Album Review: Rotting Christ - Rituals

How do you follow up the best album of your career? More of the same, according to Rotting Christ, who have continued down the path of focused, song-oriented writing.

While in the past this resulted in an emphasis on riffs, Rituals focuses on Satanic chants and spoken-word pondering. The result? A good album let down by a severe lack of variance. Rotting Christ still deliver the goods with tunes like Tou Thanatou and surprise Aphrodite's Child cover The Four Horsemen, but their brooding moments lose impact when they aren't contrasted with the high-energy, evil riffs the band are known for.