Review by Rexorcist for Rotting Christ - Thy Mighty Contract (1993)

Thy Mighty Contract, debut album of influential Hellenic black metal band Rotting Christ, has some very rough, deep and a downright dirty sound to it which feels similar to death metal or war metal.  The album is loaded with fun riffs of various shapes and sizes, which is kind of a sigh of relief considering that the songs rarely break the vibe or genre meant for it.  I imagine that a lot of these riffs would be a lot of fun to play.  One of the rare examples I can think of are the Metroid electronics heard for a few seconds in the middle of Exiled Angels, and another being only a couple of instances of angelic synths that barely make an appearance for more than five seconds.  If they were going for developing a signature sound, then they certainly did the job.  And thanks to the production, everything comes out clearly, and they still manage to make it sound really dirty in their own way.  I think that's actually very impressive.  Of course, being their first time, I'm not surprised that the album had some noteworthy flaws.  For one thing, some of the songs feel like they need another verse, like the were incomplete.  I mean, if the opener, The Sign of Evil Existence, was showing the band going for a two-minute song rather than a two-minute intro, they should've stuck with the intro, because the song had a lot of potential that could be explored.  Same goes for the next couple tracks.  As a result, the album goes by much more quickly than it probably should, clocking in at 37 minutes.  But all of these songs manage a fun perspective anyway.  So this is a good debut that shows personality and technical / melodic skill in lieu of variety and structure.

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