From the land of gyros and Minotaurs, arrives Rotting Christ with yet another powerful ode to the grim genre known as black metal. Just when you thought Immortal and Dimmu Borgir were going to steal the black metal show, along comes Rotting Christ hot on their heals. "Genesis" (meaning Origin) is the perfect title for their new album. You can bear witness to Rotting Christ bringing you back to the days of old, where the aggression was held high in the band, yet this album does not deviate from the melodic and dark expansiveness of "Sleep of the Angels".

This is quite possibly Rotting Christ's strongest release yet. Sakis and Kostas throw out some great riffs. To the powerful riffs of "Quintessence" to the thrash like black metal of "Lex Talionis" to the melodic riffs of "Dying". You cannot deny the power of Rotting Christ in this album. Themis does a great job on the drums with his thunderous double kicks and his slow, powerful rhythms which are accompanied nicely by Andreas's crunching bass. George handles the keyboards nicely by keeping that perfect grim, dark aura flowing out of your speakers the entire length of the album. Sakis has some crushing vokills on this release also. From his necro-like harsh vokills, to his dark and sinister clean vokills (reminiscent almost of Rammstein, but much, much cooler); he will have you compelled throughout the album. There are also some cool tracks where they layer his vokills with the haunting raspy vokills on top, accompanied by the sinister clean vokills below.

The production on this album is top notch and feels akin to that of Dimmu Borgir's "Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia". The drums sound crystal clear and are a very powerful element to the album, yet never overwhelming. The guitars are crisp also, especially the harmonics. This is production that perfectly fits the millennial sound standard. The lyrics on this album are also really good. They never result to the all out Christ raping lyrics of so many other bands, but instead are well written and creative.

This is one of the top black metal releases of the year, up there with the likes of Immortal and Borknagar. From the beginning of this album to the end you'll be overwhelmed with the superb song writing. There will be moments when you'll sit back relax and follow the band into the dark abyss they lead you to, while there will be moments like in the beginning of "In Domine Sathana" where you will want to start your own black mass and maybe sacrifice a virgin while you're at it. This is a stunning release and should not be passed up. It makes a great addition to anyone's collection of black metal.