I've reviewed a couple of Rotting Christ's early albums, besides having a couple albums purchased like Genesis for instance, and they were pretty good. Aealo is a so so type of CD, I mean it's not bad but it sure is not outstanding either. It just does not reach my soul or guts.
Their black metal has turned more refined and the polished sound production is helping quite a bit too. The fast paces have almost disappeared, a good thing as such, and the harshness is now much discreet. Raspy vocals are still present, as well as the somewhat shy distorted guitar work. The riffs are powerfully backed by loud and fat bass lines plus pounding percussions; the last being the real driving force in many songs. The shyness extends to the leads and the ambient keyboards as well. Then comes a nice aspect, since this is not a completely bad album. You have a welcomed touch of folk and a general epic/war-like vibe that keeps popping in once and a while. There have included varied vocal styles such as: narrative, choirs, beastie and incantation. Unfortunately, they added a female vocalist that bears resemblances, in her annoying tonalities, to Hildr Valkyrie. Still, I was able to enjoy a few compositions like: "Noctis Era", "Santa Muerte" and "Orders from the Dead".
Without being Cradle of Filth or Dimmu Borgir, Rotting Christ is an old timer signed to a major metal label and it shows in their sound.
Track listing:
1- Aealo
2- Eon Aenaos
3- Demonon Vrosis
4- Noctis Era
5- Dud-Sag-Ta-Ke
6- Fire, Death and Fear
7- Thou Art Lord
8- Santa Muerte
9- Orders from the Dead
10- Nekron Iahes…
11- …Pir Threontai
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