums.

Theogonia is a bit of a transition album. The band would return to a more focused album with the follow up to this, but here they seem to be throwing every idea they had at the wall to see what would work. The end result is a solid album that has a few truly outstanding moments.