Since 1987 Rotting Christ have been one of the most constant names of Greek extreme metal and one of the longest-running black metal bands in the world. Thirty-nine years after their founding in Athens, the brothers Sakis and Themis Tolis continue to record and tour, with a discography that went from the grindcore of the first demos to black metal, to gothic metal and finally to a sound full of Greek traditions. This is the tribute to a course that put Greece on the map of the genre.
Country: Greece
Genre: Black Metal
For fans of: Varathron, Necromantia, Septicflesh
The beginnings: from grindcore to Greek black metal
The band started in 1987 as a grindcore act and spent its first years in rehearsals, demos and split releases with other Greek bands. The 1989 demo “Satanas Tedeum” showed the crossover between black metal and grindcore, while the 1991 EP “Passage to Arcturo” was the release that took them out of the narrow confines of the local scene. From that era are also the pseudonyms they kept for years: Necromayhem for Sakis, Necrosauron for Themis, Mutilator for bassist Dimitris Patsouris, while George Zaharopoulos of Necromantia appears as Morbid and later as Magus Wampyr Daoloth.
The debut and the Osmose years
Rotting Christ – Thy Mighty Contract, released in 1993 by French Osmose Productions, was recorded in Athens and from the first moment showed a black metal that was Mediterranean, warm and deliberately dirty, against the cold sound of the north. The same year the band took part in the “Fuck Christ Tour” together with Immortal and Blasphemy, while Euronymous of Mayhem had shown interest in releasing them before he was murdered. Then followed Rotting Christ – Non Serviam in 1994, recorded at Storm Studio in Athens and released by the Greek Unisound: a slower and heavier record, which paved the way for what came after.
Ten years at Century Media
In 1996 they signed to Century Media and stayed there for ten years. Rotting Christ – Triarchy of the Lost Lovers brought slower and more imposing rhythms and was the last album with Jim Mutilator, Rotting Christ – A Dead Poem from 1997 opened their sound to melodies and acoustic passages, while Rotting Christ – Sleep of the Angels from 1999 was the most gothic point of their course. In the year of that album the band’s name entered a political confrontation in the US, when Republican nomination candidate Gary Bauer called them “anti-Catholic” and the band responded with an official statement.
The decade continued with Rotting Christ – Khronos from 2000, recorded in Sweden with producer Peter Tägtgren, which marked a return to heaviness, Rotting Christ – Genesis from 2002, which took the sound back to fast black metal, and Rotting Christ – Sanctus Diavolos from 2004, their last for the label, with a live choir and a guest solo by Gus G. The following year, a cancelled concert in Greece after a reaction from Dave Mustaine became a topic of discussion in the scene and the media took the band’s side.
The Greek turn
In 2007 they moved to French Season of Mist and released Rotting Christ – Theogonia, where ancient Greek mythology and language moved to the centre of their sound. Three years later, Rotting Christ – Aealo brought Epirote laments, the tsampouna and the female traditional choir Pleiades into the composition, with Diamanda Galás as a guest. Then followed Rotting Christ – Κατά τον Δαίμονα Εαυτού from 2013, with mythologies from America to Persia, and Rotting Christ – Rituals from 2016, their most ritualistic record, with contributions like Nick Holmes of Paradise Lost and Vorph of Samael.
The present day
In 2019 they released Rotting Christ – The Heretics and the same year guitarist George Emmanuel and bassist Vagelis Karzis departed; they were replaced by Kostis Foukarakis and Kostas Heliotis. In 2020 their music was heard in the game “Mortal Shell”, with “χξϛʹ (666)” in the trailer and a separate sound pack. In 2024 came Rotting Christ – Pro Xristou, their fourteenth album, and in 2025 the live release “35 Years of Evil Existence”. In January 2026 “Aealo (Re-Recorded)” came out — the entire 2010 album re-recorded by the current line-up — and in spring 2026 Rotting Christ are touring America as support for Behemoth, together with Deicide and Immolation.
Listen to them
If you want to start from the beginning, put on their debut. Every record in the discography has its own article and its own player, so you can listen to the whole course in order.
Our take
Few bands in the genre have lasted thirty-nine years without repeating themselves. Rotting Christ changed sound many times — from grindcore to gothic metal and from there to Greek tradition — and each time came out with an album that didn’t resemble the previous one. For the Greek scene they’re not simply a historic band: they’re the point from which the following generations started to look.
See also
23 Greek Black Metal gems · Sakis Tolis: “I make solo records for the salvation of my soul” · Yoth Iria – Gone With The Devil · Sakis Tolis – Echoes From The Void · Sakis Tolis – Everything Comes to an End · Rotting Christ – Santa Muerte (Re-recorded) · Rotting Christ – Under the Name of Legion (Live at Lycabettus)
