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“Celtic Frost crawled from the
from the fragmented embryo of Thrash Metal’s birth,
dragging in its dread wake a sound that was like Venom’s
Welcome To Hell played through the suffocating arse-lips
of Satan himself. Of course, the preliminary sound of
this band’s crawling, sludge-blackened was already
seething in the Underground in the guise of the
much-lauded Hellhammer. By 1984, the seminal Morbid
Tales EP slithered from its liquor-oozing corpse and the
cult of Switzerland’s most Graveolent-sounding band was
born. Alongside Venom and Bathory, Celtic Frost
influenced the very birth of Death metal and all that
followed. Norwegian Black Metal in its pre-‘let’s stab
Euronymous era’ was extremely Celtic Frost influenced,
just listen to the Darkthrone demos. To the modern ear,
the sound of Celtic Frost is pretty well diluted and
copied, but in its day this band had more impact on the
metal world than any band born in the last twenty years.
If you need an album of pioneering brilliance, listen
Into The Pandemonium. If you want a soundtrack to an
autopsy, listen to Morbid Tales. This band even have a
soundtrack to lipstick and hair gel, but don’t listen to
Cold Lake, its shit, though this one career error should
not take away from the horror to be culled from the
early material and the comeback opus of Monotheist in
2006, a quite resounding finale to a quite astounding
band.”
Crin-‘Godreah‘
“Celtic Frost rule, they really do, everything up to
(and including) Into The Pandemonium, and it’s not just
Tom G’s jaw-dropping riff, Martin Ain’s wacky
bass-antics combined with Reed St Mark’s off-the-wall
drum battery that made them very unique. The very fact
that they put out Into The Pandemonium at the height of
the ‘Bermuda Short Thrash Insanity’ makes then true
heroes. Who hasn’t been forced to break out an air
guitar when Jewel Throne, Visions of Mortality, or Inner
Sanctum comes on the old death deck? What decent band
hasn’t been caught with their fingers in the Tom G riff
cookie jar? I know I have, may times. I met Tom once in
87, he seemed very intense and said to a group of young
thrashers (including myself, wearing leather jackets and
white boots): “You people think that you are radical.
Yet look at you…you all wear the same uniforms.”
Steve Watson –‘Ravens Creed’ |
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Celtic Frost’s genesis lies in
Hellhammer the first group formed by future Celtic Frost
main man Tom Gabriel Fisher (at this time known as Tom G
Warrior). Featuring Tom’s brother Steve on bass
initially, then Martin Eric Ain, they recorded a number
of demos and compilation tracks, eventually releasing a
single EP Apocalyptic Raids in March of 1984.
At the time they actually existed, Hellhammer were
slaughtered by the press. Even, the usually on the ball,
Metal Forces were merciless. With the benefit of
hindsight, Hellhammer were ahead of their time, their
primitive sounds would be hugely influential, and the
sincerity and passion there is undeniable. Tom has
spoken in more recent interviews of how awful his life
was at the time of Hellhammer so it must have formed a
catharsis for him. Today the influence of Hellhammer is
readily apparent in such bands as Warhammer and
Gallhammer. Let’s hear it for the hammers! |
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| Deciding that the only way to
progress was to disband and form a new band. So, Tom and
Martin, together with session drummer Stephen Priestly
(he was offered the drum stool full time, but declined,
though he would resurface for the Cold Lake debacle)
formed the first incarnation of Celtic Frost. This line
up released the impressive Morbid Tales EP. Priestly was
replaced by American drummer Reed St Mark. If Morbid
Tales had not been released, much of modern metal would
have occurred very differently. It has to be said
however, that many of the bands influences by Celtic
Frost took only one or two elements in isolation, rather
than taking inspiration from the sheer innovation. This
line-up would record the incredible Emperor’s Return EP
(One of my all time favourite records, with one of my
all-time favourite covers). It’s worth noting that Tom
was clearing influenced by New Wave of British Heavy
Metal bands of the period, such as Angel Witch and
Diamond Head. Dethroned Emperor features a massively
mutated version of the riff of Diamond Head’s Am I Evil. |
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| 1985’s To Mega Therion (with it’s
fabulous HR Giger artwork, a painting you could look at
for hours and still not see all the detail) did not
feature Ain on bass, his place taken by Dominic Steiner.
Ain was to return after the album was recorded. This is
an incredible album, listen to it against dread bands of
the time like Anthrax and we see that Frost were artists
rather than salesmen. Then Frost released Into The
Pandemonium in 1987. Progressive metal like Opeth would
not enjoy the popularity it does today without this fine
iconoclastic album. Even now it’s a staggering album,
incredibly innovative and brave. This was released at a
time where wearing stupid Bermuda shorts on one had, or
dressing as a woman on the other, was ‘cutting edge’.
The subsequent US tour, which featured Ron Marks on
guitar, had problems between band members, record label
and financial problems on the whole. The classic line-up
broke up with Tom forming a new line-up with Stephen
Priestly on drums, Oliver Amberg on guitar, and Curt
Victor Bryant on bass. This
forms one of the darkest chapters of Tom’s dark life,
though it’s worth noting that physically at least it was
the most colourful. It provokes very strong reactions
from lovers of the Frost to this day, but I seldom ever
see or hear it being put in the proper perspective.
Now, Noise Records, Frost’s label, had an incredible
roster in the 80s, as well as Frost, it also had such
bands as Kreator, Sabbat and Voivod, and more (towards
the end of thrash boom, the quality control slipped but
that was across the board as thrash peaked, and is as
much a reflection on the bands as it is on record label
greed). But, over the years, speaking to such people
signed to Noise like Martin Walkyier of Sabbat, it is
apparent that the bands were not getting rich. These
were days of expensive tickets, and a band’s primary
income came from record sales rather than merchandise.
Now we have the scourge of downloading everything is
completely different. The world has turned. So Frost
were in poor shape financially.
Also we see the past through rose-tinted glasses, but
really they should be crap coloured. Now, we know (and I
knew then) that Frost were innovators, artists, brave
beyond belief, but this was a time when on one side
garbage like Motley Crue were huge and on the other
‘trend thrash’ like notorious bandwagon jumpers Anthrax
ruled the school. So, we can see that Tom must have
thought that he’d taken it as complicated and innovative
as he could and needed to achieve some commercial
success. People have to eat, it’s a fact.
Lack of money, good management and label support has
killed so many talented bands off. Now add to the mix, a
group of poor musicians stuck in the pressure cooker of
a tour bus and you have a disaster in the making. |
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So the new Frost created Cold
Lake, now the thing is, it bears no resemblance to what
came before, it should have been released (if at all,
under a different name). Weak, insipid glam rock…truly
awful. Now, I innocently bought the album on import (for
a tenner, a lot of money at the time) and truly I was
ripped off. It did massive damage to the band, look at
the live tape Noise released from the subsequent tour.
The band are lacklustre and the audience are clearly
there for Destruction. Tom G actually looks scared on
stage.
So, Cold Lake…a cold fake, a travesty of the Frost name.
To this day, while I think it was dreadful, I admire
Tom’s courage of releasing an album that reflected his
mental state of the time. Amberg was fired and Ron Marks
returned for Vanity/Nemesis in 1990, along with Martin
Eric Ain. But the damage was done.
Now Vanity/Nemesis was a massive improvement on Cold
Lake and if it had been released instead of Cold Lake
with good management and label support, it could have
been Frost’s Black Album. Wings Of Solitude is as good
as anything on the classic Frost albums and truly
deserves some reappraisal. I would also say a re-release
with a remastered sound would go amiss as the production
was badly lacking.
Frost’s 1992 album, a collection of previously
unreleased material Parched With Thirst Am I and Dying,
is well worth a listen. But this was to be it from Frost
for many years.
A final album Under Apollyon’s Sun was recorded but
never released. Grunge was in the ascendancy and where
did Frost fit into this. Said by Tom G to me a mix of
Into The Pandemonium and To Mega Therion, I remember
eagerly awaiting this album, which I hope one day will
see the light of day. To whet your appetite it was to
have featured a cover of The Sisters of Mercy’s This
Corrosion.
So the Frost ended, with a whimper rather than a bang,
and few noticed. I’m reminded of the lacklustre comment
recorded by one of Alexander the Great’s retinue
following Alexander’s death: “There were clouds. And the
King died.” He gave more import to the weather (as do
far too many people, how many times today has idiot
pointed out the weather as though you hadn’t noticed
already. Life is wasted on the living) than the death of
an iconoclast. Thus it was also so with Celtic Frost. |
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Tom teamed up with Erol Unala to
form industrial metal band Apollyon’s Son. They released
a very good EP God Leaves (and Dies) and a full length
album called Sub. The most significant part of Apollyon
Son was it would lead to Tom and Unala teaming up with
Reed St Mark and Franco Sesa to reform Celtic Frost. The
comeback album Monotheist took a long-time as it was
self-financed through their own Prowling Death Records.
Produced by Peter Tägtgren and licensed to Century
Media, it was unleashed on May 30, 2006 to great
critical acclaim. Deservedly so and it is a magnificent
album. Unala was to depart the Frost prior to
Monotheist’s release, his position eventually taken by V
Santura of Dark Fortress. Frost undertook a massive 150
date tour (their longest ever) in support of Monotheist.
Following this ,Tom planned a black metal/doom side
project, and a new Celtic Frost album. But alas it was
not to be.
From the official CF website April 9, 2008
“Celtic Frost singer and guitarist Tom Gabriel Fisher
has left Celtic frost due to the irresolvable severe
erosion of the personal basis so urgently required to
collaborate within a band so unique, volatile, and
ambitious.
Tom would go on to form Triptykon, with Celtic Frost
live guitarist V Santura, Drummer Norman Lonhard,
bassist Vanja Slaijh. Their debut album, Eparistera
Daimones, is a worthy successor to Celtic Frost.
Celtic Frost is dead…long live Celtic Frost! |
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