Reviews list for Celtic Frost - Monotheist (2006)

Song writing is a fine art form. A skill that only very few excel at. You can admire well-structured and cleverly built songs all you like, however for me the real praise needs to be reserved for those that elevate their song writing to truly deranged levels of morbid grandiosity. That ability to truly detach from the expected, to actively seek to shy away from the conventional is where my eyes go all glossy with adulation. To that end, my discovery of Monotheist today for the first time has been nothing short of a revelation.

To be honest, I rarely listen to Celtic Frost and had most certainly not thought to connect them with doom metal. Of course, now I sit down and acknowledge that this last offering from CF sets the scene perfectly for the very similar sounding Triptykon, it all falls into place nicely. That having been said part of my stunned and slightly quizzical look on my face cannot hide that sense of being caught genuinely off-guard by a record for the first time in absolutely years. Although relevant, comparisons with Tom’s latter day output are not altogether an accurate reflection of just how good Monotheist is.

Which ever release I listen to from Triptykon, it exudes some sense of measure and control. It feels like some of the rampant emotions of Monotheist have been brought to heel in the intervening years that have passed since CF ducked out (on a high). That is not to say that Monotheist is bat shit crazy either, whilst it most certainly lacks some of the dark composure of Triptykon it is still a deviously calculated record to listen to. Whilst it starts off perfectly normal with heavy opener Progeny providing an above average welcome to proceedings, this is a record that slowly unravels and unhinges itself the further you get into it.

As well as Tom’s increasingly demented vocals there is a growing sense of groove and bend to those riffs also. As songs start to crash into feedback-soaked endings it is with a degree of wonder that you must ask yourself if the four years of recording was the route the band should have stuck with for their entire careers, such is the level of accomplishment prevalent over these eleven tracks.

Clear album highlight is the penultimate track (proper), Totengott. Its blend of harsh black metal vocals and noise-like atmospherics are a stunningly macabre glorification of evil music and Tom sounds rabid on his performance on here. The fourteen minutes plus offering, Synagoga Satanae is a wonderful exploration of doom metal, full of big and memorable riffs. For me, they could end the record right there and do away with the instrumental track that closes proceedings but this still acts as a great palette cleanser to end on.

Celtic Frost certainly had a turbulent existence. Forming after the break-up of seminal act Hellhammer, leading lights Tom G. Warrior and Martin Ian Ain seemed to have an on/off musical relationship, splitting and reforming the band several times. Despite releasing some of the defining records of the European thrash metal scene, particularly their Morbid Tales and Emperor's Return EPs and the brilliant To Mega Therion album, they seemed to be hell-bent on self-destruction. A little over a year after the release of the more experimental but well-received, Into the Pandemonium, Martin Ian Ain and drummer Reed St. Mark had left and the new lineup made a blatant grab for mainstream attention whereby they foresook the darkness that made the band what they were and put out a hair metal album, Cold Lake. This so alienated the existing fans that it looked like it was all over for CF and the band split. They reformed and released another underwhelming album, Vanity / Nemesis, before splitting again. Reforming yet again in '01 they put out a horrendous demo called Prototype that should have finished them off.
However, they stuck it out and in 2006 released Monotheist. At last an album worthy to carry the Celtic Frost name, Monotheist takes the darkness of the early thrash releases, slowing the pace down to a largely doom metal tempo and adds a heavy gothic atmosphere to the proceedings, resulting in their best album for two decades and laying the foundation for Warrior's subsequent band Triptykon. The production is very good, allowing all the instruments room to be heard, the songs are great, the riffs are heavy as hell and Tom's vocals are ominous and threatening.
Personally, I came to Monotheist a bit late, having long before given up on the band, but I guess quality wins out in the end and thankfully, this allowed Celtic Frost to bow out with their heads held high.