Rotting Christ - Keravnos Kivernitos (Black Metal)

Rotting Christ is a melodic black metal band hailing from Athens, Attica, Greece. They were formed in 1987 with the original line-up Sakis (vocals, guitar), Jim (bass), Themis (drums) incorporating a roaring mixture of death metal and grind (a style that was at its height in the rest of the world at that time except, of course, Greece). Early on Rotting Christ produced two informal recordings (“Decline’s Return” and ‘Leprosy Of Death”) which basically consist of rehearsals and are not considered official by the band.
In 1988 the band recorded their first split 7” EP with Yhorypansi (aka Sound Pollution) which includes nine of their songs. The style and lyrical content are typical of Grindcore (for example “Asthmatic Apoplexy”, “Myxomycetes Attack”, “Thyrotoxicosis”, “Artificial Hypertrophy”).
This particular year, the band decided to dedicate itself solely to black metal following the footsteps of Bathory, Venom, Possessed and Celtic Frost. So, in 1989 they circulated their first official demo, the notorious 5-track “Satanas Tedeum”. The result was incredibly dark and violent black metal, which the band themselves characterized as “abyssic death metal”, since the term “black metal” was not yet established in the underground and death and black metal were interchangeable in those days. This demo did its rounds in the underground and gave the band a good name, establishing Rotting Christ as one of the originators of the second wave of black metal. In the piece “Feast Of The Grand Whore” one can hear keyboards that were unique for that era and for death metal.