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Thy Mighty Contract

Greece Country of Origin: Greece

Thy Mighty Contract
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Type: Full-Length
Release Date: November 11th, 1993
Genre: Black, Gothic
1. The Sign Of Evil Existence
2. Transform All Sufferings Into Plagues
3. Fgmenth, Thy Gift
4. His Sleeping Majesty
5. Exiled Archangels
6. Dive The Deepest Abyss
7. The Coronation Of The Serpent
8. The 4th Knight Of Revelation (Part I,II)


Review by Nathan on January 29, 2023.

Somebody traded Rotting Christ’s entire full-length discography into a used CD store near me (born again Christian? Who knows). As I had heard good things but never fully gotten around to checking them out, I figured this was as good a time as any to see what was up. I had heard a handful of scattered tracks here and there, but it never gave me the impetus to go any further. I even own Non Serviam but it never really grabbed me despite a couple of tries. Perhaps a full-scale discography binge was what I needed to “get” this band; either that, or I just wasted fifty bucks on a bunch of albums. Might as well justify my purchase by writing about it.

Admittedly, it takes a bit of adjustment to appreciate what Rotting Christ (and Greek black metal as a whole, generally) is going for if you listen to a lot of black metal already. The style is one that’s much more immediately melodic and less aggressive than one might be used to. Even as somebody who prefers more melodic offshoots of the genre myself, the frequent theatrical wandering and lack of overt speed was tough for me to stomach at first. I’ve gotten over it a bit more now and have grown to appreciate the approach for what it is, but there are still a few kinks I haven’t ironed out yet that show up on Thy Mighty Contract. Rotting Christ does have sections where they pick up the pace and sound more like your standard black metal band, but the speedier sections are probably my least favorite parts of the album because I’ve never been a fan of Rotting Christ's blastbeat style. The snare and kick drum drown out the cymbals in the mix, and the lack of variance in the alternating snare-kick-snare-kick patterns can make them really irritating and kill the vibe of the melodies (the beginnings of “Dive the Deepest Abyss” and “Exiled Archangels” are kind of grating). There is a more straightforward approach to drums in general, and it can work really well at times (such as in “Visions of the Dead Lover”), but on the whole the moments more directly inspired by black metal rarely inspire much other than boredom in me. The double-kick patterns are alright because they're nice and steady (a benefit of programmed drums, I guess), but otherwise the more intense Rotting Christ gets, the less engaged I am.

It’s fair to say that Rotting Christ was still finding their sound on Thy Mighty Contract, and that mostly shows in the playfulness of the songwriting and abundance of melodies. The songs are fairly cohesive and all, but it’s also evident that the band is combining ideas and influences from a few different styles and sorting out where they fit. The vocals sound like a holdover from their early death/grind days, not really adding a lot but not detracting much either. The keyboards, which show hints of the gothic vibe the band would explore later in their career, mostly feel like an afterthought on this album. Although Rotting Christ are most certainly black metal here, it doesn’t actually sound like the riffs take a whole lot of influence from it directly. There’s moments I can say sound inspired by early ‘90s death metal, maybe even Iron Maiden with some of the leads and solos, but the black metal tag is mostly attributed to Rotting Christ for the atmosphere they create around the riffs. Greek black metal is kind of interesting for that reason. It sounds like bands from this region have much different influences than the Norwegian bands of the early 90s, yet they still evoke similar enough atmospheres to have the same genre tag - it’s kinda like parallel evolution or something. Sure, there’s maybe a hint of Blaze in the Northern Sky influence on Thy Mighty Contract, but it’s dressed up in syrupy melody. This is much more whimsical and flamboyant than the cold, stark seriousness that often gets associated with black metal.

That being said, I don’t think I’m totally sold on Rotting Christ yet. Sakis Tolis has a great sense of melody and that shines through on a handful of moments, but even the tracks with the best riffs never seem to capture my interest all the way through. There’s a lot of potential on Thy Mighty Contract, no doubt, but at this point it’s still unrealized potential. The production is a bit too thin at this point (I know it’s black metal, but these guys don’t exactly have a cold and minimalist approach), and the band is still trying to figure out what they really want to be. This is sorta an “essential” album because it’s a key landmark in black metal’s development, but I wouldn’t really recommend it as a pleasure listen.

Rating: 6.9 out of 10

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Review by Kostas on January 29, 2023.

Rotting Christ is a unique band, as they have a special dark and at the same time powerful approach to metal music. Once checking out their history, one will realise they changed their style and sound several times in the past. However, the key point of their discography, the album that crowned them as kings of the so called Hellenic black metal scene is no other but their debut, "Thy Mighty Contract". An album that marked the 90s and the whole second wave of black metal, receiving mostly glorifying reviews.

My humble opinion is this album is in no way the masterpiece some people claim it is. The recording quality is in fact rather poor. Same goes for mixing. Sure, the studios Sakis and Themis had access to in '92 would not be that advanced, but this doesn't make the quality any better. Despite that, the major downside of this record is the lack of professionalism and musicianship, which is obvious in Sakis' bad harsh vocals and his try to sound evil. This unfortunately has the opposite effect, making his voice sound rather awkward. Ιt is the same story concerning the musical instruments. Playing good electric guitar, bass or drums must have been really difficult to achieve in Athens in the early nineties. To hide their inability, the band members tried to compose tracks with simple and repetitive but also melodic rifts. Those proved to be catchy to some extent, but in the end there is a lack of variety in musical structure.

So, recording quality is bad and the musicians were amateur at the time. And some good rifts don't make a good album, right? The answer to what saves this album from being mediocre is the atmosphere and the cult feel it invokes. There is a retro aura throughout "Thy Mighty Contract", which is due to the very same downsides I mentioned before. One could say that they are even enjoyable and entertaining after several listens, especially in songs like "The Fourth Knight of Revelation" which, alongside "Exiled Archangels", is the big highlight of the album. Plus it takes a lot of courage to release such an album in one of the most conservative parts of Europe in 1993.

In conclusion, the first album of Rotting Christ is not the album every metal fan should own (and definitely not their best), since there are aspects when it comes to quality and structure. On the other hand, there are more than a few parts where you will catch yourself headbanging in harmony with the slow (at least for a black metal record) yet powerful melodies. Many feelings and thoughts will come to mind as well. One such thought might be that the crucial role this debut played in the evolution of black metal and metal in general is undeniable. A role that has not and will not be forgotten.

Rating: 6.9 out of 10

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