Review by Jeger on June 19, 2025.

For the past 36 years, Rotting Christ has so daringly explored the realms of forbidden spiritualism, war and philosophy. Their profound works have set the Tolis brothers-led faction atop the Greek scene and without much in the way of competition. Some fools claim that RC's music isn't even black metal anymore. Try figuring it into something else and see where that gets you… The earliest days of the band are best known for '93's "Thy Mighty Contract" - Rotting Christ's debut LP and one of the most important Black mMetal albums ever written. But two years before the release of "TMC", Rotting Christ released their groundbreaking "Passage To Arcturo" EP - about as trve kvlt as it gets, yet possessing of all the trademark Hellenic characteristics: theatrics, atmosphere and drama.

Rotting Christ in their most organic state: no drum machine, no experimental recording techniques and no overwhelming cinematics, just unfiltered and uncut Greek Black Metal. This unrefined piece represented the still primordial state of the early Greek scene, but it also forecasted a much different future for the movement when compared to that of the Scandinavians. Raw recording as if it was recorded in my teenage room, but wisely written with segmented compositions/passages that don't run by at light speed, but drag the grooves, stir up the melodies and offer a wealth of atmospheric components. One can't help but wonder what kind of an album "Thy Mighty Contract" could've been had Sakis and crew decided to simply build upon this particular recording foundation as opposed to the experimental nature of their debut LP. "The Forest Of N'gai" - a foreshadowing to the "Non Serviam" era and the following track, "The Mystical Meeting", is nothing more than Rotting Christ in their most brutal form: so punishing yet offering a taste of the kind of dynamics that would later be heard on albums like "Sanctus Diavolos" and "Κατά τον δαίμονα εαυτού". But altogether, "Passage To Arcturo" is a purist's delight - the way black metal was meant to sound - an homage to the baser and to the primal.

This thing is a gem - an overshadowed work; hiding under the dark expanse of the band's many celebrated LPs. Tucked away in the underground for only those who truly understand Black Metal to uncover. A treat: rare and bloody instead of blackened by charcoal. A thick ale kind of debauchery fit for gluttonous consumption. Rotting Christ's only noteworthy recording to have been recorded in the olde way, and the stripped-down nature of it all casts a glaring light upon the Barbaric nature of early Greek BM. Savagery unleashed but then reined in by dreamlike atmospherics and long-running melodic riffs. Profound spoken-word vocals! Ghastly grunts… True Greek black metal.

The brotherhood of those first pure days was like the stuff of fable, and the music was so fresh and unique. The mystique and the taboo of it all was the catalyst for many a late night scouring of that hole in the wall record joint downtown. The zines! The labels and of course the bands. "Passage To Arcturo" is special because it embodies everything that made those days so special. Its influence will always be felt, and yet there will never be another EP like it - transcendent but grounded in tradition and principle - just like every Rotting Christ record.

Rating: 9 out of 10