Celtic Frost Responds to Fans' Criticism

The much-anticipated reunion of thrash legends Celtic Frost and the release of a similarly awaited full-length album (Probe) is causing all kinds of controversy over at Celtic Frost's message board, prompting band leader Tom Gabriel Fischer to respond. Here's his version of the story.

"Some people apparently do think they're very smart and know more than the band themselves," Fischer wrote on the band's official message board. "Well, it ain't so. Hence the anonymity, I suppose. Our comment regarding the post by 'heybigspender' is: that's utter bullshit.

"The 'demands made' past and present relate directly to our artistic freedom and — perhaps even more to the point — our artistic integrity. These topics are extensive (and not: 'expensive'), and they are usually connected to a trade-off of control of an album between the record company and the band. The company is usually afraid the band will go too far (especially in the case of Celtic Frost) to still attain any commercial success and the band is usually concerned about the record company compromising an artistic concept or vision."

"This process is magnified in the case of the new album, because it incorporates an *extremely* wide range of musical material, and some very radical views. Needless to say, this is why the Probe album we are working on right now pushes all these principles to the max. As did every other unusual album Celtic Frost ever did, To Mega Therion and Into The Pandemonium."

"As for the financial contents of the contracts on our desks right now: the 1980s are long gone, my friend, and the monetary amounts that are realistic now are outright meager in comparison. Especially for a high-risk album like ours, for which nobody — especially not the band — can guarantee any particular sales figures."

"By the time the album will see the light of the day in 2003, we will have invested 'at least' as much money in it as the record company, if not substantially more. We, and I in particular, have been financing the traveling, equipment, writing, and many recording sessions for this new Celtic Frost album for over two years now, and we will still finance a significant amount of the production ourselves until industry money will come into play. And there is no way in hell any record company will ever reimburse us for all of this, unless the album will be an outstanding success."

Currently, Celtic Frost's Probe should appear sometime in 2003, but as things stand now, fans of the band may have to wait longer if the band can't sort out the business end of not only the album, but also the reunion tour.

Source: Digitalmetal