Rotting Christ's mainman Sakis Tolis has announced the release of his first ever solo album, entitled Among The Fires Of Hell. A date for release has not been revealed yet but it will come out independently through the artist's own label and will be shared free of charge via all music platforms. The title track, featuring guest appearances from Fotis Bernardo on drums and Andrew Liles on narration, is streaming below.
Sakis Tolis commented:
"My dear friends, This is the first song from my upcoming solo album Among the fires of Hell that i would like to share exclusively via my Official Channel. This gonna be a D.I.Y. release with songs that i did write during harrowing 'Lock downs' and i felt like sharing with you these wild times free of charge. Thanks for your attention and hope you will enjoy my new creation."
Rotting Christ have been a solo project since after Triarchy Of The Lost Lovers. Which makes me wonder why this release comes out under his name and not RC's. I can only assume that there is something going on with his brother because Fotis Benardo is playing drums here. I have no inside info, I am just assuming but it is common knowledge that there was friction between them during the recordings of The Heretics. Or maybe he has not been able (or bothered) to replace George Emmanuel and Vagelis Karzis who left in 2019. But that wouldn't have been a problem for a studio album, Sakis is used to composing and playing everything but the drums himself.
The song reminisces the era of A Dead Poem and Sleep Of The Angels; he even sings the lyrics "let me sleep the sleep of the angels". It travels back to the years 1997-2000, there is even the intro narration by Andrew Liles of Current 93 (RC covered C93's "Lucifer Over London" on Khronos in 2000). The part after 2:12 is recycled from "Heaven And Hell And Fire" (what did you expect?) but the song overall is good and it has a pretty decent solo (finally).
All that said, a musician of his calibre is putting out music at 'name your price'. That's also worth mentioning.
Rotting Christ have been a solo project since after Triarchy Of The Lost Lovers. Which makes me wonder why this release comes out under his name and not RC's. I can only assume that there is something going on with his brother because Fotis Benardo is playing drums here.
Can't it just be that he wrote extra material during the lockdown?
I'm no expert in RC, so I don't really know how good or bad their relation is, but Sakis own explanation seems plausible enough.
Anyway, I hope RC keep doing their stuff and if, from time to time we get some extra material from Sakis, all the better.
I like Rotting Christ a lot, very excited about this new project. The song is pretty simple and straightforward, which I appreciate.
Let's see what will come next