CELTIC FROST — Into the Pandemonium (review)

CELTIC FROST — Into the Pandemonium album cover Album · 1987 · Avant-garde Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
Time Signature
I won't dance (but I'll gladly bang my head)

Genre: avant-metal / thrash metal

One of the most influential, yet generally very underrated, avant-garde metal albums, "Into Pandemonium" is really something else. First off, it starts out with a cover track and contains a Motown-funk-meets-metal tracks in "I Won't Dance". Secondly, there is the proto-industrial metal track "One In Their Pride" which makes use of electronic drum beats and samples. Thirdly, there's the classical peace with spoken French language lyrics "Tristesses De La Lune". Fourthly, there are Tom Fischer's moaning vocals on the melancholic "Mesmerized", "Sorrows of the Moon" (given its name, there must be some conceptual connection between this track and "Tristesses De La Lune"), and "Caress Into Oblivion (Jade Serpent II)" and the use of percussion in the sections ("Caress Into Oblivion" eventually morphs into a more straight metal tune ... with some spacey effects though). Fifthly, there's the use of timpani, violin and female operatic vocals on the dark and doomy "Rex Irae (Reqiuem)" which also features Tom Fischer's more mournful vocals. "Oriental Masquerade" is stylistically similar, making use of a dark classical ensemble. There are also the more all out metal tracks like "Inner Sanctum", "Babylon Fell (Jade Serpent)" and "In the Chapel, In the Moonlight", "The Inevitable Factor" (which does feature some spacey effects, though).

This album is not for everyone. It took me a loooong time to be able to appreciate it, because its dark avant-garde nature was something I simply wasn't prepared for back then. But once, it gets under one's skin, it becomes obvious that "Into the Pandemonium" is an early avant-garde metal masterpiece.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Beyond The Shed Sludge Metal
SINICYST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Being & Nothing EP Sludge Metal
CEREBRAL TOMB
Buy this album from MMA partners
Nothing More Sludge Metal
CALLOUS
Buy this album from MMA partners
From The Bottom Of The Sewers Sludge Metal
DEAF OWL
Buy this album from MMA partners
It Gets Worse Sludge Metal
KULK
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Agremorta - Adrocitas (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 16 hours ago
Agremorta - Ploratus Umbra (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 16 hours ago
Agremorta - Vertex Membrana (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 16 hours ago
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR - The Temple Of Curved Space (Official Track Stream)
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR
adg211288· 18 hours ago
In Sulfur - The Gate (OFFICIAL VIDEO) 2022
IN SULFUR
Bosh66· 1 day ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed