CELTIC FROST — Monotheist (review)

Album · 2006 · Doom Metal

5/5 · 2011-05-09
arcane-beautiful

This is an album that my brother told me was a "masterpiece"...ok I agree with him.

This album really came from nowhere, and when Celtic Frost reunited, no one imagined that an album would be made, and this really did shock the metal community a great bunch. Celtic Frost in the 80's & 90's proved to push metal either in the right direction (e.g. Hellhammer days, To Mega Therion, Into The Pandemonium)...and the not so great (Cold Lake). But this...a great amount of time later, really did cement these guys as the rightful heir to the thrones of metal!!!

This album is very different to what we could ever expect. With obvious more extreme influences, this album took metal and really made it interesting. This album really was well recieved too, and to be honest, it deserves every accolayde and achievement it gains!

Very dark, very doomy, and very disturbing throughout, this album really does proove that metal can progress with every century. Their is also a very experimental, noisy and droney nature to the album at times, and most sub genres of metal are found in this album, making one of the greatest obelisks of metal, in my opinion.

Sadly these guys broke up and the partnership between Thomas Gabriel Fischer & Martin Eric Ain is no more, but their is hope and solemnity in Triptykon, which to be honest, I believe picks up the pieces.

1. Progeny - Very dark and disturbing, with one mother of a riff. Great arrangment. Interesting vocals. 9/10

2. Ground - Great chorus with some cool instrumentation throughout. 10/10

3. A Dying God Coming Into Human Flesh - One of the greatest metal songs ever made in my opinion. So atmospheric and evil. The video is also very eye catching. Great lyrics. 10/10

4. Drown In Ashes - Very dark and industrial. I love how the beautiful female vocals and the low dark tones add to the solemn mood of the song. 10/10

5. Os Abysmi Vel Daath - Great lyrics and dramatic changes throughout. Very dark and disturbing. 10/10

6. Obscured - Has a Sisters Of Mercy vibe to it. Very gothic and doomy. I love how it expands throughout. 10/10

7. Domain Of Decay - Great riffs. Toms vocals are pretty killer at times. Great chorus, and suprisingly melodic at times. 9/10

8. Ain Elohim - Great vocals and lyrics. The riffs are killer and their are some real kick ass moments found throughout. Just metal at its best. 10/10

Triptych

9. Totengott - The start of this mammoth of a piece. These vocals are scary as hell. I see a very Attila Csihar vibe to them. Very eerie, but very effective. 10/10

10. Synagoa Satanae - What an epic intro. Great chorus. The vocals really are as diverse as possible, along with the lyrics (with 3 langauges used in it). The whispered section is creepy as hell. A mammoth of a song. 10/10

11. Winter - An interesting orchestral outro, but a bit simplicit for my liking. 8/10

CONCLUSION: This really is going to influence extreme music for many many years to come.