INTERVIEW: Sakis Tolis – Rotting Christ
With a career spanning over three decades, ROTTING CHRIST sit in the upper echelons of black metal. Led by the formidable duo of Sakis Tolis and Themis Tolis, the Greeks have forged an impeccable sound that has evolved and changed organically throughout their career and has led the band where they are today. Now, three years after the release of their last effort, the excellent Rituals, sees the arrival of album number thirteen The Heretics as ROTTING CHRIST intend to maintain their superb run of form. Back in October of last year at the renowned The World’s End in London, Distorted Sound‘s Editor-in-Chief James Weaver and Deputy Editor Jessica Howkins attended a listening party to hear the record for the very first time. Following its play, we spoke with band mastermind Sakis Tolis to talk all about their brand new effort as well as reflecting on his long career at the helm of one black metal’s finest outfits.
So we have just heard your new album The Heretics, how do you feel about the record?
Sakis: I feel quite insecure [laughs]. Like with every album I create, it is like my baby so I’m always nervous to how people will react. I feel relieved.
So has this listening session eased your nerves?
Sakis: I would so, I certainly liked the sound here [at The World’s End, London]. It was okay but it could be better!
So with The Heretics being the thirteenth album from ROTTING CHRIST, how have you find the creative process this time round? Did you find it more difficult to find inspiration?
Sakis: Oh it is always hard. I’m 30 years into the scene, I have created thirteen albums but yeah I struggle very hard with my demons. You see, do I have something to say to people? It took me more than a year to come up with this album and I’m very happy that I’m still active and that I can still create something. I want to create something soulful and that is why I read a lot before I started work on this album. I read a lot, I play a lot and I talk with myself a lot.
With the fact The Heretics focuses on religious wars, is much of that directed towards modern-day events?
Sakis: Kind of yes! I think that societies have stepped back in the last ten years. I have this feeling, I don’t know if you have the same, but people seem to be more sceptic. They are afraid. They are suspicious. I think we are in a generation where we can create something different and that is why I called the album The Heretics. Our way of life, the path we choose to walk, I wanted to write something about it.
The Heretics arrives several years after Rituals which was a new direction for ROTTING CHRIST but I feel on The Heretics, those elements are still there but infused with the core essence of the band. So how you say you have progressed in those three years?
Sakis: I feel like I have made a more soulful album in my opinion. There is more bass in the guitars but I don’t think it is too different from Rituals. I cannot escape from this, this is how I feel nowadays.
So was it important to keep that natural continuity?
Sakis: Yes I think so. Many people ask me “why don’t you just play songs from the 90s?” and say if I do that I will repeat myself. I don’t want this.
With the career that you have enjoyed with ROTTING CHRIST, you are touching near three decades, do you find it a challenge to come up with new ideas?
Sakis: It is a big challenge but I like challenges! My whole life is a challenge, I like to take risks, I’ve been doing that for 30 years. For the first ten to fifteen years, I didn’t have one penny in my pocket, I keep on doing this because I love this. I consider myself more of a fan, first as a fan then as a musician. I like thinking like that, it’s how I do it man!
So with that in mind, would you ever consider writing an album for the fans or do you do it purely for yourself?
Sakis: Every album we do is for the fans. I want to serve them my music, my feelings. If you like them that makes me happy and I will keep on doing this.
Do you feel pressure from the expectations from fans?
Sakis: Yes, a lot!
I wanted to ask about the Zoroastrianism, can you explain what that is?
Sakis: So it is one of the first philosophies on this planet. It comes from Mesopotamia, the Middle-East, it is quite theoretic so I wanted to try writing something about Zoroastrianism. That’s why I asked Ashmedi of MELECHESH to join me. I wanted to write about this because I want to understand it and make sense of it. I always want to make soulful music so that’s why I wanted to write about Zoroastrianism.
As much of this is about your own journey, you worked with Jens Borgen who helped produce the record but at the same time you produce your albums yourselves. What did Jens bring to the record?
Sakis: He brought new ideas and it really helped me refresh my own ideas. He gave me the freedom to create but he gave me plenty of ideas. When you write music for 30 years, unfortunately, you are trapped sometimes. He gave new ideas and I think he has done a very good job.
The thing with ROTTING CHRIST is that over the course of your long career, you have undergone quite drastic stylistic changes at times. So in this current run, where more recent records have done really well, do you feel that you’ve hit your best run of form?
Sakis: I think so yes, it is strange to think about it, but yeah I think we are in our best run of form. Especially live. We’re doing more than over 100 shows every year!
It may seem like quite a difficult question but how do you feel The Heretics stands compared to your back catalogue? Do you think it’s the best album you’ve ever done?
Sakis: Oh I can’t say that! It’s up to you to say that [laughs]. I feel like I’ve made an album that meets the quality of the last, it’s very important to me. I’ve put my soul into this album.
One thing I wanted to talk about is the war between good and evil. What do you believe then to be good and evil?
Sakis: It’s quite difficult to be honest. Good people can be bad and bad people can be good, it’s all about balance. You must find this balance, it’s what I fight for with myself.
Moving back to the record itself, one thing I noticed is that there are several different languages used across the record. Was it always important to you to incorporate the languages of differing cultures on this record?
Sakis: Yes. I think that metal has no borders. Okay, maybe sometimes you have to sing in English but because my accent can be difficult to understand, I want to be able to express myself sometimes in a different way. Every time I play I see metal kids from all over the world and they speak different languages!
Well thank you so much for your time Sakis, thank you so much for accommodating us and letting us hear your album!
Sakis: My pleasure my friends, thank you for coming along today.
The Heretics is set for release on February 15th via Season of Mist.
Like ROTTING CHRIST on Facebook.
