In every genre a very big album comes out every now and then. A masterpiece. The black metal scene can be grateful for having such a band like Rotting Christ, because their latest CD, “Theogonia”, is titanic. There isn’t a precise recipe for how great records are born. There is, actually, but it is too subjective. Interesting decisions, individuality and convicting performance are some of the factors, and in “Theogonia” there are all of them and much more. The main powers of the record are the hymnal chants on Greek here and there, the thick and influencing sound, the melodic inclusions of the two guitars, the pagan drumming in some moments, the inspiring voice of Sakis, the well written lyrics... In fact, there aren’t any shortcomings in Rotting Christ’s ninth album. The opener “The Sign of Prime Creation” perfectly shows what we should expect from the next 47 minutes of the CD - heavy and fast black metal played and sung in the most effective way. There aren’t weak songs; each of them shows up with a unique moment in its development. In “Keravnos Kivernitos” it is the melody right after the chorus. “Enuma Elish” reminds of the heavier songs by the great Hollenthon, especially with the oriental motifs followed by beautiful solos in the background of the cutting rhythm created like for insane headbanging. We can feel Eastern waft in the final track “Threnody”, too. “Nemecic”, on the other hand, is like a pagan mantra chanted under the sound of loud percussions, bagpipes and the heavy, atmospheric background of the music, while “He, the Aethyr” transfuses from fast rhythm to clean guitar melodies where a full-toned narrative emerges, after which a wonderful guitar solo appears... In almost every song there are choirs singing in Greek or Latin, enriching the music and complementing the strong satanic lyrics, which do not preach of praising the horned one for quite a while now, but examine the dark side of the soul and the matter, of theology and mythology and the thelemic messages whose follower has been Alister Crowley. Sakis screams with a lot of dash and power and completes the varied music, which passes through typical black metal machine-gun batters, tearing and ultra-heavy riffs, tons of melody and fine guitar dialogues, uniting the old-school genre with the modern trends in the scene. “Theogonia” is like a crossroad for almost everything created in black metal during the last two decades. Combining the fierce speed from the dawn of the 90’s, the heavy and fast outbursts typical for the cult Portuguese Daemonarch, the pagan primitiveness of the early Satyricon, the modern and well-produced sound of the last Septic Flesh record, and the non-standard musical decisions of Hollenthon and Samael, this album can proudly stand along the releases of the colossi just mentioned.