Celtic Frost Preview

Celtic Frost
Vic Theatre
Saturday, September 23, 2006

Before Tool, Isis, Neurosis, Entombed, and other unconventional metal groups — bands often coined “thinking man’s metal”– there was Celtic Frost.

The Swiss band was one of the first to push the boundaries of metal. Up to that point the music had been defined as hairy, sweaty, ugly, fast, loud, and rude. Celtic Frost was all of those, especially on its first two records, 1984’s Morbid Tales and the following year’s To Mega Therion. But thanks to adventurous vocalist/guitarist Thomas Gabriel Fischer (who also co-founded Hellhammer) Frost was one of the first metal acts to earn the right to be called avant-garde, thanks largely to the superb 1987 record, Into The Pandemonium. Celtic Frost fused their raw Venom-inspired black metal with electronic samples, classical music, R&B background singers, and a rock ‘n’ roll swagger. Of course, as has been the case with too many vital metal groups, just as quickly as Frost rose to prominence it made a mockery of itself with 1988’s pop metal fiasco Cold Lake, which nearly destroyed the band’s reputation beyond repair.

Roughly two decades has proved to be just enough time for fans to forget Fischer’s betrayal, apparently. This year’s comeback, Monotheist (Century Media), featuring original bassist Martin Eric Ain and new drummer Franco Sesa, has been well received by both metalheads and critics alike.

SAHG and 1349 open.

— Trevor Fisher

Click here to download Celtic Frost’s “Ground.”

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly