Year of release: 2018 (original) / 2019 (russian language edition)
Label: Cult Never Dies / Metal Star (russian language edition)
Temporarily paused writing the next book of Cult series, Dayal Patterson joined forces with ROTTING CHRIST leader Sakis Tolis to work on the creation of the band’s official biography. To be honest, I had some doubts that this book will be fascinating. I respect ROTTING CHRIST, but the work of this band for me begins and ends with “Passage to Arcturo”, and I must say that I could live even without this legendary EP. Therefore, I pinned my main hopes on the fact that the book will be devoted not so much to music as to some interesting stories that the hyperactive Greeks should have accumulated during their more than 30-years career.
Surprisingly, the book seems to have managed to please everyone. Absolutely all the necessary information is provided here in balanced proportions. A complete data package about composing, recording and releasing each album is available. A thousand detailed memories from different periods of your personal life - eat this with a full spoon. The stories about the tours? Tons of them ( (the story of the first ROTTING CHRIST tour in the USA struck me straight, this is simply amazing; even our local promoters who pay the bands with coupons for tea and pizza can't imagine anything like that). Consistent description of underground extreme metal historical timeline, from the very beginning to the present day (and this, I am sure, the most important thing for half of the book's buyers)? Check. There is also a place for a very honest analysis of Greeks' own actions, as well as their place on the global level. Finally, the book talks a lot about the peculiarities of the development of the Greek metal scene.
ROTTING CHRIST are well known for their down-to-earth characters, and this fact is once again confirmed by the book. Perhaps it is difficult to call them “interesting personalities” - they are ordinary metalheads who have scored to the top solely due to the unquenchable love of music and the readiness to work until they die. But in their stories, everything is set out extremely accessible; they are like that guy who comes up to you at a concert and dumps a heap of news about the local evil scene without pretending to be a part of something inaccessible to mere mortals. In the presence of the brothers, modest and the more closed ex-members of the classical line-up, Jim Mutilator and Magus (NECROMANTIA, THOU ART LORD), also starting to talk frankly. I must say "Only Death is Real" by Tomas Fischer is probably the only book that can be compared to "Non Serviam" in terms of of immersion in the interior of the band. This is an incredibly informative work. After three hundred pages there is a feeling that you have read two times more. The main conclusion to be drawn from the above: this book will be interesting not only to fans of ROTTING CHRIST. The very way of how it is written it an excellent addition to your library.
The Russian-language edition is released just over a month after the release of the original one. It is hardcovered and limited to 500 copies. The first 100 are delivered in a special slipcase. Unfortunately, due to the inability to produce some stuff quickly in Belarus, Metal Star had to make special version of the book a bit more simple. But the book is printed in color. As usual, the readers from CIS can order it at Possession.
English (UK) 
Крыўская