Band:	Rotting Christ
Album:	Triarchy Of The Lost Lovers
Style:	Black metal, Gothic metal
Release date:	August 20, 1996
A review by:	nikarg

01. King Of A Stellar War
02. A Dynasty From The Ice
03. Archon
04. Snowing Still
05. Shadows Follow
06. One With The Forest
07. Diastric Alchemy
08. The Opposite Bank
09. The First Field Of The Battle

Triarchy Of The Lost Lovers is the first album in which Rotting Christ decided to pour hefty doses of gothic metal into their sound. It baffled the fans at the time, but today this dark metal masterpiece is considered a classic and quite rightly so.

The departure from the strictly black metal sound is evident from the opening track. "King Of A Stellar War" has this nostalgic aura encapsulating it and its galloping rhythm is very different from the blasting and aggressive "The Sign Of Evil Existence" and "The Fifth Illusion" that opened the band's first two LPs. Moving on to the other tracks, it is noticeable that the blastbeats are few and far between and that the band is going almost entirely for a mid-paced approach to songwriting. The songs have either an epic, 'marching on to an emotional battle' feel to them or are immersed in a sea of melancholy, courtesy of the wailing guitars. Many times both of these elements are mixed together, leading to a totally absorbing result. As the album title suggests, the atmosphere is still dark, but this time it's a lot more heartfelt than sinister and even romantic in some way.

The riffs and the numerous rich melodies in Triarchy Of The Lost Lovers have enough time to develop and this makes for adequate breathing room to let the music sink in and be thoroughly felt. The production also helps a lot, being the best the band had had until then. Sometimes it does seem that parts of the songs are too similar to each other, and maybe they are, but the truth is that this impression mainly comes from the overall sadness that the guitar work in this album exhales. Moreover, Jim Mutilator's lyrics are more profound and personal, and are delivered in short bursts in what classifies as one of Sakis's strongest performances of his career, even though he had caught measles at the time of the recording and sang with high fever.

Triarchy Of The Lost Lovers is a gloomy record that can appeal to both black metal and gothic metal fans. At the same time, it's brimming with melody and hooks, which make it a very satisfactory listening experience for those into classic heavy metal. It was recorded after keyboardist Morbid's departure marked the beginning of a new era for the band and led them to an even more gothic path for the next couple of albums.

"Ice melts
As the warm tears fall
In a lake of white
Swans stare
At their direction
Sad they live
Strange birds are coming
Kissing the dead brothers
And it's snowing still"