Black 12" vinyl (33 rpm) in gatefold sleeve.
First pressing 300 copies worldwide.
Formed in Athens in 1987, ROTTING CHRIST are one of extreme metal's most enduring and shape-shifting acts—architects of a sound that has moved restlessly between black metal, gothic atmosphere, and dark ritualism across nearly four decades.
‘Sleep of the Angels’ (1999) is the culmination of a deliberate artistic turn: the Greek duo's fifth full-length finds brothers Sakis and Themis Tolis at the furthest point from their black metal origins, delivering a record defined by melodic weight, brooding atmosphere, and a gloomy romanticism that feels both immersive and self-contained. Produced by Samael’s Xy at Woodhouse Studios, the album is built around the interplay of Sakis's heavily chorded guitar work and a constant, gauzy keyboard presence that lends the whole record an almost ecclesiastical quality. Vocals shift between a characteristic snarl and a lower, whispered clean register, adding an intimate tension that runs beneath the surface throughout. From the sweeping martial drive of "Cold Colours" and the seductive menace of lead single "After Dark I Feel", to the gothic grandeur of "Victoriatus" and the closing epic "Thine Is the Kingdom", the record moves as a unified whole.
It is the band's most gothic-focused statement, and for a generation of listeners who came up on dark metal's late-'90s golden moment, it remains one of those albums that returns to you before you think to return to it.
For fans of NIGHTFALL, MOONSPELL, SEPTICFLESH, PRIMORDIAL, VARATHRON.
Artwork by Stephen Kasner.
Tracklist:
Side A: Cold Colours / After Dark I Feel / Victoriatus / Der Perfekte Traum / You My Flesh
Side B: The World Made End / Sleep the Sleep of Angels / Delusions / Imaginary Zone / Thine Is the Kingdom
