Formed from the ashes of seminal death metal band Hellhammer in 1984, with worldwide sales reportedly approaching one million albums and every one of their releases both in the Billboard and the UK charts, the Swiss-American Celtic Frost are a pivotal influence on the metal genres, pioneering many of the musical styles and avant-garde elements that have since become synonymous with bands like Sepultura, Pantera, Therion, Emperor, Melvins, Paradise Lost, Foo Fighters, the Scandinavian Black/Death Metal movement, and many others.
The primal Berserker fury captured in the early Morbid Tales album (1984) and Emperor's Return EP (1985) have been widely emulated and are cited as influences on such recordings as Nirvana's In Utero (1993). Former Hellhammer members and co-founders Tom Gabriel Fischer (voice and guitars, popularly using his stage name of Tom Gabriel Warrior) and bassist Martin Eric Ain created stark and compelling vistas reminiscent of the writings of Clark Ashton Smith, H.P. Lovecraft, and Charles Baudelaire. Fischer's trade-mark Nordic warrior vocals and primitive 'wall of sound' sonic assault immediately made Celtic Frost one of the leaders of extreme metal. Lyrically, Fischer and Ain depicted civilizations crumbling into decay, capturing the 'Autumn/Winter' phases of Oswald Spengler's Decline of the West (1918) cosmology.
The follow-up album To Mega Therion (1986) progressed from blitzkrieg fury to orchestral doom-laden instrumentals. Swiss surrealist artist and Oscar-winner H.R. Giger's personal enthusiasm yielded visually brooding counterparts to Fischer and Ain's artistic vision, with Giger's paintings Satan I (1977) gracing the cover, and Victory III (1981-83) the gatefold sleeve.
The Tragic Serenades EP (1986) and subsequent successful world tour set the stage for the landmark experimental album Into the Pandemonium (1987), regarded as the band's most pivotal and controversial release. Fans were unprepared for Goth/New Wave vocals; Hip Hop/dance fusions ('One In Their Pride'); melodic metal ('I Won't Dance'), and bombastic orchestral pieces ('Rex Irae' and 'Oriental Masquerade'). Foreshadowing complex neo-classical metal artists like My Dying Bride and Apocalyptica, the album received strong critical reviews, but the original line-up disintegrated in 1987 under immense pressure. The band had spent fourteen months fighting record company Noise International, who had tampered with the album, for subsequent artistic freedom and integrity. Ain and drummer Reed St. Mark eventually left the utterly wrecked group, replaced with a new line-up that Fischer later found unsuited to Celtic Frost's conceptual vision.
Failing to complete his magical trilogy with a rumoured Necronomicon album, Fischer instead released the dysfunctional glam rock album 'Cold Lake' (1988), and the complex and much darker and heavier metal album Vanity/Nemesis (1990). The first virtually alienated Celtic Frost's fans, whilst the latter - widely regarded as a strong comeback album featuring Ain returning to the fold - contained mainstream appeal and an homage in the form of David Bowie ('Heroes') and Bryan Ferry ('This Island Earth') covers. Promising a continuation of earlier visions with the double album Under Apollyon's Sun, which had been in the works for some two years, the band decided to terminate in early 1993, having released the excellent career retrospective Parched With Thirst Am I And Dying (1992) instead.
Several bands evolved from the ashes of Celtic Frost: Ain formed the female-fronted Soul Dawn, guitarist Ron Marks founded the satirical 'Subsonic,' and Fischer co-instigated the highly regarded Apollyon Sun, an Industrial/EBM project, which continued his unique personal vision by teaming it with the unique soundscapes and technical abilities of guitarist/programer Erol Unala. Considered the 'elder statesman' of innovative Euro-metal, Fischer has seen his uncompromising conceptual framework and intricate instrumental orchestration blossom into many cutting-edge genres, while Celtic Frost have been name-dropped by fellow artists from Metallica to Marilyn Manson.
By 1999, long lost master-tapes that had last been seen in the care of producer Horst Muller in 1984, were re-discovered, including the rare original mixes from 'Emperor's Return' which have never been heard publicly. This finally made an overdue modernization of the Frost catalogue possible. Together with various members of Celtic Frost, Tom Gabriel Fischer oversaw the re-construction, re-mastering and release of the five key Frost albums in Berlin during 1999 and 2000. These official re-issues also featured the original artwork, conceptual packaging, liner notes, and lyrics.
It was due to this very project that Fischer and Ain began working together again for the first time in years. The resulting creativity was far more than the mere re-issue project was designed to absorb and Fischer and Ain eventually began work on an actual new Celtic Frost album, the band's first in over a decade. Tentatively named Probe, the album is rumored to be extremely dark, innovative and radically heavy, and scheduled for completion in late 2004.
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