Celtic Frost live at 2006. The band's distinctive skull-and-spears logo can be seen on the banners. Background information Origin, Switzerland Genres Years active 1984–1987, 1988–1993, 2001–2008 Labels, Associated acts, Website Past members Franco Sesa Isaac Darso Stephen Priestly Ron Marks Dominic Steiner Curt Victor Bryant Oliver Amberg Erol Unala Lynni Treekrem Francois Courvosier Celtic Frost ( ) were a Swiss band from.
They are known for their strong influence on the development of. Formed in 1981 as, the band became Celtic Frost in 1984 and was active until 1993. It re-formed in 2001 and disbanded following frontman 's departure in 2008. The band was inspired by metal bands such as, and as well as groups like, and and by the of. Their music included elements of various extreme metal styles.
Their earlier music was classified as and and their later work was classified as. The level of experimentation on albums such as led certain journalists to describe the band's direction as. Contents. History Formation (1984–85) Celtic Frost's frontman, guitarist and singer, adopted the alias Tom Warrior. With Steve Warrior on bass, he formed one of the earliest extreme metal bands, in 1981. Steve Warrior was later replaced by – also a pseudonym. The band attracted a small international fan-base, got signed to in and recorded their debut EP in March 1984, now a rare find on or second-hand record stores around the world.
Publications were also skeptical of Hellhammer's musical endeavor. Loathed the group; that started a long-lasting feud between that zine and Warrior, which kept Celtic Frost from playing in England for a couple of years. Rock Power was not fond of Hellhammer either – they considered it 'the most terrible, abhorrent, and atrocious thing ‘musicians’ were ever allowed to record'. In fact, they were 'receiving miserable reviews everywhere', Warrior concluded. Regarding the controversial status of his former band, Thomas said: Way back in 1984 and 85, when Martin Eric Ain and I recorded Celtic Frost's first two albums and, Hellhammer lasted on us almost like a curse.
Even though Hellhammer was the very reason we had thought over our goals and conceived the Frost, HH's left-overs kept being mighty rocks in our way. Many voices saw Frost as the same band with just a name-change. The lack of musical quality in HH made it almost impossible for us to get an unbiased reaction for Frost.
To make a long story short, it almost killed all our work and dreams. By May 1984, Hellhammer had disbanded. Fischer and Ain, along with session drummer Stephen Priestly, regrouped as Celtic Frost. Their 1984 debut mini-LP, was a hit in the underground metal scene, and the band set out on its first tour, through Germany and. This was followed with an EP. Both early releases are now available on the one CD.
Mid-1980s (1985–87) One of their more influential recordings was 1985's which did not feature Ain on bass, but stand-in Dominic Steiner. The cover artwork is a painting by entitled Satan I. The album was a major influence on the then-developing and genres. Ain did return after the album was recorded however. In 1987 followed. The album is more varied than many of Celtic Frost's past LPs, with unlikely ('s '), emotionally charged love songs, the album's recurring -influenced rhythmic songs of demons and destruction, traditional Frost styled songs about dreams and fear, and a dark, classical piece with female vocals. The album is vastly different from the band's previous work and cemented its late 80s avant-garde metal term; it is also a departure from the extreme style found on the band's previous albums, and that Celtic Frost had become known for.
However, it does have the recurring symphonic elements found on previous albums. The album has a more classic style within the songs with elements of, and, and even has an / (EBM)-inspired rhythm in 'One in Their Pride'. It does have a few elements remaining in Warrior's vocals, though, and some -influenced guitar riffs. These albums were some of the pivotal LPs for underground metal and introduced a new and more varied sound.
Celtic Frost, along with and were pioneers in the still underground scene, although Celtic Frost were much more experimental with the addition of classical instruments, operatic female vocals and sampling. Celtic Frost was often labeled by critics as. Stylistic changes, internal struggles, and first breakup (1987–93) After a subsequent North American tour (which saw the addition of a second guitarist, Ron Marks to the group's ranks), financial trouble, personal tension between the band members and an ill-fated relationship with their record label led to a dissolution of the band. Six months later, Warrior reformed the band with Stephen Priestly back on drums, Oliver Amberg on guitars and Curt Victor Bryant on bass and recorded the fourth studio album, released on 1 September 1988 by Noise Records. Despite it being marketed to exploit the mass appeal of glam metal, the album has more of a traditional heavy metal sound. Bryant fired Amberg and former live show guitarist Ron Marks returned for the recording of in 1990. The most significant change, however, was the return of early bassist, but Celtic Frost's reputation did not fully recover.
The group's next (and, as it would turn out, last for several years) album was a collection of rare recordings called (1992). The compilation's title was inspired by an old Roman prayer. It featured unreleased material, re-recorded versions of older songs and some studio session versions. A final proposed album titled 'Under Apollyon's Sun' was never made under that title, although Fischer co-founded a new group called.
Post-breakup (1993–2001) Several years following the disbanding of Celtic Frost, and after quite some time spent away from the music industry, Fischer co-founded a new group called with his close friend Erol Unala on guitars in the mid-1990s and recorded an EP and a full-length album. Although clearly based on Celtic Frost's dark and more adventurous music, Apollyon Sun was an project. During his hiatus from music, Fischer had also finished work on an autobiographical book, called Are You Morbid?, which was published by London-based Sanctuary Publishing to fan acclaim in 2000. Currently averaging a 3.73 rating on Goodreads.
Reunion (2001–08). Tom Warrior performing in 2006. In late 2001, Fischer and Ain began to write music together again, along with Unala on guitar and, from late 2002, experienced Swiss drummer Franco Sesa (also known within the group under the stage name Inverted Cross). The aim was to develop and record a new, very dark and heavy album. The completion of the project took far longer than anticipated (in part due to the DIY nature of the project and the project's financing) but finally resulted, in late 2005, in what Fischer and Ain describe as 'perhaps the darkest album Celtic Frost have ever recorded', based on a combination of the musical aura of To Mega Therion and Into the Pandemonium. The newest and seventh Celtic Frost album was financed by the group itself through its own label, Prowling Death Records, and publishing imprint, Diktatur des Kapitals.
Prowling Death Records originally was the self-founded underground label which released the Hellhammer demos and managed Hellhammer's career in 1983 and 1984. The album was produced by Celtic Frost with (of //) and mixed by Fischer and Ain. Celtic Frost and Prowling Death Records subsequently entered into a worldwide licensing deal with Century Media Records. The album, titled, was released on May 30, 2006. On May 29, 2006, Celtic Frost embarked on the most extensive tour of the band's career, the 'Monotheist Tour', initially headlining festivals (e.g. The festival, in front of an audience of 50,000) across Europe the United States and Canada in 2006, and the group's first ever shows in Japan in January 2007.
In early 2007 the European leg of the tour took place and a return to the United States as a special guest to. Further festival appearances and concerts followed in mid-2007. On stage, Celtic Frost play with an additional tour guitar player, who plays and provides a fuller sound. This position was initially filled by (, ), now by V Santura (of ). In early 2007, Celtic Frost began writing material for a new album. Metalunderground posted a statement from Tom Fischer regarding the new album. Only a few hours until I am to depart to Norway for a few weeks to participate in the production of a black metal project with close friends and peers.
In early March I shall return to Switzerland to take further steps towards the realization of my own black metal/doom side project, the idea for which has taken an increasingly defined shape during the past months. Fischer spoke to Spanish metal webzine Hall of Metal about new material: 'I'm actually working on a new album of Celtic Frost and I think it's going to be really extreme and dark. Celtic Frost has its own style, its own sound and it expresses a lot of emotions.
The music I write shows the state of my life, and now I feel very comfortable with such dark music.' As of Celtic Frost's announcement of their second breakup in September 2008, there is no talk of recording and releasing the new album. The last shows of Celtic Frost were in Mexico, one on October 12, 2007 in Monterrey, and the last one on October 13, 2007 in Mexico City. Definitive breakup and Triptykon (2008–present). Celtic Frost performing in 2006. Fischer tendered his resignation from Celtic Frost on April 9, 2008, with this message displayed on the band's official website: Celtic Frost singer and guitarist Tom Gabriel Fischer has left Celtic Frost due to the irresolvable, severe erosion of the personal basis so urgently required to collaborate within a band so unique, volatile, and ambitious.
Bassist Ain stated that the band was 'still alive, albeit in a coma of sorts.' He went on further to say that the remainder of the band is 'not going to continue recording or touring,' saying this 'would be preposterous' without Fischer. Fischer has himself gone on to form a new band called, featuring Celtic Frost touring guitarist V Santura, original Celtic Frost drummer (although he has since departed and was replaced by Norman Lonhard), as well as bassist Vanja Slajh. Fischer has also said that his new band will sound similar to the direction Celtic Frost took on their 2006 album,.
On September 9, 2008, Celtic Frost members Martin Eric Ain and Tom Gabriel Fischer confirmed on Celtic Frost's official website that the band had 'jointly decided to lay Celtic Frost to rest for good'. On October 21, 2017, Martin Eric Ain died from a heart attack. Genre Celtic Frost's style gradually changed over the years.
The band's early work has been described as and. Celtic Frost has also been described as due to their use of and elements in some of their music, such as on their album. Although Celtic Frost are often described as, according to authors Axl Rosenberg and Christopher Krovatin, the band's 'music was too tight, and its connection to old school rock 'n' roll music too readily apparent, to be black metal.'
Celtic Frost's later work has been described as. This section needs additional citations for. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2018) Celtic Frost have influenced a number of black metal, death metal, thrash metal, and standard heavy metal bands. The band, for example, took its band name from the album To Mega Therion.
Other bands that have cited Celtic Frost as an influence, or have covered Celtic Frost, include, and many others. And from were fans of Celtic Frost. (ex-, ) and (, ) have both stated on several occasions that Celtic Frost were an influence. Grohl subsequently invited Celtic Frost singer Tom Gabriel Fischer to participate in the recordings of his 2004 solo project, resulting in the co-written song 'Big Sky'. Alternative country singer has also claimed influence from Celtic Frost, amongst many other metal bands.
In 1995, Dwell Records released, a collection of songs covered by other bands. Notable bands that appeared on this tribute collection include, covering the song 'Procreation (of the Wicked)'; Obituary, covering the song 'Circle of the Tyrants'; Swedish death metal band, covering the song 'Mesmerized'; Canadian thrash metal band, covering the song 'Dethroned Emperor'; (featuring Tom G. Warrior himself), covering the song 'Babylon Fell'; and the Norwegian black metal bands, covering 'Massacra', and, covering the song 'Visual Aggression'. The tribute album also features Celtic Frost songs covered by several lesser known and now defunct metal bands. The hard to find CD is now out of print. Despite this, when Fischer was asked to comment on their influence on heavy metal, he replied: 'No, I try to stay away from that.
I'm a musician, I don't want to get involved with all that. It's not healthy. I want to do good albums. I'm still alive and I feel there's still so much in front of me.
I don't want to be bothered with who has influence and where we stand and all that. I think it's a negative thing.' In 2015, released a tribute of their own entitled.
Notably it featured a collection of Celtic Frost covers by other bands including (Feat. ), and Hayward (Featuring members of ) among others. Band members. Discography Studio albums. (1984, in 1999) ( in 2008). (1985, re-released in 1999). (1987, re-released in 1999).
(1988). (1990, re-released in 1999). (2006) - US #43 EPs. (1985, re-released as part of in 1999). (1986, re-released as part of in 1999). I Won't Dance (1987) Singles. 'Wine in My Hand' (Germany 1990) Compilations.
(1992). Are You Morbid? (2003) Videography. Live at Hammersmith Odeon (1989, VHS) Music videos. 'Circle of the Tyrants' (1986). 'Cherry Orchards' (1988).
'Wine in My Hand (Third from the Sun)' (1989). 'A Dying God Coming into Human Flesh' (2006) Bibliography.
Bennett, J. 'Chapter 3: Procreation of the Wicked'. In Mudrian, Albert. Cambridge Center, United States:.; (2010).: An Illustrated History of Hellhammer and Early Celtic Frost 1981–85.
Brooklyn, New York:. References. November 1999. Retrieved 21 June 2013. Archived from on 22 February 2008.
Retrieved 26 March 2008. ^ Retrieved from Internet Archive 6 January 2014.
Retrieved from Internet Archive 6 January 2014. Bennett, 'Procreation of the Wicked', Precious Metal: Decibel Presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces, Albert Mudrian, ed., Da Capo Press, p. Gregori (2003), page 11. Doe, Bernard (December 2007). Century Media Records.
Archived from on January 19, 2008. Retrieved May 10, 2008. Fischer (2000), page 80. Warrior, Thomas Gabriel (1990).
'The Macabre Existence of Hellhammer'. (CD booklet). Shapiro 1993, page 111. Rivadavia, Eduardo. Retrieved 26 March 2008. ^ Raggett, Ned. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
Retrieved 21 December 2017. Archived from on 8 January 2009.
Retrieved 24 January 2013. Archived from on 8 January 2009. Retrieved 24 January 2013. 22 October 2017. Bukszpan, Daniel (2003). The Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal.
^ Rivadavia, Eduardo. Rosenberg, Axl; Krovatin, Christopher (2017). Hellraisers: A Complete Visual History of Heavy Metal Mayhem.
Race Point Publishing. Retrieved 24 January 2013. Retrieved 25 July 2007. Retrieved 24 January 2013. External links., Broward-Palm Beach New Times, 19 October 2006., 'www.metalunderground.com'., www.avantgarde-metal.com, 2010., Blabbermouth.net, 13 July 2012.
Over the years, some rock bands have made extremely questionable decisions. Discharge going glam metal on Grave New World, Slayer going nu metal on Diabolus en Musica, Dead Kennedys reuniting without Jello Biafra, Phil Anselmo giving his two cents on racial issues (seriously Phil, just stop), Van Halen III ('nuff said), and don't even get me started on why KISS doesn't exist after KISS Alive II in my mind. Hell, even Celtic Frost had one in the form of Cold Lake. Like Discharge, they experimented with hair metal for one album, and like Grave New World, it was awful. But all of those bad decisions are nothing compared to the musical abortion known as Prototype.
Even Cold Lake has more artistic merit than this trash. I have a theory.
I think this album consists of rejected demos from Warrior's project Apolloyan Sun. It has to be. That project has more in line than the industrial metal/trip hop elements with which this album experiments than the dark thrash sound of Celtic Frost. This album sounds like it was an April Fools joke but I assure you that it is real. The album goes out of its way to piss off everyone and not in a funny or entertaining way like GG Allin or Stormtroopers of Death would.
It features a cover of a 'Helter Skelter' which is one of my favorite Beatles songs and ruins it. Tom raps the lyrics over a beat that alternates between mindless synth noise and a shitty 4th rate drum 'n' bass beat. It sounds like Raymond Watts featuring on a shitty 21 Pilots song. Yes, Tom raps on this album. Several times actually. Like on the song 'Get Wicked'. This song tries to sound like an 80's Beastie Boys tune but instead just sounds like some idiot yelling incomprehensible gibberish for a minute and a half.
There's also Deep Inside where Tom does a drunken Marilyn Manson impression over a beat clearly stolen from Beck's hit 'Loser.' The song sounds like a really bad rip off of Butthole Surfers' attempt at rap on 'Pepper', an attempt that went over about 1,000 times better. The song sounds like Sublime going goth except not nearly as funny.
Probably the most hilarious track on the album is 'Hip Hop Jugend', ironically one of the least hip hop related songs on the album. It sounds like a shitty Laibach song. Tom sounds like he's doing a Til Lindemann impression and there's a random female vocalist on this album that is probably only there because Tom listened to KMFDM and thought that it sounded nice.
They even dip into ambient industrial on 'Totgetanzt.' It starts out okay but it gets ruined when Tom starts whispering in a way that makes me want to cast him in a cartoon based on the Jethro Tull classic 'Aqualung.'
This creepy paedo voice ruins the track, which is further ruined by the dinky hip hop drum machine that kicks in in the last two minutes or so. If you like ambient industrial, go listen to Zoviet France, or Coil or Current 93. Steer clear of this song. You're probably wondering: 'Isn't Celtic Frost a METAL band?
Where's the Metal?' Oh, there is some metal here, but it sucks too. It just consists of what sounds like rejected Static X demos. The best track on here is probably 'Beautiful End' which has a semi-okay guitar riff and drum beat that is dragged down by another shitty vocal performance and it ultimately becomes boring due to its overly repetitive structure. And if Celtic Frost fans aren't pissed off enough by now, the band ensures their legacy is defiled with an electronic music version of 'Danse Macabre' that's so bad it's horrible.
It made Korn Unplugged seem like a good idea. You probably noticed that a good chunk of this review is references to other artists. That's because this album insists on ripping of better music. Go listen to Massive Attack and Butthole Surfers and KMFDM and the Beastie Boys. Those guys make music that's actually good. Hell, I hate Korn and Static X, but I'd rather be forced to listen to their trash again than have to listen to this album ever again.
This is a massive shitstain on the career of one of the best metal bands to ever exist. I would rank Celtic Frost up their with bands like Black Sabbath and Motorhead in terms of how important and influential they were on heavy metal. The band who is responsible for shaping extreme metal as we know it spent an entire album failing to make an original or interesting musical idea. Process that. The best thing about this album was the fact that it was never released. Of course some sadistic fuck leaked it on the internet so I could stumble across it and hear it. If I ever find the asshole(s) who did that, I'm going to have them arrested for crimes against music.
The worst part about this album is the fact that there is no direction on this thing. It has no one to appeal to. Metal fans are going to hate it because it's absolutely gutless.
Hip hop fans are going to hate it because the songs flow like sewage. Industrial fans are going to hate it because it's trying too hard to be mainstream. Goths are going to hate it because it has the personality of a brick wall.
This album tries to be angsty, but it just ends up being boring when it's not unintentionally hilarious. The best track on the album is probably 'Beautiful End', if I HAD to pick one. I still wouldn't revisit it. The worst track is definitely 'Get Wicked' which is unlistenable and borderline arhythmic. Overall, this album makes me feel like a character in an H.P.
Lovecraft story, like I just uncovered some dark and horrifying secret that man was not meant to know. This album has filled me with a deep sadness that even my therapist cannot fix. This album just reminds that there is no God and that we are all going to die alone and sad as insignificant specs in a black sea of infinity. This album is the thing that should not be, yet it is, and that's why it caused me to go mad from the revelation. This album made me lose the will to live. Anger levels of bad. This is easily one of the top 5 worst albums I've ever heard.
This thing was dated before it was even recorded, it was corny on impact, and the only positive I can heap on this thing is the fact that it was never released. That Celtic Frost had that one moment of sobriety where they said 'You know, this is shit. Sengoku basara 3 utage translation patch. Let's not release it.' I don't know what drugs they were on when recording this thing, but they must've been on something bad.
Don't listen to this. Don't hurt yourself like that. Go listen to any of the other artists I mentioned above and you are guaranteed to like them more than this. Hell, Celtic Frost has a whole catalog of albums better than this.
Go check those out if you are one of the two people who has never listened to Celtic Frost. As for me, let's just say that therapy is going to be very interesting today. I'm not even sure how to start this review, like my head is reeling thinking of the process that lead Celtic Frost from helping spawn both death metal and black metal to this.
Probably has something to do with Apollyon Sun but that's neither here nor there now. This would probably be amongst the most hated albums on the market if more people knew it as well as they know Roots or St. Anger and it's because like those two it has almost nothing in common with the band's original and monumental sound. In fact unlike the former two half this album barely stretches into the metal category and that's IF you consider bands like Rammstein and Korn to fit the bill. Musically about maybe half of it sounds to be somewhere between Rammstein and Static X but with more rapping.
You have your synth and sound effects thrown in at every turn, slow downtuned guitars playing grooves but heavily shying away from leads and solos. The singing sounds very. Dead, for lack of better description, he sounds like he's just going through the motions waiting for it to get over already and the other half of the time he's half aggressively rapping about something or other. Then the other half of the album doesn't even stay to that path. 'Hip Hop Jugend' discards all metal elements to focus on the synth and rapping to become a pure hip hop song. 'Get Wicked' is much the same but with an obvious and annoying Beastie Boys influence.
Then there's 'Deep Inside', a poor attempt to imitate the Butthole Surfers while stealing the beat from Beck's 'Loser'. There's even a pure drum n' bass track. It spans a lot of outside influences and for that I'll give it some credit and even a decent amount of respect, but I don't think I'll ever be listening to a single one of these tracks again, much less the full thing.
If your a hip hop fan 'Hip Hop Jugend' is probably worthy of a 55% by itself and acts as the highlight for the album. Yes, the rap song is the highlight, its that weak on the metal side. Apart from that I'm dumping 30% on to it for being diverse. There’s been many a hilarious fuck-up throughout the course of human history. The Maginot Line, Tommy Wisseau’s unintentional masterpiece The Room, Donald Trump's recent election, that time a few years ago when the French National Railway Company bought a bunch of trains that were too wide to fit in the stations they were supposed to serve. I wish I could say that the box of sonic sewage known as Celtic Frost’s Prototype is the most baffling, absurd, and terrible of these but it's still among the most fascinating failures of all time. This demo is like an onion the size of Yankee Stadium, so multitudinous are the layers of shittiness that make it up.
You’d think after Cold Lake, Tom Warrior would have learned his lesson about trying his hand at genres that are so far removed from what made Frost good in the first place. But no, with Prototype, we see Tom and company spitting a loogy in that lesson’s face as they defile their own legacy. So what genre is Celtic Frost butchering now? Or more accurately: what genre is butchering Celtic Frost? There's no neat, easy answer, but it could be described as a weird blend of rap, trip hop, nu metal, and experimental electronic music. No, that's not a typo or a joke. Get ready, people.
This is gonna hurt. The sheer number of ways to piss you off this album comes up with is impressive.
Prototype gets off to an abysmal start with a cover of ‘Helter Skelter,’ where electronic beats that sound like a helicopter propeller lead the way instead of actual instruments while Tom switches between grunting and whispering the lyrics. This is easily the worst song on the album. It’s less than five minutes long but you might need to take multiple breaks to get through it. Album closer ‘Hip Hop Jugend’ delivers an unendurable chorus where some lady lets loose a bunch supposedly sexy repetitions of “ooh baby” while some assholes shout the song’s title over and over in the background.
Not only are both vocal lines horrid, but they don’t even match up in any way that makes musical sense. And who the hell is that Star Wars alien yelling the verses? Seriously, what the hell is going on here? ‘Totgetanzt’ is supposed to be a bit of atmosphere to break up the demo, I guess, with its sparse, endlessly thrumming beat and some rhythmic wheezing that’s either being performed by Tom or a ghost that was haunting the studio.
This is actually successful in cultivating some spookiness, as are some parts of the Beatles cover, which was intentionally twisted into something cold and sinister, but a few seconds after the song’s atmosphere gets boring, a bunch of lazy EDM percussion livens things up in a way that banishes all the value this number has as a creepy mood-setter. These are just the more notable examples of shitty songwriting in this album. Unfortunately, throughout Prototype's runtime, you'll constantly be assaulted by something annoying like weird, clumsy attempts at rapping (the worst example is found in ‘Get Wicked (Dagger and Grail)’, where the vocalist sounds like he’s mentally handicapped, toothless, AND has peanut butter stuck to the roof of his mouth), weak hip hop drum beats, passages that can't seem to decide on whether they want to be ambient of industrial, and minimalistic electronic nonsense. As you listen, you'll probably beg for crappy mallcore riffing. Tom's sparingly used guitar is only employed to belt out bottom-shelf nu metal riffs, but even these are so much better than the toxic sludge that makes up most of this album. They’re the only thing on Prototype that even resembles metal, due to a complete lack of actual drumming. Pseudometal riffing, however banal, could have at least provided some sense of unity and tied the whole thing together if it appeared in every song and had any level of prominence.
Instead, listeners are left to wander through a creepy serial killer maze of ideas born from the mangled carcasses of genres Frost has no business meddling with in the first place. Prototype seems to contradict itself. It appears to have been thrown together in an attempt at breaking into some commercial success. But if that's true, why is it so experimental, creepy, and atmospheric, usually in all the wrong ways?
And why is it a demo, despite being long enough to be a full album? Did Frost change it to a demo at the last second because Tom and company realized it sucked? Did they intentionally throw it into obscurity because they didn't want it to trash their legacy? Did they end up releasing it in some form in the misguided hope that it would become revered as a triumph of innovation by the few who discovered it? Trying to puzzle Prototype out, attempting to grasp what it's supposed to be and why it exists, is such a fascinating thought experiment, it practically justifies the demo's existence. Cooper and Jack the Ripper, there's a smog of mystery surrounding Celtic Frost's greatest failure that honestly makes it worth digging into, though your ears will hate you for your effort. I can't really understand why this demo ever came to exist.
Celtic Frost have jumped on dodgy trends before with Cold Lake going full on glam metal, but this still confuses me even more. Tom Warrior had Apollyon Sun for industrial and 'alternative' tinged metal that came very close to, but never really graced nu metal. This would've really fit better into that catalog rather than leaving a disgusting poop stain on the Celtic Frost discography. They are so embarrassed about this thing existing that they don't even mention it on their website while the compilation I'm Parched With Thirst And I Am Dying gets a spot instead. This is something that frankly shouldn't exist, but it does. Now I guess you're going to ask me for reasons as to why I gave this such a low rating? Well here goes nothing.
The musical styling of this album just makes no sense at all. A principally industrial nu metal release? This is not Celtic Frost material at all, this is not you, this feels and sounds so forced and trendy that I can't fathom this ever working. The genre change is hokier than the Virginia Tech gift shop and it never comes off as though the boys in Celtic Frost ever really wanted to do this.
Changing genres can be fine, but at least be genuine and passionate instead of just doing it to make bank as was clearly the case here. The reason this is treated as a demo and not a full album stems from some odd feeling as though Tom Warrior and Martin Ain knew this was going to be shit, and preemptively stopped this from receiving label backing and a full release before they could embarrass themselves with a Cold Lake for the 21st century. A bullet dodged indeed as most people who know Celtic Frost choose to ignore this, and it still remains mostly ignored even to this day, long after Celtic Frost has decided to permanently disband. The musical aspects of this album as an individual album rather than as a genre example are where most of the damage is done anyways.
Celtic Frost Prototype Demo Download
Most of the songs are electronically driven and feature little guitars, if any, so to call this metal isn't even really fair unless you count every metal connected electro-industrial or EBM act as a metal band. There are some metal songs like Beautiful End, but even then that makes up a minority of tracks on this album, and it's usually nu metal that even other nu metal bands would laugh. Where guitars show up, they're either just 'nu-metal riff 101' riffs, or they serve as weedly background effects that contribute nothing to the song. The electronic elements featured here are as simple as they get and it's often one boring loop played over and over again for 5 minutes.
Some songs even feature Tom Warrior singing in a style I like to call 'perv breath' in which he breathes so heavy and hard that he sounds like a horny old man coming up behind you to grope you. The all-techno Helter Skelter cover (which also features a lot of wheeze-singing) and Totzgetanzt (where the vocals are JUST heavy pervert breathing) are the worst offenders. When he actually does decide to sing, he sounds like the big-tongued, drunken, down syndrome-addled uncle of Jonathan Davis, sounding really ugly and silly any time he decides to give the nu metal singing style a whack at it. Some songs just make no sense at all. Get Wicked (Dagger And Grail) is some weird rap number done by what sounds like a juggalo rapping in some language that just sounds like gibberish in his nasally Pee Wee Herman voice like he has his tongue hanging out.
He even has the balls to throw a shout-out reference to Procreation Of The Wicked at the end of that dumb experiment, a song that Dagger And Grail will never match up to. The other weird experiment that made no sense was Hip Hop Jugend which features some generic euro-techno shouting beat while some woman says 'ooh baby, ooh baby' over and over again while Tom croaks out a rap number in German in a voice that sounds like a bad Dracula impersonation. MAKE IT STOP! There's nothing good about this musically, in any way, shape, or form. Frankly, I'm glad that this entire endeavor stayed on the cutting room floor.
The world didn't need any more bad electro-nu metal in 2002 and they certainly didn't need it from a band that we know could do better things with thrash and black metal. This didn't go anywhere nor did it need to, it has no reason to exist, other than as a simple, horrid curiosity. Get Wicked was funny, but that's about the only positive thing I can say about this. If you want to listen for curiosity's sake or for a laugh, go ahead. But, I'm warning you, this is stupidity distilled into it's purest form.
This demo has no business being a thing in this world. Thank God that Celtic Frost haven't released this as an official full-length, because if they did that, Cold Lake wouldn't have been considered as their worst release. We all know that Cold Lake was really bad, so could it get any worse from there? It did with this demo. This ain't no occult proto-BM like the band used to play, or the gothic doom of Monotheist. I don't know what drugs the band took at the time of the recording of this horrendous slab of scum, but it caused them to hallucinate, and making them listen to a lot of Laibach (hence the experimental nature of the album) and Korn, which apparently made them think like they can rap like they came straight outta the hood. BUT THEY FUCKING DIDN'T.
This is their worst attempt in producing any type of music, and even the most low-graded nu metal bands are better by far than this pile of crap. This is an ultra low class rap/hip hop album with some occasional good moments, which is why the given score here is 13% and not 0%. The rarely used riffs are decent, and it's a pity that they weren't used in more worthy places/ a Korn album. They can relate to very low-notch nu metal more than they do to any previous output of the band, which is obviously a major degrade in sound. All (but two) of the songs here are nothing less than abortive and migraine-triggering, with lacking any sense of musicianship or creativity. Tom sounds here like a weaker Jonathan Davis, who raps very bad,has nauseating cleans, and lacks any motivation or power- which is one of the demo's major downfalls.
Prototype Download Game Free
The drums don't help the situation either, with occasionally saving the day by the help of some below average beats which provide some of the demo's high points. There are exactly two worthy songs in here: The Dying I and Human Dirt, which could've been cut down by a bit (especially the latter) that would've made them pretty decent.
The rest of the songs here are pure shit, with showing how bad Tom and co. 'can' make decent experimental music. There are even two cover songs which were defiled in that way- The Beatles' Helter Skelter that was turned into an appalling techno abortion, and their very own Danse Macabre which was once one of the most evil intros ever used in metal, but was treated in the same way and made really bad. Listen to this if you like shitty experimental music, or if you're a masochist, because it will make you suffer. Well it's a good thing I never really knew (who else does for that matter? Why were we not informed of this release? What label put this out?
May be there is a reason why this is a demo of sorts) ever fucking existed. And with those questions that I put in parenthesis it also lead to simply WHAT THE FUCK WAS GOING THROUGH THEIR GODDAMN MINDS? I will fucking agree with autothrall on the notion that after this 'Cold Lake' seems way more fucking enjoyable. I'll take Tom G Warrior in a CC Deville hairdo with his uber-beaky-fucking face and teethless gum smile/look he's always had with a jacket that looks like goddamn vomit.I'll that that bad version over this butt-fucking version of Celtic Frost. No, it cannot be. I know Tom G.
Warrior went to do Apolloyon Sun and that same unused demo stuff from 'Vanity/Nemesis' era stuff actually appeared somewhere in Apollyon Sun and now I am just fucking confused. Hold on, in internet troll speak/4chan speak.wut da fuq??? Let's look at at this THING we have in front of us. The artwork is a Dimebag Darrel-esque generic fucking camo-painted guitar distortion pedal with the.Apollyon Sun logo on it? Some cyber-version of the heptagram?
Again wut da fuq??? And looking on the Metal-Archives.com website it was nothing more than a CD-R that came in a box that resembled a guitar pedal.
So again it seems like and this is just my personal hunch that Tom G. Warrior was doing some lame shit with Apollyon Sun that nobody cared for. But if that's the case was he trying to make sure he was writing an album for Apollyon Sun that would never surface besides a few cassette demos much like what Celtic Frost disintegrated in the 90's admidst the singles and demos that never caught the attention to many Frost fans after the cold turkey and all that ancient history? Because the reason why I say all of this and continue going further and deeper into such questions is really not only based on the releases artwork but the music, or lack of, contained in this fucking abomination.
It's going to get hairy here folks. Now I am a man of musical variety. I'm hurtling towards 30. I have come to become more eclectic as I have aged like a fine wine and so has Tom G's lyrics overtime, and I would love to sit here and tell you how different this is and I would even more so enjoy to comfort you in knowing that what you will here just might impress you.BUT THE TRUTH IS THAT THIS SUCKS SO FUCKING MUCH. There is not one decent thing about these songs.
Let's look at what year this was released in; 2002. Oh jesus:facepalm: Tom G. I can just picture Tom G. Warrior in baggy Jnco Jeans and fucking the dredges of mallcore culture at Nu-Metal and just fucking shit music's height.
This goes back to what I said about rather having Glam Version of Tom, at least that was half-way decent, this is just JUGGALO-WORSHIP MUSIC!!! Tom takes the worst of trip-hop beats and does something with them. He mumbles and whines over the fucking bloops and bleeps and mixes them in with his signature caveman riffs or what they TRY and sound like caveman riffs but plod through and sound more Nu-Metal. Even Tom's vocals sound very Jonathan Davis-esque in numerous songs here. At times you want to know if he is trying to sound like Rammstein, like Nine Inch Nails, or like fucking Korn or Insane Clown Posse. Level of shittiness? Asain motherfucker and it's not impossibru either!
I feel like I am about to have a fucking panic attack now. This is an outrage. I mean I could go on and on and on on who, what, when, where, why, and possibly how this piece of fucking shit that thankfully escaped me and majority of the public eye in 2002 and thank-god but this is like trying to play 'Fester's Quest' on Nintendo. This is like doing a military physical fitness test. This is like not being able to jack off for an entire 3 months. This is like the sad fact you can't watch a decent fucking show on TV anymore. You know that feeling when you take a shit and you go to wipe and you grab a hold of a nice-sized dingleberry in your ass hairs and then accidently tug it just enough to notice it but you know you have to yank it out and you end up ripping the hairs out around your anus?
Yeah it sucks that fucking much. In the words of Bill Paxton from 'Aliens 'GAME OVER MAN! Prototype is both the strangest Celtic Frost recording and what might lamentably represent the biggest identity crisis in their history, but unlike the Nemesis of Power demo 10 years earlier, I can hardly blame it for laziness or lack of trying. Self released with gimmick guitar pedal packaging and brazen album title, it looks nothing like any of the band's backlog.
In fact, if not for the Cold Lake icon in the right corner, the 'CF VIII' scrawled across the bass of the pedal, and a few of Tom's vocal lines through the heavier tunes, it would be quite difficult to qualify as a true Celtic Frost release, but more of an extension of Warrior's work in the industrial metal outfit Apollyon Sun in the later 90s. That said, Tom's mainstay was no stranger to experimentation, and so I can't say I was highly surprised when I first heard this. Only that it hadn't arrived sooner. Protoype has a more sleek, modern production than anything Warrior had written to date, and the substantial track list leads me to believe that it was intended as some 'missing link' full length to fill in the gaps of the band's history.
Sadly, though, it's quite thoroughly awful, despite the rather eclectic mix of ingredients. Normally I have no opposite to the inclusion of electronics, or even pop and hip hop elements to a heavier recording if they contribute to some sense of intrigue, compulsion or just some damn catchy songwriting, but here they seem misused as a tired set of cliches, a very 90s-esque 'open mindedness' that seeks to force an exhibition of the band's diversity. At its very best, the demo/album is competent and subtle with its external influences, but at worst it's a dire mockery of all good taste, tragically lame to the point that it takes on a bad, cartoon-like quality. Let's just say that, from where this demo BEGINS, you have little to no idea how it will END, but we're not talking about unexpected thrills or 'twists' that one might deem pleasurably; rather an air traffic accident that initially seems as if it will cause only minor structural damage to a craft's landing gears but then ends up on the nightly news, hundreds of dead being pulled from the still smoking wreckage. Essentially, the first two tracks are a sort of 'trance' techno, with beats that loop alongside a modicum of glitch electronics, feedback and ominous, crunchy bass against the backdrop.
The cyber rendition of the Beatles' 'Helter Skelter' is quite interesting, and even if I don't dig how the lyrics grind across the heavily affected guitar samples and beeping noises, it was at least worth a try. 'Totgetanzt' is an original, with even sparser, pulsing textures, sinister breath whispers and cheesy keyboard beats, but nothing as interesting as the cover ever occurs. And then we come to the 'heavy' sequence of the demo, where drudging, muted guitars are affixed to drum machine and samples in a means redolent of Pitch Shifter, or maybe the late 90s Prong material with enhanced electrics. Warrior gets rather aggressive with his vocals on 'The Dying I' or the occasional guffaw in 'Human Dirt', but elsewhere he uses a sort of nasal, whining vocal that reminds me of Jonathan Davis from Korn. The lyrics are quite miserable through this portion of the track list, with a lot of generic call and response style chorus parts and generic 'what I am what I am what I am' ('Human Dirt') effortless bullshit lyrics that were a heavy symptom of bad 90s alternative rock, industrial, early metal core and groove/nu-metal.
The heavily atmospheric electro rock duet 'November' features Tom's whimpering alongside a female guest, and 'Deep Inside' (one of two Apollyon Sun tracks that wound up here) is a passable trip hop tune with some psychedelic guitar swirl backing the chorus, but even the latter becomes incredibly cheesy when it hits the classical piano bridge with the girl whispers: 'deep inside deep inside'. Oh so sexy, guys! But, honestly, I'd take ANY OF THIS over what happens at the end of the demo, where it transforms from merely misspent creative energy into an outright abomination, as if a bunch of ICP juggalos decided to stick bananas in their wrestling thongs and then invade the recording session, bribing Tom with drugs to let them in the studio booth. 'Get Wicked (dagger and grail edit)' is some weird interlude with a dude rapping in.French, I think? It's bad enough that we must suffer its reckless stupidity, but the guy actually has the audacity to include the phrases 'get down get down' in nearly the same breath as he cries 'procreation of the wicked'.
At this point I am well on my way to caving in my face with handgun rounds, but Prototype actually gets WORSE, with the heinous and inane 'Hip Hop Jugend', a hybrid of porn electronics, bad German Rammstein rambling, smutty 'ooh baby aah baby' female narrative and a bunch of manly Eurotrash shouts of 'Hip Hop Jugend' in the background. Seriously, I dare anyone to listen through this song and then tell me again how miserable you think Cold Lake is. If you can make it through without cracking a smile or choking on a combination of laughter (at it, not with it) and vomit, then I certainly owe you a beer.
But trust me, it will haunt you forever.the final nail in the coffin of failed ideas that permeate Prototype. As we all know by now, this direction was not one Warrior and Ain pledged to continue, its awkward and unnecessary mutation silently sealed away in vaults of agonizing regret that only a handful were so unfortunate to experience. Monotheist would later steer the band back on track, an acceptable compensation for 10 years of bullshit, but personally I'm not sure it could ever outlive scars like this.autothrall http://www.fromthedustreturned.com.
Comments are closed.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |