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With the previous album "Triarchy Of The Lost Lovers" Greek ROTTING CHRIST already had moved away from their original sound, from quite hefty ROTTING CHRIST towards more melodic, Gothic-y sounds. This evolution is continued with "A Dead Poem", only the vocals of front-gurgler Sakis still remind of the old times, musically they completely crossed over into the Gothic Metal, a change that, for me, is not for the worse.
The opener "Sorrowful Farewell" shows quite clearly what the Hellenic quintet is standing for in the year 1997: Rather measured tempo, many melodies, quite melancholic atmosphere, with keyboards and more than once it reminds me of the ingenious "Irreligious"-album of Portuguese MOONSPELL (whose singer Fernando Ribeiro guests on "Among Two Storms", by the way). But still I acquit ROTTING CHRIST from any accusations of plagiarism, because although the direction is similar there still are enough differences to mark the line between the two acts.
The already mentioned "Among Two Storms" or also the excellent "As If By Magic" with its super-atmospheric beginning showcase the potential of the Greeks, that they are able to write well-flowing and energetic songs, even though many potential fans will have their problems with a: the band-name, b: the musical past and c: Sakis' quite harsh voice. A pity, because by writing off ROTTING CHRIST so easily you really miss something!
Packed into a very good Woodhouse-production and a great, very moody booklet "A Dead Poem" for sure marks the creative pinnacle of the Greeks, which they have yet failed to recover, but you should never give up the hope, heh.
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