ROTTING CHRIST: New Album Title Revealed

Greek extreme metallers ROTTING CHRIST have set "Aealo" as the title of their new album, due on February 15 in Europe and February 23 in the U.S. via Season Of Mist. The CD was recorded at Lunatach Studios in Katerini, Greece and will feature guest appearances by Greek-American vocalist Diamanda Galas and PRIMORDIAL frontman Alan A. Nemtheanga.

According to a press release, "Aealo" will delve deeper than ever before into ROTTING CHRIST's Greek roots. Frontman Sakis Tolis explains: "'Aealo' is the transcription of an ancient Greek word into the Latin alphabet. It means thrashing, catastrophe or destruction and reflects the musical and lyrical content of the album.

"The concept of 'Aealo' deals with the feelings of a warrior during a battle, therefore the album's title bears this sense of anger, fear and grief."

Nemtheanga recently stated about his collaboration with ROTTING CHRIST: "'Satanas Tedeum' was one of the very first black metal demos I got in 1989. I have been a fan since then so it was with pleasure and honour to sing with a band that I have been a fan of for 20 years and friends with from the old tape-trading 'zine network since 1991. We have toured together and I have visited Hellas many times over the years. Somewhere around the late '90s, the scene became fixated with Nordic metal and forgot that great music was still being made in South America, Canada, Australia, Asia, in Eastern Europe and that the Greek scene is one of the oldest. Some of us, however, do not forget so my contribution is to honour 20 years of great music and friendship."

Regarding the musical direction of the new ROTTING CHRIST material, Alan said, "It sounds classic ROTTING CHRIST although it sees them continue where they left off with 'Theogonia', further away from the older 'satanic' feel and more into the realm of the ancient Greek gods, mythology and folklore. I think and feel it is this influence that has in many ways unchained the band, giving them more freedom to explore their own heritage and culture. It invokes the proud spirit of history, just as PRIMORDIAL tries to do! In this respect we are like brothers!"

Added Tolis: "Collaborating with Alan from PRIMORDIAL on a song from the new album was an honour for our band. By including his great voice in our album, we believe he brought the mood we were seeking for this specific song: a Celtic mood that has so many similarities with the ancient Greek culture and atmosphere that this album exhales. Alan definitely lifted up the specific song because his voice is great and, most importantly, unique. We are honoured to work with the voice of Ireland!"

Diamanda Galas makes an appearances on ROTTING CHRIST's cover version of "Orders from the Dead", from Galas' "Defixiones, Will and Testament" album, for which Sakis wrote new music.

"It is a huge honour for our band to have Mrs. Diamanda Galas on our new album", Sakis stated. "Getting her approval to use her voice as it can be originally heard in her 'Orders from the Dead' song feels like we did the most successful cover in our career, with one of the most soulful songs in the history of music. The dead are still waiting for their justification..."