Celtic Frost is BACK!!!

I gotta say that when I heard about CELTIC FROST getting back together and this new album coming out, I had mixed reactions. Considering that their last few albums sucked before disbanding in the early nineties (especially VANITY/NEMESIS and COLD LAKE), I wasn't expecting the new album to be a revelation or anything. Boy, was i DEAD wrong! From the opening chords of the first track, I knew this was a true comeback of a legendary band that I have sorely missed for a long time. It's really awesome to see the old logo being used again too.

Don't expect MORBID TALES or TO MEGA THERION, but MONOTHEIST is definitely Celtic Frost returning to form and THE BEST metal album of the year so far. They've never sounded better. The producer on this one, Peter Tägtgren helped the boys get a great sound, everything raw but not too polished. This is as heavy as anything they've ever done in my opinion. Tom G still has the rough-edged voice, the guitars still have that classic Frost sound. There's really some fresh ideas here and even though it's unmistakably Frost, they sound like a new band. This album is more doomy and dark than anything they've ever done before but it's still got an accessibility to it that will interest new metal fans as well as pleasing the old die-hards like myself.

The first 2 tracks PROGENY and GROUND are pretty fat and brutal before we get into the sludgier, darker territory starting with track 3 DYING GOD COMING INTO HUMAN FLESH which is one of my favorite tracks, reminding me a bit of "Dethroned Emporer" from MORBID TALES. The next track DROWN IN ASHES opens up with some beautiful guest vocals, courtesy of Lisa Middlehauve from Xandria. Tom does some pretty creepy vocals on this track too. Very mysterious reminding me of the more experimental CF like INTO THE PANDEMONIUM and TRAGIC SERENADES. The next track OS ABYSMI VEL DAATH is a very heavy fucker indeed, with an interesting dark ambient part around the 4-minute mark, returning back to the chorus then bleeding into the bonus track "Temple of Depression". Really effective. Believe me, buying the digipack version just for this track is worth it.

OBSCURED is probably the most commercial on the album with a definite gothic feel, especially because of the female harmonies. Catchy chorus. Not my favorite, but still a good track nonetheless. DOMAIN OF DECAY is another heavy bastard full of good riffs and wicked vocals. This is another one of my faves. AIN ELOHIM is one of the faster tracks on the album, with some pretty creepy vocals near the end and a short freak out noise guitar part.

TOTENGOTT is one of the more ambient tracks with a lot of programmed stuff, synths and some truly chilling and sick vocals by Martin Ain. Kind of reminds me of Skinny Puppy's CHORALONE off RABIES. The fifteen minute SYNAGOGA SATANAE is the epic doom track of the album full of orchestral and choir arrangements which mix perfectly with the heavy parts. Martin does a spoken word part in German that is pretty alien, to say the least.

The last aptly-titled track, WINTER is a perfect closer, a classical arranged piece which sounds like a mix of real strings and electric keyboards.

I'm predicting this will be on a lot of "top metal albums" lists this year. Try to get the limited digipack version if you can, it's got a different cover (which is better than the jewel case version), a poster and an extra track TEMPLE OF DEPRESSION which is absolutely worth having.

It's glad to see CELTIC FROST are back. Let's hope they're going to be around for a while to come.