23. Rotting Christ - Ronnie James Dio Stage, Friday, August 9th 2024 - 14.55 -15.40

These Greek mainstays (The Tolis brothers have been up to this for 36 years) trade in a really interesting version of black metal. It's not progressive in the fact that they don't pepper it with large sections of melodic noodling, however it does massively deviate from black metal's usual under-produced minimalistic corrosive self. This is stadium black metal, and immaculately produced and sumptuously euphoric and up-tempo. It avoids the usual trait of down-tuned guitar and instead serves up tracks build to echo across spacious fields.

It consists of the scale and ambition that you rarely find within black metal. The Tolis brothers have never cultivated a sound that is designed for small insular clubs. They want to be facilitating something that is epic and gargantuan in scope. Over 14 records they have honed and tempered their sound. This year’s “Pro Xristou” is once again an extraordinarily uplifting listen, with the eternal darkness cleverly offset by soaring melodic monoliths and at Bloodstock we will get our first chance to hear at least snippets of it live. So prepare to marvel and prepare to be blown away as Rotting Christ concocts music that operate at a Herculean scale.