Passage To Arcturo

Few people realize that Greece's Rotting Christ started out as a grindcore band in 1988, but then how could they when the group's first widely distributed recordings from four years later -- the Passage to Arcturo EP -- already found them splitting the stylistic differences between black and death metal almost right down the middle. In fact, opening number, "The Old Coffin Spirit" (and you can bet King Diamond wishes he'd thought up that song title first), probably offers the most simplified blueprint imaginable for the band's eventual signature sound, later expanded and refined for years and years to come. Meanwhile, its immediate follow-up, "The Forest of N'Gai," likewise introduces rudimentary but already very effective synthesizers imitating ghostly vocal falsettos...or is it the other way around? In any case, this willingness to experiment is continually reflected in the EP's remaining songs -- no matter how formative in construction. It's in the gothic-tinged doom of "The Mystical Meeting" (where deadpan narrations reflect the influence of future labelmates Tiamat), the atmospheric piano interlude, "Gloria de Domino Inferni," and the marriage of death metal and early Sepultura post-thrash of "Inside the Eye of Algond." In sum, Passage to Arcturo is a surprisingly well-rendered and prophetic glimpse of Rotting Christ's future ambitions. [Reissued in 2005 by Unruly Sounds, Passage to Arcturo was augmented with two, far more crusty black metal-focused tracks from the "Dawn of the Iconoclast" 7" (making a clear case as to why that Vulcano-like style was quickly abandoned by the group), and a true rarity in the also gothic and doom-slow 1989 demo entitled "Feast of the Grand Whore."] ~ Eduardo Rivadavia