Review by Daniel for Rotting Christ - Triarchy of the Lost Lovers (1996)

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.