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May 17, 2012 |
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01. Progeny
02. Ground
03. A Dying God Coming Into Human Flesh
04. Drown In Ashes
05. Os Abysmi Vel Daath
06. Obscrured
07. Domain Of Decay
08. Ain Elohim
09. Totengott
10. Synagoga Satanae
11. Winter (Requiem, Chapter Three: Finale)
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Well over a decade is a hell of a long time to wait for a band to release a new album. Even longer when the band in question is perhaps one of the most seminal, original, innovative, influential, and critically acclaimed group of artists to have left their blackened, smoking collective fingerprint upon the evolution of Metal. Unless you've been living under a rock for the past decade or so, are simply too young to remember anything "Metallic" prior to "The Black Album", or were simply canny enough to read the title of the review you're currently reading, then you've doubtless figured out that the act in question is none other than CELTIC FROST.
Rising from the ashes of HELLHAMMER circa 1983 or thereabouts, Switzerland's CELTIC FROST (one of the coolest band names of all time by the way!) could arguably claim musical grandfatherhood to damned near all that is currently Blackened, Thrashed, Deathly, Doomed, finely Grinded (or is that 'Ground'???), or otherwise born of the fires of Metallic extremity. The brainchild of vocalist/guitarist Thomas Gabriel Fischer (aka Thomas G. Warrior), and bassist/keyboardist Martin Ain (not to mention the slew of drummers who have served revolving-door duty behind the skins), CELTIC FROST are generally hailed as one of the more originally avante-garde purveyors of heaviness to date.
True originators, the band were always an ever changing entity, morphing from the humble, early-days-of-Death-Doom-Thrash beginnings evidenced on such classics as "Morbid Tales" ('84), and the watermark "To Mega Therion" ('85) to the experimental and creative triumph of "Into the Pandemonium" ('87), the critically-reviled foray into commercialism that was "Cold Lake" ('88), and the respectable, albeit at the time...final kick at the can of "Vanity/Nemesis" ('90) before years of inner turmoil, lineup changes, and industry pressures forced the band to break up and fade into obscurity. Despite such a relatively swift rise to, and fall from, grace, CELTIC FROST left an indelible mark upon all who experienced them, the guttural vocals, discordant leads and brutal riffs of Warrior, the haunting bass pulse and synthesized ambience of Ain, and the dark poetry of their shared lyrics inspiring numerous artists from IMMORTAL to VOIVOD, to USURPER, DARKTHRONE, and even NIRVANA amongst others to pick up an instrument and bash out their own odes to the darker side of human nature.
Following a brief rebirth in recent years under the moniker of APOLLYON'S SUN, main Frosted Flake Warrior finally managed to enlist Ain back into the fold, and taking up the mantle of CELTIC FROST once again has finally completed (along with co-producer Peter Tägtgren) this, their latest release and highly anticipated comeback effort "Monotheist" on Century Media Records.
Right from the get-go it goes without saying that this is an album which is going to be held under a microscope by all in the Metal community who hear it. On one side of the critical fence will be those who - whatever they say - are truly yearning for what amounts to a full-on return to the primitive, uber-heavy, uber-brutal sound and approach of "Morbid Tales" and "To Mega Therion". On the other side are those of a more open-minded bent who are willing to accept a more experimental, avante-garde approach ala "Into The Pandemonium". Either way, no matter what Warrior and Co. put out they must have known that somewhere there would be an inevitable outcry from one side of their fanbase or the other as the hype and anticipation surrounding the release of "Monotheist" has been such that the final product was almost doomed from the start to fall short of the lofty expectations attached to it. Taking this all into account, my own approach to the album was to simply go into it with no expectation whatsoever, listen...and see what emerged.
Following several listens to "Monotheist" I have come to the conclusion that not only did CELTIC FROST walk what must have been a nerve-wrackingly thin blade of aspiration while recording these 11 tracks, but also managed to step nimbly off on the far side, having merged and synthesized the best elements of their work to date into a very well crafted and subtly original album indeed; truly, the best of both worlds as it were. What "Monotheist" essentially amounts to is a fine, if somewhat understated collection of very dirgey, very ponderous, droning Doom Metal epics wrapped up in a mantle of gloomy ambience. These songs are comparable to much of CANDLEMASS's more recent output, as well as the majority of Dave Grohl's PROBOT album, not to mention doubtless dozens of other true "Doom" acts I am too poser-like and untrue to be able to reference off the top of my head. But whatever. I mean...really, why Southern Lord wasn't frothing at the mouth to release this is frankly beyond me, as CELTIC FROST 2006 seems to fall well within the confines of what the Stephen O'Malley-run Doom/Sludgecore label is known for unleashing upon the world. How good or bad a thing this is depends wholly upon how much of said fare one is prepared to tolerate over the course of an album more than an hour in length.
Kicking things off is "Progeny", rife with heavy riffing and Warrior's signature bark which, like other similiar tracks such as "Os Abysmi Vel Daath", "Domain Of Decay", and "Ain Elohim" is quite reminiscent of "To Mega Therion"-era CELTIC FROST to a proverbial 'C'. By the same token, the presence of more somber, atmospheric pieces such as "Obscured", and "Drown In Ashes" serves as a cleansing sonic sorbet, offering a degree of variety (although really only a smidgen) more evocative of the band's later, more ambient work from the "Into The Pandemonium" period. Saving the best for last is an ambitious triptych, beginning with the shadowy ambience and distressed vocals of "Totengott" which leads into the menacing 14+ minute epic "Synagoga Satanae", and concluding with the pompously-titled yet effectively sorrowful, orchestrated gloom of "Winter (Requiem, Chapter Three: Finale)".
Overall, these songs are representative of a band who knew damned well that they had something to prove with this release. And prove it they did, although not without minor faults. If "Monotheist" betrays any weakness then truly it is in the overall, very ponderous, and opaque quality of the music on offer which is - after about the midpoint of the album especially - somewhat overwhelming and suffocating. This is an album which would have been served well by a degree more editing, perhaps shortening the length to say, 45 minutes encapsulated within maybe 8 tracks, with perhaps a bit more variance in tempo and tone thrown in for good measure. As it stands, the final product, while impressive from a sheer artistic, and raw cerebral standpoint, suffers due to the sheer magnitude of energy that is required to withstand its own oppressive, unyielding, unrelenting WEIGHT.
That said, consider me likewise crushed and impressed by what was obviously a long-standing labour of love, thought, and effort from a band who have managed to reinterpret and retranslate a very old sound and energy that was/is wholly their own into something new, subtly fresh and original (if also flawed!), and possessive of definite substance and impact. CELTIC FROST have never been everyone's cup of mead and have not grown any more or less palatable with age. Still quite oppositional, aggressive, and brimming to overfull with dark creativity and drive, this is a band who are hopefully back for the long haul. Let's just not leave so many years in between this dark little gem and the next one, okay fellas?
If state-of-the-art Doom Metal be thy "thing" then look no further than CELTIC FROST's grand return with "Monotheist". Perhaps not quite the very best album of the year, it certainly is one of the heaviest! And in a genre like Metal, that has to count for something.
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