Celtic Frost Album: “Cold Lake”

Cold Lake is more like Judas Priest or Motorhead than Motley Crue, though you wouldnt know it from what people say about this album. No, there is no thrash in it, and it's not Morbid Tales, but Cold Lake is still very decent. I've played this CD at a party, and people that never heard of this band dug it and wanted to know who it was.

As I and many others eagerly await the release of the first Triptykon record, it seems like a good time to revisit Cold Lake, the record that represents the nadir of the band's career. It seems to be unavailable now and my review may be moot, but it is amazing to me that it continues to be trashed elsewhere on the Internet and sometimes I wonder if most of the critics have actually listened to the entire record.

To start with, it is refreshing to see that other reviewers here agree that Cold Lake is really not that bad. I think much of the original backlash was directed more at the visual and lyrical themes of the record rather than the music itself. The original CD is a hideous purple-violet and the band members are photographed in glam poses and with big hair. Not a good decision when your lead singer/guitarist is as unattractive as Tom G. Warrior.

The music, however, is still instantly recognizable as Celtic Frost and really bears no resemblance to Poison or Cinderella. Granted, it is still a deeply flawed record but much of it is filled with catchy hooks and riffs while still retaining some of the darkness of early Frost. The intro is a short rap piece that should have been left off but the first four songs are all quite good. "(Once) They Were Eagles" is a heavier song with thrashy elements similar to their older work and "Cherry Orchards" (which received some MTV airplay) is a hypnotic track with great riffs and an excellent guitar solo. The middle part of the record is not bad but banal titles like "Juices Like Wine", "Little Velvet", and "Blood On Kisses" kill some of the momentum. "Downtown Hanoi" was the other "single" off the record and is noticeably slower and more dissonant than the rest of the album. Things speed up again, and "Tease Me" is pretty representative of the rest of the record: decent riff, a little fast and thrashy, even teasing us with a little of "Procreation Of The Wicked", but terrible vocals and lyrics. It should end there but instead we get a live version of "Mexican Radio", the song that to me represents everything that went wrong with Celtic Frost.

My rating of 3 stars is an average of 4 stars for the instrumental portion and 2 stars for the visuals, lyrics, and vocals. The record is missing the classical instruments that made To Mega Therion so majestic and instead of death grunts and "HEYYYS" it contains a bunch of little annoying vocal bits that were put in to make it seem like the group was not taking itself too seriously but actually wind up killing the mood. Tom G. Warrior thankfully does not employ the tragic voice that fills up so much of Into The Pandemonium but sings in a noticeably higher register than in earlier work. It's too bad that he has disowned Cold Lake, it could easily be 4 stars simply by remastering the music and re-recording the vocals.

My apologies to the reader for the long review, but there is much to say about Cold Lake and I still have quite a bit of ambivalence about it. It is certainly not representative of the band or its music and I don't recommend it for someone new to the group, but I think that any die-hard Celtic Frost fan will find something to like about it.

This album was quite a shock for hardcore Celtic Frost fans. It has a little bit of a glam sound, but it's still pretty heavy in spots. "Downtown Hanoi" is one of my favorites, and was redone heavier on "Parched With Thirst",a great compilation album well worth searching out. I remember my favorite, the previous "Into the Pandomonium" getting a 0 rating in Metal Forces, my favorite metal magazine of the era. That album was very unusual, with the cover of "Mexican Radio" and the operatic nature. "Cold Lake" was a drastic departure, and metal fans aren't the most accepting of change in a band.Celtic Frost was a great band who got pigeonholed as Death Metal, but really was so much more. Their music remained interesting throughout their career."Cherry Orchards" has a great riff,just don't judge this by the classics such as "Morbid Tales". Still a worthwhile CD though. Glam thrash would be the best description for this album. Hopefully the new Celtic Frost will be killer!

Celtic Frost disowned this album for a reason: it's just so ridiculously GOOD, it makes all their other albums look bad. I swear, tracking them up to this point is like ape evolving into man. Or, ape and man merely sharing similar ancestry and then getting hopelessly misinterpreted by creationists, whichever. It doesn't matter. What matters is this GREAT ALBUM. The complex, yearning melodies and haunting ambience. The thought-provoking and confessional lyrics. They probably are, anyway. I can't find the lyrics to "Dance Sleazy" anywhere on the internet but it seems like some really deep stuff. The vocals are literally exploding with pathos, so keep a safe distance from the CD. He sounds like a ninja turtle in emotional pain. My ten desert island discs would just be ten copies of Cold Lake. Make this your first Celtic Frost album.

Hell yea, I like this album ! Always did...

But then, I 'preciate all the efforts thru' time of this amazing, inventive & unusual band.

Okay, their looks in this period are not really hot (in *my* opinion anyway) *but* lotsa respect for trying new & different things !

No, this release isn't glam/poser, I even find darkness in songs like 'Cherry Orchards' (love the songtitle btw.)... The earlier mentioned comparison to Judas Priest is quite accurate, actually...

Their new CD Monotheist RULES !!!!!

Cheerz from the Netherlands.

SpooK!