Greek Gods

"I am doing okay, a bit busy, but this is our life, you know? I have no alternative,” offers the 41 year-old Sakis Tolis. Based out of Greece, Rotting Christ are an extreme metal band that has evolved through black and gothic sounds over time, and have drawn influences from many cultures; their latest album, Katá Ton Daímona Eaftoú, is more a monument to that than the ten albums that precede it.

The translation of the ancient Greek album title “is very close to 'do what you will', or 'be true to your own spirit',” Tolis clarifies. His grasp on English is enough to show his wisdom, but still puts a slightly awkward slant on his delivery.

“It doesn't have to do that much with the music,” he says of the themes of the title. “The music in reality is more dark, it's more atmospheric, it's a mix of many cultures. It's a multicultural result, but I couldn't really find a special title. So from this the sound was like being true to your own spirit.”

The album contains a reinterpretation of a traditional Romanian song mixed in with the brooding and epic originals, and Tolis insists that the influences extend far beyond.

“You can hear there are elements from ancient Mayans, ancient Incas, ancient Greeks, Romanians, Slavs, Babylonians, many styles… I like the journey. Since I was born, I was always travel around the world. So I felt like the time has come for me to write something that is a mix of many cultures.”

The band, which contains original drummer and younger brother Themis Tolis alongside an ever-evolving line-up of session musicians, has “never had managers. We are an old-school band and we have the old-school attitude of do it yourself. I have grown up with this idea and I want to build the band. Because managers, okay, they can build a band, but they can overweight the finances, they ask for more money, they push promoters, but no, we are fans. We want to have good connection with the people that bring the band into their land.”

Despite his multitude of abilities, which also include recording and engineering Rotting Christ's albums, Tolis has learned all of this himself.

“I have no studies at all my friend. Not even musical studies. I do by my instincts, everything. I have never even been taught one note. But I write music, and compose the entire of an album, I can play ten instruments but I never took any education about this. The same about history, but I like to read the notes. I am the kind of person when someone push me to something, then I freak out. I like to do everything by myself, and nothing is the result of a standard education.”