- Country: Greece
- Style: Melodic black metal
- Label: Season of Mist
- Release date: 15 February 2019
By now you know what a Rotting Christ record sounds like: marching tempos, chanted choirs and Sakis Tolis bellowing like a priest at the end of the world. The Heretics, their thirteenth album, doesn’t mess with the formula much, and for long stretches that’s fine. “In the Name of God” opens with a war-drum stomp and a riff that loops like a mantra, and “Fire, God and Fear” is the album’s most urgent moment, faster and nastier than anything around it, with a lead that actually goes somewhere.
The problem is how often the songs lean on the same tricks. Spoken-word passages and massed vocals keep coming back, and by the middle of the record the ritual starts to feel like routine. “Dies Irae” is short and effective, and “The Raven” closes with a gloomy, grinding march that’s a strong finish. A good Rotting Christ album, not one of their great ones.
Best tracks:
In the Name of God
Fire, God and Fear
Dies Irae
The Raven
Author’s rating: 7.4/10
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