Oough! Is there another band more vital to so many different metal genres than Celtic Frost? So many (including my beloved Darkthrone) have been inspired by the band, yet no one sounds like them (Darkthrone by their own admission has moments of pure Celtic Frost worship, but never a full song). In typical fashion I came to the Swiss machine from a myriad of roundabouts: finding a cheap used compilation back in my early 30s, falling hard for Tom G. Warrior’s post efforts in Triptykon, and then going ALL the way back to the early Hellhammer releases. But it was only recently that I really started getting deeper into the band’s seminal releases, and when the Danse Macabre box set was announced I finally jumped at the chance to get better acquainted. TL;DR – it’s a great package, containing remastered versions of Morbid Tales, To Mega Therion, and Into the Pandemonium, the Emperor’s Return EP, and the Grave Hill Bunker Rehearsals from 1984. There’s also a great booklet going through the band’s history and patches and pin for your battle vest, but the real find are these albums. So, similar to my review of the recent Black Sabbath set, let’s get dirty, baby.
Are you morbid?
Sure, there were other faster, more extreme bands that were out before 1984 was graced with Morbid Tales: the debut from Bathory came out a month earlier, Venom were on their third album already; hell, Hellhammer was faster and filthier. But there’s something about Celtic Frost’s debut that’s so singular, immediately setting the Swiss outfit apart from their peers in the scene. In just over 30 minutes the trio of Thomas Gabriel Fischer, Martin Eric Ain, and Reed St. Mark transform into a military precise machine of chugging riffs and d-beat blasts that could flip from mid-tempo doom to speed metal punk in a flash. After the piercing cry of “Human (Intro)” we immediately settle in with “Into the Cry of Rays” and it pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the album.
From there things remain fairly consistent with variations in tempo leading to the more dirge-like “Visions of Mortality” and the chilling tread of “Dethroned Emperor” with their chugging menace on one end of the spectrum and, well…that’s it. “Into the Crypts of Rays” is probably the most furious thing on Morbid Tales, but it’s after that attack that things get truly heavy, the band making those subtle tweaks to build out these Franeknsteined riffs that always work together in ways thrash would take up and never sound quite like Celtic Frost could. With the exception of the track this box set is named after (it’s a creepy four-minute interlude that doesn’t do much for the overall album…creepy as Hell, though) there’s not an ounce of fat on here, and classics like the title track and “Procreation (Of the Wicked)” further cement this as a key piece of the bedrock this genre is founded on.
The leap a year later with To Mega Therion is astounding. The overall tone hasn’t changed, but things get slower, more progressive in the songwriting but remain oh so heavy. Opening theme “Innocence and Wrath” sounds like the theme to a kaiju; I could easily visualize Godzilla rising from the depths to this. But “The Usurper” is here to both re-establish the signature sound (yeah, it opens with a Tom Warriror grunt) and quickly settles into that punk beat and some crunchy buzzsaw guitars, though the bass is notably lighter in the mix, maybe owing to this being an album with Martin Ain on it (he later re-recorded the bass for the 1999 reissue). But there are subtle sings of the future: the operatic falsetto voice in the line “As whispered in the wind”, the more structured solo section. I love the punk “Heys!” that pepper such a metal track.
“Jewel Throne” is another crushing thrasher, but that weirdness creeps up again on “Dawn of Megiddo” when the latter half spirals into an almost symphonic doom. It practically bleeds into “Eternal Summer” and it’s another thrash forward rager that goes speed metal/punk in its latter half. But it’s almost all prelude for the mighty, massive “Circle of the Tyrants” which may be the band’s most well known song, being covered by bands like Opeth, Luciferion, and even Obituary just to show you the far-ranging influence the song and band have.
It’s hard to follow up a classic like that, and so we have solid retreads with “(Beyond the) North Winds” and “Fainted Eyes” before the band returns to its more experimental leanings with the two and half minute segue “Tears In a Prophet’s Dream” which listening back to know has clear fingers pointing not only to the band’s swan song Monotheist but to what Warrior would do in Triptykon. Another stone cold classic, and if I give To Mega Therion the edge over Morbid Tales it’s only because I don’t think anything can beat that H.R. Giger album art.
Say what you want about Celtic Frost’s decision to open their third album Into the Pandemonium with a cover of Wall of Voodoo’s “Mexican Radio” – it’s a GREAT cover, completely rips and pushes right up to your face how little fucks the band has to give. It’s the exact opposite of catering to your fans or the mainstream. And I love it, so you won’t hear a complaint from me. Martin Ain is back and so is the bass, sounding thicker and deeper, a snake finding the empty spaces and frequencies to all in wait. “Mesmerized” further shows the growth of the band, the operatic vocals becoming more ingrained in section, and the changes from metal to punk more pronounced even as they both fight for sonic space with the ambient keyboard work.
The remastered CD keeps the lovely orchestral track “Tristesses de la Lune” with Manü Moan from The Vyllies on vocals before crushing us with the brick that is “Babylon Fell (Jade Serpent)”. If there’s any catering to be had on Into the Pandemonium it might the shift to a more full on thrash delivery, keeping in line with what was popular in metal at the time, but when I listen, especially to the percussion and changes in “Caress Into Oblivion (Jade Serpent II)” I don’t hear anything that screams Celtic Forst are aiming for mainstream success or even radio play (that would come with Cold Lake for better or worse).
Not even “One In Their Pride (Porthole Mix)” – I have no idea if the “Porthole Mix” suffix means there is actually another version of this track out there that doesn’t sound like early NIN or KMFDM remixed a metal track, but it’s a weird outlier on an album that relishes experimentation. Similar to “I Won’t Dance (The Elders’ Orient)” – it’s not the most successful blend of metal and pop you’ll ever hear, but I dig it. “Rex Irae (Requiem)” and the closing instrumental “Oriental Masquerade” (I’m going to ignore all the “oriental” references) bring us back to familiar footing, but this is an odd duck at time, full of some crushing tunes but also some misfires that work to endear me to the album, though I don’t know how often I’ll return to it in full. The bonus tracks are fine, nothing I love except maybe the pomp of “In the Chapel of the Moonlight”.
Beyond the incredible cover, the Emperor’s Return EP is a fun stopgap between Morbid Tales and To Mega Therion, offering the chance to hear Reed St. Mark on drums for the first time (he joined but did not record on Morbid Tales). Celtic Frost knew they had a winner on their hands, opening the EP with “Circle of the Tyrants” and then jumping straight into “Morbid Tales” and “Dethroned Emperor.” The tracks I don’t know – “Visual Aggression” and “Suicidal Winds” – are fine, more like early demos that don’t pack the punch of the album tracks, though I dig the filthy vibe of “Suicidal Winds” quite a bit.
if you’ve ever listened to the expanded edition of Morbid Tales you’ve heard all of the Grave Hill Bunker Rehearsals. Again, it’s fine, basically the band packaging the demos onto a separate disc. Love the Hellhammer inspired cover art, but this is more completionism than anything else. But the lo-fi back metal fan in me digs it.
What else? You get a poster, a real nice booklet with liner notes and interview snippets – much better than what the Sabbath set had – and a patch and pin. It’s a great set for a phenomenal band, and those three studio albums have gone into heavy rotation these past few weeks. The set has done its job.
Consuming the Tangible 