Rotting Christ - Triarchy of the Lost Lovers (1996)^{Release ID: 2816}

A cleaner, more melodic Rotting Christ and one that I find far more enjoyable. Very nice indeed!

I've found Rotting Christ to be quite challenging for some reason. Their first two releases receive quite a bit of praise and while I wouldn't say that either Thy Mighty Contract or Non Serviam is a bad album, they just didn't do enough for me to get that excited about. I fully expected to feel the same way about third album Triarchy of the Lost Lovers and was prepared to be quite harsh if it had of been more of the same simplistic, mildly melodic yet not particularly moving black metal. A lot of the band’s fans consider this to be their best work, so if I was ever going to get into Rotting Christ, I figured this would have to be the time. I’ve given Triarchy of the Lost Lovers quite a few listens now and while I’m still not ready to sign up to the Rotting Christ Rock My World Fan Club, I find more to my liking here.

The first thing I noticed was that the production is far clearer for this album than on the previous two. They also injected a fair bit more melody which results in quite a different sound for the band, while not venturing very far from their roots. They keep things very simple and at times repetitious, but this time around the melodies are a fair bit more moving. Black metal is rarely about technical skill, so I’m not opposed to the uncomplicated approach Rotting Christ takes. I appreciate the work of early Samael despite the simplicity of their music. It does need to be said though that some of the riffs on Triarchy of the Lost Lovers are just a bit boring, the drums do nothing more than keep time with the odd burst of speed, and the vocals are monotone and harmless throughout. Yet some of the melodies stay with you long after the album has finished and increase in enjoyment with each subsequent listen, which make me come back for more.

In the end, Triarchy of the Lost Lovers is an album that has grown on me considerably over the last couple of weeks. Once the melodies begin to sink in these tracks really creep up on you until you find yourself humming them throughout the day. I still don’t think any single track is particularly outstanding, but the album is very consistently compelling and does exactly what it set out to do, which has left me pleasantly surprised. It’s a little disappointing to see that the next few albums don’t rate very well on Rate Your Music as I finally seem to be warming to the band, but I’m still looking forward to giving them a go as they may just move even further towards my comfort zone. Highlight tracks for me are King of a Stellar War, Archon, Shadows Follow and The First Field of the Battle.

The first two Rotting Christ albums, Thy Might Contract and Non Serviam, built themselves on a dirtier sound and a plethora of riffs, while the first one favored riffs over structure and the second album was a slim improvement in structure and production.  While I liked them, they weren't necessarily the legendary albums I was hearing about.  In fact, I even started these first three albums a couple of times in the hopes of that PERFECT melo-death album for my top 100 metal albums, and they didn't deliver due to sameyness.  But now I'm getting through them, and I'm mostly satisfied with what they did, but this third album is closest to living up to its legend than the other two were.

The third work, Triarchy of the Lost Lovers,  doesn't have dense blackened backgrounds, but rather clean and crystal production, allowing the percussions and the guitars do the talking as they are.  No noise factor, no reverb.  All clarity.  Even when the blast beats are going at their fastest and when the guitars are at their noisiest like in Shadows Follow, the whole thing is straightforward.  This is about the band, not the engineering.  Early on, the band shows off a much needed boost in layout structures balanced out with clever riffs, and a lot of those take the stage in both verse and solo.  As well, the sound is less darkened and more melodic, which means the band is trying to shift their focus, and it works out quite well.  And while many songs share some of the same ideas, the band is branching out into other emotional territories and more tempos as well, when the first two albums were quite samey and used production and technicality, as well as short length, to justify what skill they had.  While it's not as dirty and muddy, and more akin to standard black metal, the sound itself is fully justified by the extra boost in creativity and cleverness. And while the lengths of the songs are a little longer, this time, the band can fully justify the lengths without feeling incomplete because their songwriting has gotten that much better from the debut.

I get why so many people love this album, and I'll bet the Greek metal underground is more than happy to have this album representing their country while influencing an extreme metal scene of their own.  This is the most fun of the classic three albums, and shows several steps forward for the band.

91

This started with some decent grooves and "gothic" riffs, but after a couple songs in I got bored. The only thing black metal I found in this release at all was the vocals. The mix was too clean, and maybe I've been more into the atmospheric sides of things lately but even in melodic black metal there is usually some form of dark feel. I oddly got an alternative rock/metal feel from some of the songs like a Tool sound. can't explain how just some of the stylings gave me a vibe but with the vocals seemed out of place to me. Not that they were bad, but like an odd mix of flavors that surprisingly don't work when together. I see this as a highly reviewed record, and maybe if I heard this years ago I would've liked it better but in 2023 I can find more black metal releases from the 90's that I enjoy more.

Rotting Christ's brand of Hellenic black metal went into full on Gothic story telling mode on their 1996 release.  Balancing the Gothic and melodic elements whilst still retaining their charcteristic grim vocals and yet warm guitar tones, the album was the work of a band developing well.  I think this album shows a level of maturity and growth that was pivotal in getting the band to become almost household names in the world of black metal.

End to end the album has a real sense of flare.  Whilst never straying to the realm of being garish the panache for fluid and flowing melodies was in over drive on this release, cementing the bands sound alongside grown up songwriting that oozed class and captured the ear of the listener well.  Incorporating catchy riffs that are allowed to standout despite the thick production job, the album also builds great atmosphere to boot.  The weight of the production keeps the feel of everything being played through some dank fog but still gives key components space to thrive when needed, like swimming underwater without goggles and still being able to see aspects of the sea bed clearly.

The band had by this point in their career released numerous demos and two full lengths so if there was a time to expect them to "Kick on" a few levels then album number three was it.  Sakis, Themis and Jim all work together well to deliver a measured yet still very powerful feeling album.  There isn't a lot of power to the music here and it is better for it, the Gothic melancholy coats most of the music and shrouds it bleak and dreary tones whilst the melodic aspects lift the instrumentation, warming further the tone of the riffs and the stabbing leads.

Probably one of my preferred Rotting Christ releases so an absolute pleasure to be able to spend an hour with it earlier to relive it's dark, melodious glory.  In terms of its place in this list for the North Clan Challenge it is a particular standout record in comparison to the vast majority of the other albums listed.  Nobody else on the list sounds like Rotting Christ for sure and this only serves to fuel the fires of this being one of the standout releases here.

I had high hopes for Rotting Christ's third album after the huge improvement they showed on the previous album "Non Serviam". I was quite a fan of that record & hoped the band could recapture some of the atmosphere they had created on that record. "Triarchy Of The Lost Lovers" also had the benefit of a much higher recording/production budget due to the backing of their new label Century Media so things were all looking very promising for the band at that time.  

The first thing I noticed about this release was that the extra money had been well spent in the production department. Everything sounds much cleaner & more powerful. The drums sound like an actual drummer for the first time & the guitars are very full which is in direct contrast to the thinner sound on "Non Serviam". Secondly Rotting Christ's trademark mid-paced tempos had been diluted somewhat. Much of "Triarchy Of The Lost Lovers" is at a slower & often doomier pace. I'm not sure I enjoy this as much as the drumming really does sound overly simple in this context. I think they really needed to work on making the drumming sound more interesting to keep things from coming across a little flat at times. In fact the whole album does tend to sound a little tame & could do with some more energy. It's missing a bit of the dark, majestic atmosphere that "Non Serviam" achieved & is guilty of dipping into the more light-weight melodic death metal bucket on more than the odd occasion. Quite a few tracks come across as fairly forgettable (see "King Of A Stellar War", "One With The Forest", "The First Field Of The Battle") & it really does come down to the quality & memorability of the riffs. There are some pretty tired old riffs included here amongst the weaker tracks. Unfortunately the improvements in the area of production haven't been matched by a continuation of the dramatic improvement they made in their musicianship from "Thy Mighty Contract" to "Non Serviam" & there's still a little left to be desired in the rhythm guitar performances here. The guitar solos still sound very clunky & are a struggle to listen to at times.   

Still, all is not lost. To their credit Rotting Christ have achieved a more varied album than "Non Serviam" which was considered to be a little one dimensional. The high points of the album are the tracks where the band manages to capture the listener emotionally. Tracks like "A Dynasty From The Ice" & album highlight "The Opposite Bank" achieve this through the use of more mature melodies & memorable song-writing. These moments often remind me of the elegance of early Paradise Lost & Katatonia & leave me humming the melodies for the rest of the day. If only the album was more consistent in that respect. Thankfully the production really does make the whole thing a more enjoyable experience than the song-writing deserves. Overall the inconsistencies of "Triarchy Of The Lost Lovers" makes it an overrated & inconsistent release.