Celtic Frost
Formed: 1984
From:
Zürich,
Switzerland
Last Known Status: Disbanded
Background
Formed from the remains of seminal death/black metal pioneers Hellhammer in June 1984, with every one of their releases both in the Billboard and UK charts, the Swiss-American Celtic Frost were a pivotal influence on both the extreme metal and gothic metal genres, establishing many of the musical elements that have since become synonymous with bands such as Sepultura, Pantera, Therion, Emperor, Melvins, Paradise Lost, Cradle of Filth, Foo Fighters, Darkthrone, Dimmu Borgir, Obituary, Nile, and uncounted others.
The primal fury captured on Celtic Frost's first album, "Morbid Tales" (1984), and the subsequent EP, "Emperor's Return" (1985), have been widely emulated and are cited as influences on such recordings as Nirvana's "In Utero" (1993). Co-founders and co-writers Tom Gabriel Fischer (a.k.a. Tom Gabriel Warrior, voice and guitars) and Martin Eric Ain (bass) created stark and compelling vistas reminiscent of the writings of H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, Aleister Crowley, and Charles Baudelaire. Fischer's trademark nordic warrior vocals and Celtic Frost's unique combination of a primitive yet at the same time highly intricate sonic assault soon made the group one of the leaders of extreme metal. Lyrically, Fischer and Ain depicted civilizations crumbling into decay, capturing the parallels between the corrosive and dark nature of a year's concluding seasons and the recurring collapse of human empires. The addition in early 1985 of legendary US drummer Reed St. Mark enabled the group to take a quantum leap both in the studio and on stage.
The group's second album, "To Mega Therion" (1985), was an epic evolution of the concept, now adding orchestral instrumentation to increasingly heavy songwriting. Swiss surrealist artist and Oscar-winner ("Alien") H.R. Giger's mentorship yielded visually brooding counterparts to Fischer/Ain's artistic vision, with Giger's paintings "Satan I" (1977) and "Victory III" (1981-83) gracing the album's cover. "To Mega Therion" would become a landmark release for an entire scene.
The "Tragic Serenades" EP (1986) featured cover art reminiscential of the "Sisters of Mercy", and the subsequent successful second tour of Europe and North America set the stage for the milestone experimental album "Into the Pandemonium" (1987), often regarded as the band's most pivotal release next to "To Mega Therion". Merging extreme metal with the band's passion for an early Wave scene dominated by acts such as Bauhaus, Wall of Voodoo or Siouxie and the Banshees, the album included sheer brutality ("Inner Sanctum" and "Babylon Fell"), Goth/New Wave vocals ("Mesmerized"); sampling/EBM fusions ("One In Their Pride"); melodic metal ("I Won't Dance"), and bombastic orchestral pieces ("Rex Irae" and "Oriental Masquerade").
Adorned with a detail scene of the "Hell" part of Hieronymus Bosch's famous triptych "Garden of Delights", and foreshadowing complex neo-classical metal artists like My Dying Bride and Apocalyptica, "Into the Pandemonium" received raving critical reviews all over the globe. The subsequent "I Won't Dance" EP (1986) with its legendary Isolde Ohlbaum cover art completed what was the band's most pronounced statement so far.
But Celtic Frost's line-up, now featuring an additional guitarist in order to enable the live performance of the increasingly complex songs, disintegrated at the end of an extended and highly successful UK/US tour, in late 1987. More than twelve months of legal disagreements with record company Noise Records, who had repeatedly tampered both with "Into the Pandemonium" and the group's artistic freedom, had exerted too much pressure on the line-up and also taken a devastating financial toll. Celtic Frost had defended the group's paramount principle of artistic integrity virtually to the point of total destruction.
On the basis of a new recording contract negotiated between the bands then manager and with CBS/Epic, Celtic Frost regrouped in mid-1988 and began work on a new album. The sessions initially included Ain and drummer Reed St. Mark, then a new line-up that Fischer would later find "completely unsuited" for Celtic Frost's conceptual vision. The resulting album was not the much-rumored mythical and ultimate Celtic Frost project "Necronomicon" but the dysfunctional and radically controversial hardrock album "Cold Lake" (1988), a release which virtually alienated many fans due to its visuals alone.
Two years later, Celtic Frost concluded months of recording sessions at Berlin's Hansa Studios by releasing the complex and metal album "Vanity/Nemesis" (1990), produced by Roli Mosimann (Faith No More, Young Gods, Marilyn Manson, Björk). It was widely regarded as an exceptionally strong comeback. Along with drummer Stephen Priestly, who had already played on Celtic Frost's first album, Martin Eric Ain had returned to the fold. Cover versions of David Bowie's "Heroes" and Bryan Ferry,'s "This Island Earth" paid homage to some of the artistic roots of Celtic Frost.
The group was now active almost exclusively in the UK and in North America and thus began the two-year development of the long-awaited successor to the dark visions of "Into the Pandemonium" overseas. It was intended to be a double album with the title of "Under Apollyon's Sun". Following the release of the unique career retrospective "Parched With Thirst Am I And Dying" (1992), featuring much unreleased musical and visual material, the group mutually decided to terminate all work on "Under Apollyon's Sun" in spite of its advanced state and to pursue separate paths instead.
Among various projects evolving from the ashes of Celtic Frost was the Fischer-instigated industrial/EBM project Apollyon Sun, which continued to develop his unique personal vision with an advanced concept. Considered the "elder statesmen" of innovative metal, Fischer and Ain saw their uncompromising conceptual framework and intricate instrumental orchestration blossom into an influence for several cutting-edge genres of today's modern metal, while Celtic Frost have been name-dropped by fellow artists from Satyricon to Creed to Marilyn Manson.
By 1999, an overdue modernization of the Celtic Frost catalogue became possible in cooperation with a now significantly transformed Noise Records. Returning from years of extreme reclusiveness, and working together with the original members of Celtic Frost for the first time in as long a time, Fischer oversaw the re-construction, re-mastering, and production of the five key albums of the group in Berlin in 1999 and 2000. These luxurious official re-issues were released to overwhelming acclaim by media and fans alike and also featured the restored original artwork, EP covers, conceptual packaging, unpublished photos, individual liner notes, complete lyrics, and unreleased music from each album recording session. The re-issue project coincided with the publication Fischer's much-lauded first book, a Celtic Frost autobiography titled "Are You Morbid?" (2000). The book is one of the few first hand reports on the birth of extreme metal during the early 1980s and the resulting branch of the music industry.
The creativity disinterred in the course of the work on the renovation of the band's back catalogue was far more than the re-issue project was designed to absorb, and Fischer and Ain, together with former Apollyon Sun guitarist Erol Unala, eventually began work on an actual new Celtic Frost album, the band's first in over a decade. St. Mark's position in the group, initially left void due to serious health issues, was eventually taken by highly renowned Swiss underground drummer Franco Sesa. Moreover, Ain and Fischer reanimated their old production company, Prowling Death Records, which in 1983 had already released the Hellhammer demos, to finance the new Celtic Frost album and retain full control of the project by the group up to the day of the new album's release.
In late 2004, Fischer partially opened the secretive and protected realm of Celtic Frost's inner sanctum to the outside world by beginning to chronicle the making of the album on his high-traffic blog "Delineation". Surprising to many, this journal revealed a group again driven by misanthropic vulnerability and nihilistic darkness, a group aiming at surpassing everything it had created before, a group whose protagonists proceeded even more courageously than they had on ground-breaking works such as "To Mega Therion" or "Into the Pandemonium". The final days of 2005 saw Celtic Frost signing a worldwide licensing agreement with Century Media, paving the way for the release of the material. Titled "Monotheist" and scheduled for a release in spring 2006, Celtic Frost's new album was produced by the band and co-produced by Peter Tägtgren (Hypocrisy, Dimmu Borgir, Immortal). It is extremely dark, inventive, and radically heavy. The album is to be followed in 2006/2007 by concerts on all continents, allowing Celtic Frost to play for more fans on one single tour than they had in the entire previous history of the band.
official Celtic Frost website press release
Latest Celtic Frost News
Below is our complete Celtic Frost news coverage, including columns and articles pertaining to the band. Some articles listed may be indirectly related, such as side projects of the band members, etc.
Note: We began associating news directly with bands in late 2003. Therefore, earlier band news may not be listed on this page.
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Celtic Frost Completes New Album
Seminal avant-garde metal pioneers Celtic Frost have announced the completion of their new studio album, tentatively titled "Dark Matter Manifest", their first in 13 years and the culmination of some three and a half years of songwriting and recording work. Although the album was largely produced by the band themselves and financed by their own production company, Celtic Frost enlisted Hypocrisy/Pain mastermind Peter Tätgren to co-produce with them the final recording and mixing sessions at Horus Sound Studio in Hanover, Germany, in August/September 2005. Negotiations with a variety of labels are currently underway, and the album is scheduled for a release in early 2006.
Having declined innumerable reunion show propositions over the years, Celtic Frost once again deemed it essential to manifest themselves creatively with a new album before embarking on the live circuit next year.
Original Celtic Frost members Tom Gabriel Fischer (voice and guitars) and Martin Eric Ain (bass) are joined by Erol Unala (guitar) and Franco Sesa (drums). The band are now managed by Antje Lange for The A Label in Berlin, Germany (info@thealabel.com). For real-time exclusive information and rare visual glimpses, see Celtic Frost's official website at www.celticfrost.com and Tom Gabriel Fischer's blog at apollyonsun.blogspot.com.
Celtic Frost Prepares New Album
CELTIC FROST frontman Tom Gabriel Fischer has posted the following message on his official blog:
"Yes, I know, we're only making an album. It's not an earth-shattering event, and we never claimed it was (although, yes, this blog is quite pretentious at times). Nor will most people on this planet care. It's not even a mainstream album. Good. Nonetheless, every song on this album has a story. This is not about the lyrics, which are by themselves much more personal than anything we have written for CELTIC FROST in the past. But we have spent an unpredictably extended and emotionally and physically intense period of our lives writing, rehearsing, recording and producing this album. That's significant to us. And, judging, by the flood of reactions I am receiving on my e-mail account through this blog, it is significant to many others too, one way or another. It's our own microcosm of meaning.
"Every song is connected to events, personal or professional, that we will hardly ever forget. And there will surely be more in the coming weeks, as we are temporarily relocating to Hanover, Germany, at the end of July to conduct the final recording and mixing sessions at Horus Sound Studio. This is the studio — albeit now in a much more modern incarnation — where we produced the 'Into the Pandemonium' album in 1987. We expect to finally be finished the first week of September.
"There will be some friends who will come to see us, and — apart from a few closed sessions — the studio is also open for anybody who wants to say hello, as always.
"I was interviewed yesterday for a five-part documentary on Swiss rock history, produced for Swiss national TV. Mixed feelings. Questions were good and the people very nice, but how much do they actually know about their topic? Typical signals of a generalization and cursory approach. A surprise? No. Also seems they were a bit astonished at what I had to say. :-) But they'll include the footage of CELTIC FROST's very first public appearance, 'Into the Crypts of Rays' on Swiss TV, shot in 1985."
CELTIC FROST have selected HYPOCRISY/PAIN mainman Peter Tägtgren to co-produce their long-awaited comeback effort, tentatively titled "Dark Matter Manifest". The band willl enter Horus Sound Studio in Hannover, Germany on August 1 to begin recording their first collection of new material since 1990's "Vanity/Nemesis". Songtitles set to appear on the CD include "Obscured", "Incantation against You", "Ain Elohim" and "Temple of Depression".
CELTIC FROST, who have been mixing new demo material at Oakland Recording in Winterthur, Switzerland, have yet to secure a record deal for their upcoming CD.
Celtic Frost Choose Producer
Celtic Frost are to work with Hypocrisy/Pain mainman Peter Tagtgren on their new album 'Dark Matter Manifest'. Work will start at a studio in Germany during early August.
Celtic Frost Frontman Slams Metal Hammer Magazine
CELTIC FROST frontman Tom Gabriel Fischer has posted the following message on his official blog:
"So, Metal Hammer, one of Germany's most important magazines for heavy music, published a prominent news item on CELTIC FROST in their most recent issue. No, we have not yet distributed an official press release, nor has anyone from Metal Hammer bothered to contact either one of the band members or CELTIC FROST's management. Instead, they read this blog. Come to think of it, 'read' might not be the appropriate term to use here. For to read something, you need to be able to actually understand the language it is written in. Unless, of course, you are content with not understanding even one single line, and, yet, still have a big mouth and announce to the world what you haven't understood. Empty pages need to filled, after all.More...
Update On New Celtic Frost Album
CELTIC FROST frontman Tom Gabriel Fischer has posted the following updates at his official blog:
"Never before has the band been so heavy, never so dark…’ is what the small handful of friends have said who have heard the new production demos this week.
Heaviness and darkness can be expressed in a variety of ways, and while the entirety of our album will be distinctively more varied than the bandwidth of the songs our friends have heard, it really will be a very sinister collection of songs. It reflects exactly where we are at, personally, emotionally, and creatively, at this stage of our journey.
And no matter what some might interpret into all of this - and while they certainly do exist, who should give a toss - it is real and sincere. More real than anything we have done since 1987.
There is a strong chance that we will do the final recording sessions for the album this summer at Horus Studio in Hanover. Perhaps this really is home.”
Celtic Frost Complete Work On New Demo
CELTIC FROST frontman Tom Gabriel Fischer has posted the following message on his official blog:
"We finished the demonstration songs yesterday. They will be used for various industry purposes. We focused entirely on heavy material, and these songs are a clear indication of what the album is going to be like, they are dark, ferocious, sometimes very unique, and very intense. The full album will be more varied, but the general direction is obvious.
"All the recordings were made at our rehearsal studio, and we used live versions for most of the tracks. We spent Sunday mixing at Oakland Recording in Winterthur, Switzerland. Erol [guitar] engineered, and Martin [bass] and me managed to annoy him constantly with our demands/comments/immaturities.
"Almost everything came out as intended. The only song that doesn't yet work is 'Os Abysmi vel Daath'. This is a bitter pill to swallow, for it is one of our earliest dark songs for the new album, and we had a lot of faith in it. We will have to go back and put some very concise work into it. The song seems so simple, and yet it is very complex and has managed to defeat us every step of the way so far.
"The other songs of the demo sound extremely CELTIC FROST to me, in details sometimes astonishingly close to 'Morbid Tales' or 'To Mega Therion'. 'Ain Elohim' and 'Temple of Depression' are perhaps my favourites among these songs. Although it is a new song, the title and some of my contributions to 'Temple of Depression' go back to the original CELTIC FROST of many years ago.
"If all goes according to plan, Martin is going to pick up a well-known Swedish producer from the airport in just a few hours. We'll talk for a day about a possible collaboration, and he'll hear almost the entire album on Tuesday."
Celtic Frost Recording Final Production Demos
CELTIC FROST frontman Tom Gabriel Fischer has posted the following message on his official blog:
"We recorded vocals for one of the songs for the final production demos for our new album yesterday, and we'll continue with two more on Saturday. Martin [Ain, bass] and I have worked on a variety of lyrics for months now… and some of the lyrics even go back much further than that. I had spent weeks preparing the vocal lines at my place and then took them to our rehearsal studio to practice them in absolute solitude, but with the energy of a live performance. As has always been true for CELTIC FROST, numerous rewrites became necessary to make everything work as it must for us to be satisfied. Martin often coached me where certain lines did not yet create the feel we had both imagined. Martin has always been a most resourceful vocal producer, but never before have we collaborated so closely. More...
Fenriz presents the Best of Old School Black Metal
Fenriz presents the Best of Old School Black Metal... is the first in a series of compilation albums from the mighty FENRIZ of DARKTHRONE. Featuring 16 classic tracks from the likes of VENOM, BATHORY, CELTIC FROST, HELLHAMMER, MAYHEM, BURZUM, DESTRUCTION, AURA NOIR and much more. Running at over 70 minutes this album is a must for any metal fan!
Here's the cd's tracklisting: More...
Hatesex's Slayer Cover for Download
Los Angeles-based goth/death rock band HATESEX have posted a streaming-only preview of their cover version of the SLAYER classic "Black Magic" at this location. The song, which will appear on the HATESEX debut CD, "The Spiritual Palsy EP", features Martin Ain of CELTIC FROST on vocals and Erol Unala of CELTIC FROST/APOLLYON SUN on lead guitar.
HATESEX is the brainchild of former DIVA DESTRUCTION guitarist Benn Ra. Joining Benn in the new group is newcomer vocalist Krisanna Marie, who has previously performed live with 13TH SKY and PENIS FLYTRAP.