Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Celtic Frost
Label: Century Media
Release: 2006
Length: 69.01
Rating: 3/5
The goal of this “comeback” album, 15 years on, is basically the same as it was with “Into The Pandemonium”: shock people and spark a revolution. Only this time Celtic Frost go about it with an “innovation” of sonic experiments, a new expression that is basically still metal, the avant-garde of other, younger bands, i.e. already invented. So the word “innovation” doesn’t really fit this time. “Monotheist” takes the band back to its roots and puts Celtic Frost back on their own recognizable turf. But not quite completely yet.
Still, on “Monotheist” Celtic Frost delivered some of the most impressive moments of their whole career. That goes for a few spots on the album. Take Ground, which in its singing style (not the voice’s timbre), its structure and riff (not the rhythm) and even its atmosphere recalls the apocalyptic vibe of Orgasmatron (Motorhead)! Then there’s the icy-cold, chilling Drown In Ashes, where Warrior burns it down in a duet with a female vocalist. This is where the band’s dual approach shines best. It’s also where the fusion of industrial and metal comes together in a seriously enviable way. The vocals are wedged in between a perfect contrast of electronic sound samples, symphonic synth orchestrations and a guitar riff deliberately shoved to the edge of the production. Obscured comes close to that track atmospherically, while the album hits its atmospheric and musical peak near the end with Synagoga Satanae, where Celtic Frost serve up a colorful palette of motif twists. The album closes with Winter, built on an orchestral string arrangement that could work as an effective interlude at any moment, while Ain Elohim is a tasteful example of marrying dark metal (the vocal approach) and doom metal (the guitar riff).
At heart, Celtic Frost still manage, quite slyly, to combine the “modern” with the basic principles of metal. You can feel the band’s maturity on “Monotheist”. That’s largely thanks to Tom Warrior’s vocally varied approach, where he tries to be aggressive, and that’s where the album gets its anthemic drive, since on those parts Tom is often barking out “Hitleresque” chants. Biohazard crossed with The Haunted. In other words, a shot of anger and pain in the vein of modern “metalcore” bands. There’s no talk of any real vocal brutality, so Warrior would need a lot more seasoning if he wanted to express his own rage and agony more convincingly. Still, what makes the album interesting is the clever use of different vocal approaches across the record. Warrior brings in more melody here, and that gives the album a touch of dark metal and nocturnal gothic flavors. Celtic Frost also try to make up for the high atmosphere by singing through all kinds of effects: When death finds its meaning, when endless images of demons come alive, descending to earth in the embrace of a silent night lit by a pale, blood-streaked moon,… When life long ago turned into nothing but aimless fighting and wandering through the void…that’s when you know you’ve lost the God inside you.
“Monotheist” is an ambitious, quality comeback. The running time is a problem, though: it’s way too long. Given the genre’s limits, the album gets repetitive as you listen, and so even those super impressive moments fail to come alive on the record as effectively as they otherwise would. Celtic Frost could have said everything in 40 minutes. The music is basically limited to half-step doom-style howling and rasping grind, sonically close to Cathedral, with no guitar solos or harmonies. No real departures from that. The band builds on this doom platform through experimentation. By adding electronic sound samples.
Like I said. “Monotheist” comes across as a nice, ambitious comeback that lacks a bit more of its own recognizable quirkiness, or innovation, or magic. The flirting with newfangled “metalcore” and “industrial” elements, in a bid to hold on to their status as “innovators”, didn’t quite work out convincingly. You can feel Celtic Frost waking up, but for now they’re still drifting, searching for a new, clearly defined direction. “Monotheist” is a successful step forward all the same. If nothing else, Celtic Frost have found their true roots again. They’re still feeling out solid ground after a happy landing. After this successful touchdown comes the upgrade, a clear direction toward greater stylistic and expressive perfection. And that will be delivered by this album’s successor.
Lineup
Tom Gabriel Fischer – vocals, guitar
Martin Eric Ain – bass, vocals
Franco Sesa – drums
Production
Peter Taegtgren
Tracklist
1. Progeny
2. Ground
3. A Dying God Coming Into Human Flesh
4. Drown In Ashes
5. Os Abysmi Vel Daath
6. Obscured
7. Domain Of Decay
8. Ain Elohim
9. Totengott
10. Synagoga Satanae
11. Winter (Requiem, Chapter Three: Finale)
