Celtic Frost Album: “Monotheist [Bonus Track]”

Being a fan of the band since the Hellhammer days I stopped buying their music after the incredible 'Into the Pandemonium', due to the band changing their sound to a more commercial/poser type of thing. Vanity/Nemesis, as far as I was concerned was still too commercial and lacked what Frost was about. 14 years later Warrior and Ain and 2 others have put together one of the heaviest releases, ever!! This is so incredible, not sure where to begin. The songs as a whole are slower, even venturing into old Cathedral and Winter, in terms of slow heavy dirge. But there are still midpaced and some fast trax. They have incorporated a little goth into the mix and the avant garde atmosphere surrounds this cd, much like Into the Pandemonium. The opening track Progeny is brilliant. It's fast, slow and has some great Warrior grunts on the tune. Really the cd just gets better. The female guest vocals are back and just add to the atmosphere. This cd is Evil, I imagine this is what hell would sound like, if it created music. A very dark and emotional cd. Some people have said the songs are not as catchy as some of their past songs. This is simply not true, the songs are very catchy and memorable. If you were a true Celtic Frost fan back in the day and have also matured with time you will no doubt love this cd. If you were a frost fan, but are still stuck in the past, you will have trouble with this cd, no super fast songs like Jewel Throne or Visual Aggression, however the band is 100% Celtic Frost and this is the best cd of 2006!

Cold Lake sucked balls and Vanity/Nemesis was a half assed attempt at a comeback (Tom, your vocals sucked on that album).

Monotheist? Awesome CD!

It has that old Frost heaviness mixed in with some Apollyon Sun (very underrated band) and some new stuff. I like the fact that these guys arent afraid to try new things while they also remain faithful to their original sound and vision. Probably one of the best albums of the year and well worth the wait. Buy it!

After a fifteen year wait tom and the boys are back! As for the cd being dark and scary i'm not sure. I have had a year filled with great loss and I find songs like Ground and A dying god to be uplifting because I know i'm not alone in my feelings. Alot of fans will say this doesn't matchup to the classics but it does deliver and I think it is way better than most of us could have hoped. Progeny is a monster too. I think it is great that celtic frost is not afraid to challenge their auidence and expand their sound. Their is nothing worse than a band of middle age men trying to stay 18 ( I'm talking to you slayer). Favorite track so far isdrown in ashes with a female singer dueting with the frost Amazing.

To paraphrase the great F.D.R., 'May 30, 2006, a date that will live in (metal) infamy.' Why? This will be remembered as the day that the great Celtic Frost released Monotheist and re-defined metal once again. Tom and company have raised the bar once again for what is destined to be an all time metal classic. For those who like myself have followed Celtic Frost since the release of Morbid Tales, you will not be disappointed in the slightest. It is an album that simply defies a label. To give an aural description that might conjure up some relevance, Monotheist combines the sheer heaviness of To Mega Therion and a touch of the brilliant abstractness that graced Into The Pandemonium. Also, the heavy mindbending riffs that permeated both of Hellhammer's releases Apocalyptic Raids and the Satanic Rites Demo, are present here as well. If you have never been fortunate enough to hear the Frost before, this is a great place to start. The classic Frost sound(which has influenced untold numbers of today's metal musicians) has been preserved and does not sound arcane in the least. Conversely, Tom did not attempt to "modernize" Monotheist. The production is awesome and there is not a weak track on the entire cd. The lyrics are standard Tom Fischer and Martin Ain fare: death, deities and the existence thereof. If you have not purchased this cd, do so without hesitation! It will no doubt become one of the most important metal releases of the next several years.