''Thy Mighty Contract'' is the debut studio album by Greek

extreme metal Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tran ...

band

Rotting Christ Rotting Christ is a Greek black metal band formed in 1987. They are noted for being one of the first black metal bands within this region, as well as a premier act within the European underground metal scene. They are also responsible for creat ...

, released in November 1993 on

Osmose Productions Osmose Productions () is a French independent record label created in 1991 by Hervé Herbaut, after he had spent three years running a small mail order company. They specialize mainly in death and black metal bands. Many of the groups who began ...

. It was re-released by

Century Black Century Media Records is a German heavy metal record label with offices in Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom. In August 2015, Century Media was acquired by Sony Music for US$17 million. Background Century Media was founded by R ...

in January 1998 with two bonus tracks originally released on the ''Apokathelosis'' EP and different artwork.

Track listing

# "The Sign of Evil Existence" – 2:00 # "Transform All Sufferings into Plagues" – 5:25 # "Fgmenth, Thy Gift" – 4:29 # "His Sleeping Majesty" – 5:50 # "Exiled Archangels" – 5:07 # "Dive the Deepest Abyss" – 3:33 # "The Coronation of the Serpent" – 4:06 # "The Fourth Knight of Revelation (I & II)" – 6:49 ;Reissue bonus tracks Contrary to popular belief that drum programming was used on this album, the drums were actually recorded live using an electronic drum kit.

Musical style

Rotting Christ plays fast black metal in the Greek style, which was, according to ''

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

'' journalist Eduardo Rivadavia, “slightly over-reliant on furious blastbeats”, but showing “a budding flair for melody”. Chad Bowar of ''

About.com Dotdash Meredith (formerly The Mining Company, About.com and Dotdash) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, hom ...

'' describes the style as black metal which “took on a melodic, slightly heavy metal-ish format“, with a “limited supply of rhythm blasting and lifeless

tremolo In music, ''tremolo'' (), or ''tremolando'' (), is a trembling effect. There are multiple types of tremolo: a rapid repetition of a note, an alternation between two different notes, or a variation in volume. Tremolos may be either ''measured'' ...

riffing”.Chad Bowar
''Retro Recommendation: Rotting Christ - Thy Mighty Contract''
.

Reviews

''Allmusic'' journalist Eduardo Rivadavia called ''Thy Mighty Contract'' “a promising first long-player”, although “the album's production may have been somewhat subpar, and its songs slightly over-reliant on furious blastbeats, but none of this mattered a lick to hardcore extreme metal fans”. ''About.com'' featured the album as a ''Retro Recommendation'' and criticised the drums for being “too loud, and given the repetitive beats played, it becomes distracting at times. However, the bass is audible, which automatically makes the record something to cherish.“

Personnel

* Necromayhem: Vocals, guitars *George "Magus Wampyr Daoloth" Zaharapolous: Keyboards, backing vocals *Jim "Mutilator" Patsouris: Bass * Necrosauron: Drums

Production

*Arranged by Rotting Christ *Produced by Rotting Christ, George Osmak and Anthony Delaportas *Recording and Mix Engineer: Anthony Delaportas; assisted by George Osmak

References

1993 albums Rotting Christ albums Osmose Productions albums Century Media Records albums {{1990s-death-metal-album-stub