Review by Daniel for Rotting Christ - Non Serviam (1994)

Rotting Christ's second album is a massive improvement on "Thy Mighty Contract". The musicianship & song-writing has come forwards in leaps & bounds & everything is much more memorable. Their debut hinted at a more melodic side of black metal & this album sees that developed on further but it's important to note that they never descend into over-the-top cheese like many of the more melodic black/death metal bands do. This is quite a mature sound. The production is quite thin but it doesn't take away from the experience much as it's certainly not muddy & you can clearly make out all of the individual instruments. The guitar solos are still pretty poor & I've always thought Rotting Christ would be better off giving them away altogether. There has been a great improvement on the use of keyboards which sounded very amateurish on "Thy Mighty Contract". 

Rotting Christ have always been about atmosphere over brutality & it's no different here. They hold enough back to allow the songs to breath & the tempos don't generally get above mid-pace which can lead to a samey feeling with many of the tracks but the memorability of the melodies saves them from becoming boring. There's really not a poor song here.