Cody Gaisser

MORBID TALES

RATING: 9/10

Celtic Frost would enlist session drummer Stephen Priestly to help realize their first record, 1984's Morbid Tales, which was originally released in Europe as a 6-song mini-LP but subsequently expanded to album length for the U.S. market.

Morbid Tales is the logical culmination of Hellhammer's primal thrashings – riffs that defy melodic or harmonic logic, chaotic atonal guitar solos that more closely resemble screams of anguish than the typical fretboard gymnastics of contemporary shredders, and guttural vocals that could not be farther removed from the high-pitched wailings of more mainstream or traditional heavy metal bands. The music resembles thrash metal of the era, but more sickly and weird. The songs are more tightly composed and performed than anything Hellhammer recorded, and the lyrics are more strange and imaginative than that band's “murdering for Satan” shtick.

Morbid Tales begins with the experimental opener “Human,” an eerie collage of vocals and electronic noise. This transitions directly into the album's first proper song “Into The Crypts Of Rays,” one of the band's signature tunes, which tells the story of fifteenth century French nobleman Gilles de Rais, who was executed as a child murderer, rapist, and heretic. “Visions Of Mortality” is a sludgier number about a protagonist who performs ritual sacrifice in exchange for undead immortality. The story of “Dethroned Emperor” is unclear, but it all sounds quite menacing set against some of the most evil guitar riffs you're likely to hear. The title track “Morbid Tales” is an oddly structured sequence of musically nonsensical (yet highly memorable) riffs married to lyrics about ancient Egyptians summoning Lovecraftian entities and a guitar solo that sounds like a strangled cat; this is truly classic stuff. “Procreation Of The Wicked” straight up grooves. “Return To The Eve” features a female guest vocalist for the first time in the band's oeuvre, a well to which they would return consistently throughout their career. “Danse Macabre” is another sonic experiment with violin, gong, and bizarre vocalizations floating over a rhythmic bell pattern; it shows that, even at this early stage, the band knows there are other ways to sound dark and terrifying besides just heavy metal riffing. The album closer “Nocturnal Fear” is demonology at breakneck speed, accompanied by surreal sound effects.

Hailed by many metalheads as the pinnacle of the band's discography, Morbid Tales is Celtic Frost at their rawest and dirtiest, and the material is solid. It's a demented work by an insanely dedicated band who achieved cult status and laid the groundwork for several sub-genres of metal without even being able to sing or play their instruments particularly well. Lack of technical skill is beside the point though, because the band excel at channeling darkness and chaos through their songs. What Hellhammer strove for, Celtic Frost achieved.

EMPEROR'S RETURN

RATING: 7/10

Following the recording of Morbid Tales, Celtic Frost finalized their classic line-up, adding Reed St. Mark on drums. The trio then recorded and released the Emperor's Return EP the following year in 1985. Some tracks appeared on the expanded U.S. version of the band's debut, while others would resurface on the band's sophomore album. The EP introduced lyrical themes of a doomed empire which would be expanded upon with the following album To Mega Therion.

“Circle Of The Tyrants” sounds even more savage and chaotic than anything on Morbid Tales, with Fischer spitting out cryptic dark fantasy lyrics with plenty of venom. “Morbid Tales” and “Dethroned Emperor” reappear here from the U.S. version of the debut. “Visual Aggression” and “Suicidal Winds” are manic blasts of unrelenting noise, perhaps not as memorable as the band's best material, but they shouldn't disappoint fans of the band's extreme metal sound.

Emperor's Return is a short, punchy EP of frantic metal tantrums barely held together by the frenzied drumming of Reed St. Mark. Though the band would produce more consistent collections of songs, anyone with even a passing interest in Celtic Frost should find plenty to enjoy here.

TO MEGA THERION

RATING: 9/10

Problems in Martin Eric Ain's personal life led him to temporarily leave Celtic Frost prior to the production of the band's second album To Mega Therion, during which time he was replaced by bassist Dominic Steiner. According to the band, Steiner was technically a better musician than Ain. However Steiner did not bring the same creative influence to the material, and Fischer was frustrated by being left alone to shape the album's direction. The album's blasphemous cover painting was provided by the legendary artist H. R. Giger, for whom Fischer would later work as a personal assistant.

The album saw the band expanding the extreme metal sound of their earlier work into symphonic territory with the addition of layered French horn on several songs. The band also reprises the use of female backing vocals, which would become a signature of the band's sound. The lyrics have gradually become much more interesting since the band's earlier days, and To Mega Therion follows up on the dark fantasy style and “doomed empire” themes of Emperor's Return.

The album begins with the plodding brass- and tympani- laden instrumental “Innocence and Wrath,” priming the listener for the sonic assault of “The Usurper” (one of the band's best and most memorable songs). “Jewel Throne” is just as good, continuing the story of the cursed monarch's reign over high-speed riffs. The apocalyptic “Dawn Of Megiddo” opens with an ominous descending guitar line punctuated by tympani, later joined by mournful horns, ultimately climaxing with a pounding riff and screeching guitar solo. “Eternal Summer” continues with the empire doomed to surreal horrors by its own hubris. “Circle Of The Tyrants” is reprised from the Emperor's Return EP – a wise decision, as it is one of the band's defining songs. The chaotic mumblings of “(Beyond The) North Winds” aren't bad at all, but it is essentially it's more of the same. “Fainted Eyes,” with its abstract lyrics about mankind perishing in dreams, is about as brutal as heavy metal can get. “Tears in a Prophet's Dream” is an experimental piece based around cymbal washes, spooky vocal intonations, electronic noises, and sudden violent bass chords. The closer “Necromantical Screams” presages gothic metal (and foreshadows the band's future endeavors) with unworldly backing vocals from Claudia-Maria Mokri.

On To Mega Therion, Celtic Frost are ambitiously stretching out beyond the extreme metal formula they created with Hellhammer and Morbid Tales, and the results are mostly successful. Only a slight overall monotony and a slightly lesser second half holds the album back from heavy metal perfection.

TRAGIC SERENADES

RATING: 7/10

By 1986 bassist Martin Eric Ain had returned to Celtic Frost, so the band re-recorded two songs from To Mega Therion plus one from Morbid Tales for release as the Tragic Serenades EP. This a very short record (and the songs have all been heard before elsewhere), but the material is good and the production is tight and punchy. “The Usurper” and “Jewel Throne” are two of the band's best ever songs, so it's nice to have these alternate versions; the repetition can't help but make Tragic Serenades feel a bit redundant though.

INTO THE PANDEMONIUM

RATING: 8/10

In 1987 Celtic Frost released Into The Pandemonium. It would be the most experimental album of their career, expanding on the orchestral touches and female guest vocals of previous releases as well as dabbling in goth rock and electronic dance music. The experimental direction and new wave influence caused friction with Noise Records (who wanted the band to deliver a more conventional thrash album) and displeased some heavy metal purists at the time, but Into The Pandemonium helped cement the band's legacy as the avant garde of the genre.

Right out of the gate, Celtic Frost's weirdness is on full display, but not in the way anyone could have expected from their prior work – Into The Pandemonium opens with a straight-faced cover of Wall Of Voodoo's wacky 1982 New Wave hit “Mexican Radio,” complete with double kick drums and an atonal guitar solo. On “Mesmerized” Fischer debuts a new moaning vocal approach, with lyrics about tragic love over hypnotic post-punk riffs. In its own way, this goth-metal hybrid is even more surprising than the album opener. “Inner Sanctum” is classic Frost, proving the band hadn't abandoned their extreme metal roots (even if some of the lyrics are cribbed from Emily Bronte). “Tristesses De La Lune” shocks again with guest vocalist Manü Moan speak-singing a Charles Baudelaire poem in French over a string arrangement. “Babylon Fell (Jade Serpent I)” is a thumping metal number that's heavy on groove (at least, until that groove shifts unpredictably).

“Caress Into Oblivion (Jade Serpent II)” begins with a chorused bass intro that wouldn't be out of place on a Tool or Rage Against The Machine album a decade later, but the song escalates again and again with Fischer moaning and grunting away over shifting rhythms and angular guitar lines. Perhaps the most hated song in the Celtic Frost catalog is “One In Their Pride,” an industrial hip-hop experiment consisting of programmed drum beats overlaid with voice samples relating to NASA's Apollo program. While it's certainly not deserving of the scorn it has received, it also isn't deserving of much praise either; it sounds like the band are dipping their toes into the pool of electronic dance music without knowing how to swim in those waters. “I Won't Dance (The Elders' Orient)” is an impossibly weird mashup of extreme metal music with soulful backing vocals. “Sorrows Of The Moon” reprises “Tristesses De La Lune” in a gothic metal arrangement with Fischer moaning Baudelaire's poem in English this time. “Rex Irae (Requiem)” is an even more bizarre combination of Fischer's spoken word and Claudia-Maria Mokri's operatic singing. The album closes with “Oriental Masquerade,” a horn-driven instrumental reminiscent of “Innocence and Wrath” from the previous album (with shrieking strings overlaid).

Into The Pandemonium is a polarizing album among Celtic Frost fans, alternately described as either the band's masterpiece or the beginning of the end (perhaps it is both, in a way). Some metal heads lament the band's turn from more mono-focused extreme metal towards these poetic, gothic, symphonic, and electronic experiments (while others merely lament Fischer's newfound moaning vocal style). The thing is, most of the experiments actually pay off creatively. Celtic Frost would never again be this willfully bizarre or experimental, but the fruits of these experiments would be integrated into the band's sound and recur throughout the remainder of their catalog. In many ways, Into The Pandemonium is Celtic Frost's greatest achievement; however it just isn't consistent enough to be their masterpiece.

COLD LAKE

RATING: 4/10

After touring to support Into The Pandemonium, various internal and external tensions led to the dissolution of Celtic Frost's classic line-up. However Thomas Gabriel Fischer had no desire to retire from music and Celtic Frost were still signed to Noise Records, so six months later he reformed the band with a new line-up consisting of drummer Stephen Priestly (who had played on the band's debut Morbid Tales), guitarist Oliver Amberg (previously of the band Coroner), and bassist Curt Victor Bryant. Relieved to have a band who were enthusiastic about writing new material, the exhausted Fischer let his new bandmates compose most of the new music. Additionally, Fischer's then-girlfriend Michelle Villanueva would contribute backing vocals as well as take on the role of the band's stylist, glamming up the band's morbid image. The resulting album Cold Lake is one of the most universally hated albums in the history of heavy metal, despised by Fischer himself and viewed by most fans as a failed attempt to cash in on the glam metal craze of the late 80s.

Cold Lake begins with one of the most embarrassing tracks Celtic Frost ever recorded - it's called “Human (Intro),” sort of like the intro to Morbid Tales, except this “Human” is some kind of hokey slap-bass riff with atonal guitar and off-beat rapping over the top. It's a full minute of hot garbage, and there's no excuse for its presence. “Seduce Me Tonight” is musically quirky and borderline atonal, but Fischer has no business singing about sex. “Petty Obsessions” is more traditional metal than listeners would expect from the weirdest metal band ever, but it's less “awful through and through” than it is “ruined by some over-the-top moments.” “(Once) They Were Eagles” is kind of stupid, but it's kind of delightfully stupid. The single “Cherry Orchards” is an homage to Marilyn Monroe; it had a goofy music video and gets a lot of hate from the band's hardcore fans, but it's heavier and weirder than any of the glam metal that was on radio or MTV at the time, and I love it. “Juices Like Wine” isn't the sexually explicit hair-metal song its title implies, but I'd still sleep better at night if I'd never heard Thomas Gabriel Fischer utter those words. “Little Velvet” and “Blood On Kisses” may be the closest thing to honest-to-god glam metal on the album, but they're still written and sung by the guy from To Mega Therion, so it's still too weird for airplay. I have no idea what “Downtown Hanoi” is supposed to be; but once the so-bad-it's-good guitar solo kicks in, I no longer care. “Dance Sleazy” is dumb, but at least it could never be mistaken for a viable commercial product. “Roses Without Thorns” is a mess, and the lead guitarist needs to calm down, but now we know what “blackened glam” sounds like.

While Cold Lake certainly is the worst thing Celtic Frost ever released (officially, at least), it isn't quite so bad as its reputation – after all, even bad Celtic Frost is still weird and interesting. It's not quite the glam metal sellout album it's supposed to be - Fischer's vocal abilities just aren't up to the task of, well, singing melodies at all (much less slick pop-rock). And musically, it's still pretty chaotic (no power ballads here!). It's hard to imagine that the album would be so universally reviled if the back cover didn't sport such an embarrassing photo of the band. Could a few less quote-unquote “sexy” lyrics have saved the album? Probably not, but it could've helped. Should the intro have been resigned to the dust bin? Certainly. Are the guitar solos mostly terrible? Yeah. As it stands, Cold Lake is not a very good album; it has some hilariously fun moments though.

VANITY/NEMESIS

RATING: 7/10

After the artistic failure of Cold Lake, Thomas Gabriel Fischer decided it was necessary to correct the course of Celtic Frost. Oliver Amberg was fired and replaced by the band's former touring guitarist Ron Marks. Martin Eric Ain also returned to the fold to contribute lyrics, backing vocals, and occasional bass guitar.

Vanity/Nemesis is possibly the most straightforward heavy metal album of the band's discography, downplaying the experimentation of their earlier work. Still, even with slicker production and more conventional songs, Celtic Frost seem incapable of making music that could be classified as “normal.”

While not as groundbreaking as the band's classic era, fans of early Celtic Frost who want more of the same will probably be pleasantly surprised by this often overlooked album.

CELTIC FROST