ROTTING CHRIST formed in Athens in 1987 and have spent decades shaping the sound of Greek black metal, their catalogue standing among the genre's most consistently distinctive. ‘Sanctus Diavolos’, their eighth full-length, remains a defining document of that history.
Written in the wake of two founding departures, the record found Sakis Tolis taking sole command of guitars, keyboards, and vocals, and that singular authorship gives the album its unusually personal, unified character. Its title devil is not the cold adversary of black metal convention but Lucifer the light-bearer, rendered in warm, seductive tones rather than blasphemous provocation, and that reframing runs through every corner of the record. Gothic melodicism and symphonic ambition meet here in full form, with a live eight-person choir, arranged by Christos Antoniou of Septicflesh, threading through the arrangements to give the album an operatic, cinematic pull. The result moves between aggressive, riff-driven black metal and passages of genuine tenderness, anchored by "Sanctimonious," a brief string-and-choir interlude that remains one of the most affecting moments the band has committed to tape.
Closing on the sprawling, choir-drenched title track, ‘Sanctus Diavolos’ plays less like a collection of songs than a single sustained arc, cohering into the most extreme and fully realized statement of that era in the band's discography.
For fans of MOONSPELL, TIAMAT, SAMAEL.
Artwork by Seth Siro Anton.
This item is available for pre-order. It will be available on 11/27/2026.
Notice: orders cannot be split into several shipments. Your order will be dispatched when all items are available.
