Celtic Frost Album: “Morbid Tales/Emperor's Return”

I remember when I was a kid and I traveled by bus with the flu just to pick this up. Theres so much extreme/black/death, etc. metal around today, which is great, but theres some things that just bring back memories. This is where it all started. Same with Possessed, Bathory, etc. None of this stuff was really around then and to hear something so different than the run-of-the mill metal was incredible. This is what "old school" death metal is all about. Today's extreme metal is "corpse paint", "blast beats", etc, and I love it, but please check out some of this old school black/death metal....It's just as sick. "Morbid Tales" is a true classic.

More than "To Mega Therion", which suffers somewhat from a bad sound, "Morbid Tales" is the ultimate Celtic Frost masterpiece. The original mini album (released about 1985) featured only 6 songs. On this CD, these have been mixed with songs from the "Emperor's Return" EP. A pity, because the "Morbid Tales" songs (Into the Crypts of Rays, Visions of Mortality, Procreation (of the Wicked), Return to the Eve, Danse Macabre and Nocturnal Fear) formed a real unity that couldn't really be improved.

Together with Motorhead's "Overkill" and Destruction's "Infernal Overkill", this "Morbid Tales" definitely has a place in my metal top 3 of all times. There is no album that mixes the brutality of metal with the avant-garde feel of industrial music so well and so uncompromisingly as this one. All tracks are great (apart from the sound collage Danse Macabre perhaps), most are fantastic, and Procreation (of the wicked) is probably CF's best song ever.

Other legendary black metal bands like Venom, Bathory and Mercyful Fate surely produced some fabulous stuff, but things never got any darker, dirtier or more grinding than on "Morbid Tales".

This is a killer album. The first half, or the "Morbid Tales" portion, sounds great. Great remix. But when you get to the "Emperor's Return" portion, the remix is horrible. Which sucks, because the main reason I bought this album was for the original "Circle of the Tyrants" recording. The guitars are way too low on this portion, and the vocals are almost completely drowned out. The wonderful reverb on the vocals is lost. It sounds as if he's singing under a blanket behind a closed door. I was pissed.

But I will say that I was thrilled with "Dethroned Emperor" and "Into Crypts of Rays," which sound awesome. I love the way he pronounces it "DATHroned EPAHrah!!" If they would have left the other portion alone, this would be a perfect album.

Do you ou really need a review of this?

Shame on anyone who doesn't have this already!

After reading the guide to Death Metal on this site I was saddened that Morbid Tales wasn't listed. This very album was the start of my Death trip when I was but small lad. I began listening to Black Sabbath at the age of 6 thanks to my older brother and just when I thought nothing could be heavier, Morbid Tales was released. Mucho thanks to Tom and Co. for pointing me in the right direction. This is not music for fans of Limp B. or any crap like that, although having a listen to Celtic Frost might be good for ya so you can see what heavy music is supposed to sound like!!!!!!!! For anyone wanting to get into Death Metal this is a perfect starting point.