Celtic Frost

Back in 1985, heavy metal could already be split into several subgenres, including thrash (a year earlier, Metallica had unleashed their second album) and speed metal – forerunner of power metal – a movement on a great rise especially in Germany (think of the earliest Helloween or Running Wild). However, sounds that would later materialize such as death, black or gothic metal could only be glimpsed in their unwitting early buds, as with Venom and Bathory on the black metal side, or Possessed on the death metal front. In any case, no one had yet used the word "avant-garde" — until "To Mega Therion" by Swiss outfit Celtic Frost, an album whose influence would prove decisive for the development of extreme metal in its broadest sense.

The ideas put on the table by frontman Tom Gabriel Warrior were far from embryonic, given that the Celtic Frost adventure was born from the ashes of Hellhammer, a raw speed-thrash incarnation (not a little influenced by the NWOBHM, and unfairly savaged by critics at the time) destined to burn out within a couple of years, making way for the new creature.

Celtic Frost's very first EP ("Morbid Tales") already marked a huge leap forward in terms of personality and songwriting, two qualities that would reach full bloom both on the record under discussion here (released in autumn 1985) and on the second chapter, "Into The Pandemonium" (1987).

What strikes you immediately about "To Mega Therion" is the cover art, an acrylic painting (titled "Satan I") borrowed from the celebrated artist H.R. Giger, a fellow countryman and friend of the band: here, the fetish theme so often recurring in Giger's work (sex) gives way to an anti-religious – not to say blasphemous – imagery, as the piece depicts a devil hurling a rock using Jesus Christ as a slingshot. Curiously, while in 1985 some explicit Giger artwork caused enormous trouble for the Dead Kennedys (we're talking about the poster included in the first pressing of "Frankenchrist"), Celtic Frost emerged unscathed from censorship, quickly turning that cover into one of the cult images of 80s metal.

This dark, sinister aura doesn't just wash over our eyes, since "To Mega Therion" also reveals strong ties to occultism even in its cryptic Ancient Greek title ("The Great Beast" – its translation – was one of the many pseudonyms used by Aleister Crowley). But that's not all: the album's lyrics are steeped in apocalyptic overtones, speaking of empires destined to fall or of death in its sheer inevitability (with no rebirth to follow, in opposition to Catholic doctrine), through imagery drawn both from dark fantasy ("Jewel Throne") and from the ancient Near East ("Dawn Of Megiddo") or Greek mythology, as in "Eternal Summer" ("Human pride and megalomania, the Titans watched it all. The trace led to nowhere, wrath had to come. As ushers at the gates, to ecstasy and excess, all turn their backs, they won't give us any rest").

The start is electrifying: it takes just a single sweep of the second hand (the instrumental "Innocence And Wrath") to plunge into the heart of an epic, battle-ready mood, a martial introduction bolstered by the presence of timpani and, above all, French horn, before the perfect storm breaks loose with "The Usurper" (a massive speed-thrash riff accompanied by the classic "ugh!", Tom Warrior's signature battle-cry). Already on this track you can savour the contribution of soprano Claudia-Maria Mokri, who later takes centre stage on the closing "Necromatical Screams" — essentially the blueprint for symphonic gothic metal (it's no coincidence that, ten years later, we'd find Mokri as a guest on a couple of tracks on "Lepaca Kliffoth" by Therion, a band that would never have existed without the forefathers Celtic Frost).

The gems packed into this record are countless: "Jewel Throne" is a midtempo number that suddenly shifts gears, veering into proto-death territory just like the celebrated "Circle Of The Tyrants", a masterpiece destined for eternal glory in which every riff manages to draw boiling blood from the icy chill in which the band operates. This contrast between the record's frosty mood and the visceral execution of the songs is one of "To Mega Therion"'s winning cards, an album that practically spits fire while gliding on ice.

In 1990, "Circle Of The Tyrants" was honored with an excellent cover by Obituary, just to name another band (in this case death metal) that owes an enormous debt to the Swiss outfit under examination. In this regard, it's worth remembering the line-up of this incarnation of Celtic Frost: alongside Tom Warrior (vocals, guitar, songwriting), there were Reed St. Mark (drums and percussion) and Dominik Steiner on bass, the latter having temporarily stepped in for the trio's long-standing bassist, Martin Ain (already a co-founder of Hellhammer alongside Tom).

Among the other tracks, standouts include the aforementioned "Dawn Of Megiddo" (whose dark refrain would go on to delight bands like Samael and SepticFlesh), the disorienting noise of "Tears In A Prophet's Dream" (the album's second instrumental piece), and the furious "Fainted Eyes" and "Eternal Summer" (a track featuring a slowed-down break bordering on doom, another unmistakable trademark of the band).

This extreme attitude, combined with an occult-inflected imagery and a look that was decidedly bold for the time (garish spikes and face-painting), would pave the way for future black metal generations: one name above all, Darkthrone, yet another project deeply indebted to Celtic Frost's music ("In The Shadows Of The Horns" - featured on the essential "A Blaze In The Northern Sky" - is one of the most shining examples of this).

There are therefore many features that set "To Mega Therion" apart from everything else circulating at the time, starting simply with the band's origins: Zurich, a city far removed both from the United States of the first thrash wave and from the great ferment of British metal, not to mention that in 1985, in Germany, the most extreme sounds were still in the process of being codified (the sacred triad of Sodom, Kreator and Destruction had only just taken its first rough steps).

In the case of Celtic Frost, their avant-garde nature can be felt on multiple levels, because it was precisely through the aspects we've examined that the Swiss band managed to throw open a window onto the future, offering something utterly original and far-reaching: the Great Beast sits up there on its throne, while its offspring still worship it.

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02/04/2023