Greek metal masters ROTTING CHRIST have announced details surrounding their new full-length, ‘Rituals’. The bands twelfth studio album, will be released by Season of Mist worldwide on February 12. The album is available across several CD and LP formats, and pre-orders are available now at the Season of E-Shop.

ROTTING CHRIST are streaming the first new track from ‘Rituals’, titled ‘Elthes Kyrie” at Stereokiller.

Regarding the new track, ROTTING CHRIST founder Sakis Tolis comments:

“Dear friends, we now present the first creation of our forthcoming album ‘Rituals’ to you. It is not an easy task to pick only one song to represent a whole album as diverse as this, but as this has to suffice for the time being, the choice fell on “Elthe Kyrie”. “Elthe Kyrie” translates as ‘Come Lord’ and was influenced by the tragic ancient Greek poet Euripides and more specifically his creation ‘Bakxais’. This pure bacchanalian play refers to the coming of the new god.”

Sakis continues:

“The ritualistic atmosphere of this historical theater-drama influenced us lyrically as well as musically, and resulted in this song. There only remains one thing, which is us taking you on a mystical journey into ancient Greek bacchanalian occultism. The female guest vocals are courtesy of the fabulous Danai Katsameni, an actress of the National Hellenic Theater.”

The artwork (see above) and track list for ‘Rituals’ here:

Track List:
1. In Nomine Dei Nostri
2. Ze Nigmar
3. Elthe Kyrie
4. Apage Satana
5. Les Litanies De Satan (Fleurs du mal)
6. For A Voice Like Thunder
7. Komx Om Pax
8. Devadevam
9. Thou Thanatou
10. The Four Horsemen

For almost 30 years, ROTTING CHRIST have blazed a trail for the black metal genre to follow. From their primitive early material through to 2012’s epic ‘Kata Ton Daimona Eaytoy’, their pioneering spirit has been a flame of inspiration in an increasingly reductive genre. Now the renowned band return with new album ‘Rituals’, a diverse collection of new songs influenced by rites and myths from all around the globe. ‘Rituals’ highlights their unique power and magic, and is the darkest and most personal-sounding ROTTING CHRIST album to date. As ‘Rituals’ illustrates, there is a reason that ROTTING CHRIST are an international heavy metal institution.