"Non Serviam" — if you were to describe the second ROTTING CHRIST album in two words, this is the record that brought success and recognition to the band that recorded it. This is indeed true; it's quite possible that had this work not been released in 1994, Greece would have remained a country that never produced a single metal band achieving worldwide fame. But it did come out, and its creators became famous — the bonus material on this disc confirms as much. The first two video files feature performances by Sakis with the band in Mexico! The album was released on October 10, 1994; following it, the 1989 demo "Satanas Tedeum" was reissued, and soon the band indeed appeared across Latin America.
So what was it about these 9 compositions totaling 48 minutes? Let's be straightforward — ROTTING CHRIST always played their own music; pinning down their genre was almost never possible. Critics even coined the special term "dark metal" to avoid wrestling with music that was constantly evolving yet unlike anything else — utterly original. Very precise and melodic guitar riffs that sit fairly high in the mix, and very often the riffs essentially merge with the solos — seemingly simple, yet no other bands employed this approach to their sound. There are proper solos as well, quite interesting and beautiful, intertwined with keyboards, without which the band's music is simply unimaginable. Much on this album seemingly derives from black metal, yet there isn't a second of chaos or disorder. On the contrary, ROTTING CHRIST's music is exceptionally cohesive, structured, and restrained — there is no room for frantic, disorderly aggression (even Sakis's vocals are moderate harsh singing, without shrieking or desperate roaring). The record has a certain trajectory along which the music travels from the first to the last track without ever changing direction, creating an absolutely unique sense of unity across the album's material. The drums deserve special mention — they complement the already somber atmosphere of the album. Periodically, the drum hits align precisely with the riffs (for example, in "Where Mortals Have No Pride" or "Mephesis of Black Crystal"), which only adds to the album's solemnity. Overall, this is not black metal, not doom, and not even dark metal — it is simply the second ROTTING CHRIST album, a band that then and now has created and continues to create in a unique, incomparable style. The album's title is "Non Serviam," which translates from Latin as "I Will Not Serve."
All in all, an excellent gift for the band's fans, who now have the opportunity to hear this legendary album once again — remastered in 2005 by Sakis himself — as well as watch two videos from Mexico and one from Greece, filmed in 2002.