TO Mega Therion by Celtic Frost.

I remember when I started listening to Metal (this was initiated after seeing a video of Iron Maiden and I was quite surprised that their music wasn’t pure noise as I suspected- I haven’t been in touch with Metal before, as nobody in my surroundings did listen to this kind of music), my interest to listen to all kinds of styles grew rapidly. I remember that I visited a city called Trier with my school class back in… hm, 1988 I suppose. And we discovered this record store that featured lots of Metal albums (we didn’t have such a variety in our little record store in my hometown). I came across this album, featuring a fantastic artwork by H.R. Giger (the guy that designed “Alien” etc.), and it fascinated me. At that time, I did read about Celtic Frost and learnt that they’d do quite extreme music (the photo on the back cover with those guys in leather and spikes also made it obvious). So, I gave it a try. I think I didn’t like it at first (same when I first listened to Slayer..), but it did grow with every listen.

TO MEGA Therion (released in 1985) is a very rough album compared to nowadays standards, but sounds polished in direct comparison to their predecessor MORBID TALES (not to speak of the pre-CELTIC FROST band HELLHAMMER). In my opinion, it has the darkest atmosphere of all (but yes, their re-union album MONOTHEIST was also a masterpiece in many ways). But with TO MEGA THERION, Celtic Frost had a huge impact on my views concerning the aesthetics of music. Simple, effective rhythms, riffs that even a beginner on guitar could play, but damn, it sounded awesome. I suppose everyone has heard about a song like “Circle Of The Tyrants” which was frequently covered (for example by Obituary, who have been very influenced by Celtic Frost). You’ll also find lots of Celtic Frost-influences on “Panzerfaust” by Darkthrone and lots more… this swiss band was quite influential for many Death and Black Metal-bands for years. Not to forget Swedish band THERION by the way, who followed the avant-garde movement of Celtic Frost, that started with TO MEGA THERION and was perfected with INTO THE PANDEMONIUM. But in direct comparison, TO MEGA THERION was darker, heavier and more aggressive. I do love INTO THE PANDEMONIUM as well, but here, vocalist/guitarist Tom “Warrior” Fischer tried to sing, and well, this doesn’t sound too convincing in my opinion. On TO MEGA THERION, Celtic Frost combined elements like opera vocalists and classical instruments for the first time, to create a very dark, bombastic sound. Just listen to “Necromantical Screams” (one of my faves). This atmosphere that CELTIC FROST were able to create at that time was simply awesome. I only know some few other albums that could compete in terms of dense atmosphere later on, like IN THE NIGHTSIDE ECLIPSE by EMPEROR or the debut album of CRADLE OF FILTH. As always, it’s a matter of taste. But if you don’t know this album, check it out. It might sound archaic nowadays, but maybe you’ll get into it…