Celtic Frost - Monotheist
- Released: 2006
- Label: Century Media
- Rating:
The more things change, the more things stay the same. A cliche’ expression for sure, but if you, like me, are a long time fan of Celtic Frost, you know that you can always expect the unexpected. Monotheist is the band’s first album in 16 years, and is quite possibly the bleakest, darkest album I have heard in a very long time.
You can literally hear the cold despair emanating throughout this album. I think this is Tom (Warrior) Fischer’s finest hour from a vocal standpoint. His cadences are delivered with such passion and conviction there you can feel the pain and anger being wrung from his throat and channeled through his guitar.
A variety of tempos are utilized throughout, but the songs are of a more plodding nature than ever before. It’s not a bad thing and not necessarily different since a lot of time in the past Celtic Frost has relied on a lot more than sheer speed to get their point across. CF is no stranger to experimentation either. Just check out things like “A Dying God Coming Into Human Flesh”, “Os Abysmi vel Daath” and the 14-minute plus “Synagoga Satanae”.
There is no question that it will take some time for even the most hardcore fan of the band to digest this album. To expect Celtic Frost to repeat their former musical glories is to be kidding yourself. The reason I love this band so much is that they are visionary, they always took chances (say what you will about an album like Cold Lake; it wasn’t what you expected after Into The Pandemonium by a long shot) and they stuck to their guns and did what they wanted on their own terms.
It’s too soon to tell whether Monotheist will grow into the legend that the aforementioned Into The Pandemonium has, but one could argue that Monotheist is its natural successor.
Metal Mark | 06/16/2006