Whether you love Into the Pandemonium or dismiss it, you have to hand it to Tom for having the guts to move metal forward. Pandemonium was the precursor to so much of the 90s metal scene - gothic metal, industrial metal, symphonic metal. Bands like Therion, Paradise Lost, Moonspell, Emperor, Theatre of Tragedy, My Dying Bride, all owe something to that album.
The singing style is amazing. Tom took it from Rozz Williams from the Goth band Christian Death. If you love Into the Pandemonium you will love their 1982 debut album "Only Theatre of Pain"... You'll hear the influence clearly.
What I like about Celtic Frost is that they have a little something for everyone. If you're into thrash metal, black metal, death metal, doom, hardcore, gothic rock, hard rock and even some progressive rock, chances you'll find something you'll like in their discography. They were a very creative-minded band.
I saw Celtic Frost live in 2006 and that concert completely changed my life. 😍 In 2019 I finally had the opportunity to meet Tom and thank him for everything. Yes, I cried like a little girl. 🙈😂
One of the 3 bands back in the day that showed me I didnt have to do music "by the rules" and could do whatever was in my head. I will always be indebted to CF!
If Hellhamer and Celtic Frost had never existed metal would've stagnated and possibly died in the 80's. Motorhead brought the speed and the attitude that had a massive effect on the Thrash Metal bands. Hellhammer and Celtic Frost brought the dirt and rawness that influenced almost every early death and black metal man you can name. If that wasn't enough Tom came back after a lengthy hiatus and released one of the most interesting doom metal influenced albums in years. Triptykon continues to amaze fans to this day. Their influence on modern metal cannot be overstated.
Definitely among the most important representatives of the 1st Wave of Black Metal for sure, even though they’re actually from Switzerland; plus their 2 best songs “Circle of the Tyrants” & “Into the Crypts of Rays” are SUPER CLASSIC 🇨🇭 👍 🤘 💯 👍
"To Mega Therion" and "Into the Pandemonium" were huge influences on my musical journey. If those records were never created, I wouldn't be the guitar player I became. 🤘🏼
In case you didn't know, Triptykon played two sets at last year's Houston Hell Heroes Metal Fest (2023). The first set consisted of all the songs from the first and second EPs of Celtic Frost as well as all the songs from To Mega Therion. The second set consisted of all the songs ever written by HellHammer. Both shows were very well received and can be found on YT.
Still remember seeing Celtic Frost live at "Rotation" in Hannover, Germany, which was a former rotary printing facility in the famous Anzeiger-Hochhaus (the Hannoverscher Anzeiger was a daily newspaper) used for mostly metal concerts. Their show was amazing, very loud, full of energy, but most impressive was Reed St. Mark, he already used very thick drumsticks, and could play a normal drum pattern with just one hand while doing spins with the other stick, something we've never seen before. But for a couple of songs he changed his drumsticks for two baseball bats, and played with no audible difference. That was really cool. Saw many other acts in Rotation like Lee Aaron, Stryper and much more. Good ol' days... BTW We used to drink lotsa beers at the bar with Barbara Schenker back in the days, RIP.
I bought To Mega Therion on vinyl when it came out in the 80s. I still have it .I definitely thought it was heavy dark and evil and unique. Thanks for the post.
Gods above! This is band that has needed to be talked about since ever! To me they are The Templars Of Metal! Ain & Warrior are my aesthetic role models! Long hair, black leather, hard ballad makers, hail to them!
Cherry Orchards and Dance Sleazy were my first intro to Celtic Frost and I still listen to them today, I don’t care what people say, both are awesome tracks and I bet secretly Tom really enjoyed playing them as well 👍
Sure, but you should understand that it was a HUGE disappointment for OG fans. I bought it and returned it the same day, because it was like expecting to hear Black Sabbath's Children of the Grave and instead hearing Warrant's Cherry Pie.
As a long time death metal and black metal fan, I struggle to hear things the way non-metalheads do. But I think Celtic Frost might be one of the best entry points into extreme metal. They're heavy but also groovy and not overly abrasive, like you could probably play them at a party or on mainstream rock radio and not immediately piss everyone off.
I truly worshipped "Monotheist". I listened to it almost daily for months after it came out. It was almost like a spiritual experience for me and I still think the album is pure art.
I got their first album while in high school when it first came out (we were fans of Hellhammer before that of course!), and still a huge fan today! 🔥🤘🏼
I think my favourite gig was these legends and Kreator, Birmingham UK The Powerhouse 1987, what a night that was, first time I'd seen stagediving, it was chaos! Great times!
Well done, I am 50 and am learning more about this band. I never had any of their albums back in the day. They were hard to find in the US unless you ordered them.
Celtic Frost shaped Extreme Metal and Heavy Metal to another level and with experimental fusions this band was so diverse in making metal that had never been heard at that time they created in the metal scene. Yet, they captured every essence for introducing us to the different styles of metal towards its' extremity and diversity thanks to Celtic Frost living legend Tom G Warrior but that wouldn't be possible without the late Eric Martin Ain R.I.P. such a phenomenal band.
I love Celtic frost from hellhammer through trypticon but into the pandemonium changed my whole idea of what metal could be ,sorrows of the moon was my anthem for the 90s period anyone who didn't like it was missing the boat ,rex irea mesmerized so much creativity one of the first three metal band to use female vocal candlemass paradise lost and frost.Thank you Tom G Reed st mark and Martin Ain I will to forever love your style and talent I was 14 and then 19 for into the pandemonium.Sorrows of the moon was a love song to me it was my metaphor for not shining and the love I lost ,I was devastated but strong because of the feeling it gave me , invincible.Kenny Lapham fan still.
YESSSSS! One of my all time favorites and one of the bands that opened up my teenage brain to the possibilities in metal. Ironically, I bought Cold Lake first because it had just came out and it was what was available in the record store. I only knew of them by reputation at that point! However, I did get ahold of Morbid Tales a bit later on and then finally got Into the Pandemonium, which for a 16 year old metal fan in 1989...that was MIND F'N BLOWING. It no doubt rewired my listening habits for life. And most every extreme metal band of any sort can trace their influence back to those first three Celtic Frost albums and of course Hellhammer. For the record, "Downtown Hanoi" isn't terrible from Cold Lake. I think they might have re-recorded or remixed it for a later comp album, if I remember right.
Poor 'Cold Lake' - is it the Frosties' worst album? Oh yeah, you bet. Is it the worst metal album ever? No, but it really strains one's patience at times, and is certainly a disappointment in the band's catalogue. Still, there are some redeeming qualities in there once you get past Amberg's unfortunate guitars and Tom's awkward vocals! (Tom's vocals are fair enough, given that he'd all but destroyed his voice by that time and was recovering while trying to make the most of singing lessons, the songwriting problems are fair enough given that Tom had gotten tired of doing the heavy lifting on songwriting and had pushed the rest of the band into doing some of it against their inclinations, but Amberg's irritating guitar leads/solos are genuinely baffling, given that I had absolutely no complaints about him in Coroner... I have no idea what happened there!) With that in mind, there's about an EP's worth of songs on there that really aren't that far out from what Celtic Frost did on the albums before and after it, and in some ways I find 'Cold Lake' just a bit more adventurous and interesting than the better-rated 'Vanity/Nemesis' (which I rarely listen to), while being (IMHO) a dash more accessible and conventional than 'Into the Pandaemonium' (one of my favorite metal albums ever, but certainly not everyone's cup of tea!) Songs like "Downtown Hanoi" and "Juices Like Wine" (which were indeed re-recorded/remixed a couple years later), and "(Once) They Were Eagles" and "Roses Without Thorns" really weren't half bad, and really don't sound like "glam metal" at all to my ears (the album really comes across to me like a slightly lazier and less intense version of the sort of gothic/thrash hybrid that Celtic Frost were doing on much better-received albums of that era, with just a dash of "NWOBHM" and American heavy metal influences seasoned into the mix....) Add in some of those stray songs from the same era that appeared on compilations here and there - 'This Island Earth", the David Bowie cover "Heroes", and "Descent Into Babylon (Babylon Asleep)" - and whip up another avant-garde interlude in the vein of "Tears In a Prophet's Dream", then be sure to give it a less off-putting album cover and band photo than 'Cold Lake' was actually graced with (that is, aim for something somewhat more sword-and-sorcery, gothic, or occult themed!), and I think you'd have had an EP or even full-length "worst album", that casual thrash fans and Celtic Frost fans alike might seen enough "cult" charm in to keep the band going strong through at least the early '90s, limited only by the band's willingness to stick together in spite of their differences (something Celtic Frost seemed to be having trouble regardless of the success of 'Cold Lake'), and the fact that the mid '90s would prove pretty hostile to heavy metal acts that couldn't find a way to adapt to increasing audience apathy for the oversaturation of metal at the time (the '90s really developed into a sink-or-swim environment that tested the endurance of metal acts that couldn't tough it out or evolve to take advantage of new trends and gimmicks! Celtic Frost might have been just weird enough to have stood out from the vast crowd of suddenly irrelevant and aimless thrash and death metal acts that were struggling to reinvent themselves at the time....) Anyway, 'Cole Lake' probably wasn't the best introduction to Celtic Frost, but on the bright side, it only got better from there if you were willing to give the other albums a chance (and good thing that it sounds like you did just that!)
My fave Celtic Frost albums are Morbid Tales and Vanity Nemisis. i saw and met Celtic Frost in Las Vegas on the Monothiest tour. Small crowd,but it was awesome. Monotheist scares me every time i play it. Lol. Also i love Cold Lake for how bizarre it is.
Hellhammer started me on the path but Celtic Frost sealed the deal for my love of heavy music. Tom G. Warrior is one of the Heavy Music Godfathers without question.
Well, I have three CF albums...To Mega Therion, Into The Pandemonium and Monotheist. That says it all as far as I'm concerned. These guys pushed the boundaries and made at least two totally unique masterworks (Pandemonium and Monotheist). Because of that, their influence is immeasurable. The Swiss had dadaism, H.R. Giger, Yello, Celtic Frost...all unique and very good art. Must be something in the cheese over there.🙂
Tom Warrior even did vocals for Coroner's early demo! While most of the other metal fans I knew back then were carrying on about the "Big Four" of Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax/Exodus/Testament/whatever also-ran was most popular that year, and occasionally Motorhead, Alice In Chains, or Pantera, my personal "Big Four" would have consisted of Coroner, Celtic Frost, Voivod, and either Sepultura, Candlemass, or Venom, depending on my mood! Coroner was tragically underrated, especially on their earlier technical thrash/speed metal albums - 'No More Colour' was one of the best '80s thrash albums nobody has ever heard of!
@@pietrayday9915I learned about them from Headbanger’s Ball where they played “Masked Jackal”. I loved them immediately. Fortunately I also had one of those accursed tape memberships, so I just bought Coroner & other thrash metal to meet the requirements. “Mental Vortex” remains one of my favorite albums. 🤘
That was crazy how Stephen Priestly appeared as drummer on Celtic Frost's most intense/brutal album: Morbid Tales, then returned appearing on their glam-style effort: Cold Lake, and then of course the not-too-heralded Vanity/Nemesis.
Very nice video - thanks for that. Celtic Forst have long been forgotten by most music fans. What a pity! What's next? I guess Necronomicon. Best regards from Germany
I thought I'd seen about all of the live clips, interviews, and photos, but there were a few in there that were totally new to me! With that in mind, about the only thing the video was missing was the fact that the Apollyon Sun era was glossed over without a single sample from the EP and album, the 'Parched With Thirst...' compilation of stray recordings that appeared nowhere else was likewise glossed over with barely a mention beyond "Chapel in the Moonlight", and the omission of the (relatively obscure) 'Under the Apollyon Sun' and 'Prototype' demos from around the Apollyon Sun era: these were unreleased demos for what would have been the follow-ups to 'Vanity/Nemesis' had the labels been interested and the band been capable of getting back together at the time, and showed Tom Warrior dabbling a little more in the sort of thrash heard on 'Vanity/Nemesis', evolving into the sort of industrial thing that he was doing with Apollyon Sun. Not a big loss, given that 'Parched...' was an odd "for collectors only"/"going out of business sale" kind of release, while Apollyon Sun was even more of a weird departure from Celtic Frost than 'Cold Lake' had been, and that the two '90s demos were not meant for public consumption: these recordings really didn't showcase Celtic Frost at their best, but there were some curiosities to be found in that era that I think are noteworthy, such as some of the Apollyon Sun and 'Prototype' songs that would be revisited by Triptykon with a gothic/doom style makeover.
The greatest Black Metal band ever. We all own respect and worship to the gods of morbid music. And YES, I also love into the pandemonium, and Monotheist is the most brutal and morbid album ever done ! Hail to Celtic Frost \m/
I remember a year ago had made a request for this video and you sir delivered. One of my top extreme metal bands and you nailed this, you even reminded me of the Cold Lake album I had forgotten about.
Toward the end I almost gave up on the want to listen to some of the back catalogue of a band I know about but have been missing all my life. But good god, the snippets from Monotheist are right up one of my many alleys. I'll give this album a listen or two. That's what these videos are really for.
I’ve been binging on this channel for a few weeks now, and it has become one of my favorites. I love learning about heavy metal acts I missed out on. This Celtic Frost video was amazing! I’m already itching to see what you’ve got in store for next month (May’s my birthday month.)
You can tell Tom G was listening to Discharge, and not always for the better. His singing style on Mesmerized is right off Grave New World. Definitely hear the influence on the earlier stuff too, which I prefer.
Always love a band that takes chances..and when it works its that much better On the song mesmerized he sounds a bit like Rozz Williams of Christian Death..
One the essentials of black metal as i personally consider even into pandemonium as a black metal even vanity/nemsis with more of heavy metal approach!
I was waiting for the day you’d do this one, one of my all time favorites that went on to inspire the second wave of black metal bands, especially one of my favorites, Darkthrone who does a lot of Celtic Frost worship
first 3 are all incredible albums in different ways, when Pandemonium came out it was a real shock but I was also exploring avantgarde and industrial stuff thanks to the older friends I made at a local record store, so I enjoyed the artistic nature of it. A real boundry pushing album. I saw them on the Cold Lake tour one of the most disappointing concert experiences of my life.
Great video. As much as I like CF i do think Triptykon are better. Tom sounds dialed up on those albums. P.S. Cold Lake is not as bad as everyone says I don't think.
'Cold Lake' could have used some "tough love" from a more assertive executive producer with a better feel for what make better-loved Celtic Frost albums tick! It's definitely not as bad as everyone says, but when it's bad, it's ugly! On the down side, poor Ollie's guitar leads/solos were not at all a good fit for the band - he was great in Coroner, I have no idea what went wrong for him in Celtic Frost! Tom Warrior's weird "cat scratching" from earlier efforts just somehow seemed to be the right flavor of grotesque to fit '80s Celtic Frost's atmosphere, I guess.... Speak of Tom, he'd almost ruined his voice by growling/grunting/yelling untrained for years, and it was showing on this recording, where he was obviously experimenting with different vocal approaches while recovering from his injury and getting used to vocal training: the vocals are pretty awkward on this album, and fortunately, Tom would recover later and reappear in much better form. And the songwriting was just a bit "off": you can still hear Celtic Frost's signature blend of primitive "crust" thrash leaning into gothic rock with eclectic influences on 'Cold Lake', and I think the comparisons to "glam metal" are kind of exaggerated and misplaced, but 'Cold Lake' is definitely a different animal from anything the band had done before, given the odd subject matter for the songs, the brighter/cleaner production, and the peculiar mix of very different sorts of avant-garde experiments from the ones that made the likes of 'To Mega Therion' or 'Into the Pandaemonium' work as increasingly dramatic departures from the old Hellhammer sound. On 'Cold Lake's" defense, it wasn't all dire: when Tom's vocals worked, they were fair, even decent... songs that weren't overpowered by Ollie's guitar leads/solos actually had a fairly palatable texture, even if they were a bit dry without that weird, dark, grimy dungeon sound from older 'Frost albums. And some of those songs were kinda catchy, even given the weird subject matter by even CF standards: "Cherry Orchards" actually has some charming moments, "Downtown Hanoi" is OK in my book and seems to have its fans among other metal fans too, "(Once) The Were Eagles", "Juices Like Wine", and "Roses Without Thorns" are catchy, inoffensive, and wouldn't have sounded far out of place on "Vanity/Nemesis".... That's about an EP's worth of stuff there that I think might have been reluctantly accepted by Celtic Frost fans, had 'Cold Lake' not been saddled with a fistful of weaker songs, and a few mind-bogglingly misguided artistic decisions on the album cover and band photos. The compilation 'Parched With Thirst...' included, in addition to fine album cover art and some better-received re-recordings of 'Cold Lake' songs, a handful of other songs from roughly the same time that were pretty decent and could have easily filled out a possibly forgettable but easily forgivable later Celtic Frost effort in a similar vein to 'Vanity/Nemesis', such as "This Island Earth" and the cover of Bowie's "Heroes"... toss in another avant-garde sound-painting in the vein of "Tears in a Prophet's Dream" to balance the album out a little, and I'm pretty sure it would be remembered today as an underrated curiosity, if not an acceptable low point in an otherwise blameless catalogue.... Make no mistake: 'Cold Lake' was not destined to be a high point in Celtic Frost's catalogue, and anyone saying it's the band's worst album aren't wrong. But yeah, I gotta agree: it's not the abomination it's reputed to be: I've heard many far worse metal albums out there, and even when the album doesn't work for me, I have to appreciate that Celtic Frost were adventurous enough to try something that departs so much from their old Hellhammer sound when they could have just kept releasing variations on 'Morbid Tales' for the next couple decades (or something as safe and conservative as 'Vanity/Nemesis' ended up sounding after the backlash from 'Cold Lake'!), and I can also appreciate 'Cold Lake' as a document of a time in Celtic Frost's history when the band were feeling relatively good about themselves, optimistic about their future, and in a good enough mood to try something as weirdly out of character as "Cherry Orchards", "Tease Me", or "Seduce Me Tonight"! (I for one rather enjoyed the band in their goofier moments like "Chapel in the Moonlight", "Mexican Radio", and "Return to the Eve (Party Mix)" - it's fun to see an otherwise gloomy-sounding/looking band break character, wink to the audience, and laugh a bit, too many grindcore, black metal, death metal, and even thrash metal bands from that era were taking their public image/personas far too seriously!)
lets talk about guitar tone. thats what 1st drew me to them. that pinched, cocked-wah sound... the only pedal I've found to simulate that is a DOD flashback fuzz
Into the Pandemoium is by far Frost's best album imo. For me their only filler free album. Tom's best vocal delivery also. Great band, and one of the most influential bands to me growing up. Loved the sound, the image and the album covers which are now considered classics. But yeah, Cold Lake is an abomination.
They have such a unique sound, you could take any song ever written and run it through a Celtic Frost filter and it would be recognizable as them. They did, for example, Mexican Radio, which I like as much as the original band version.
Since i last was here 5 months ago, I've re-listened to C-Lake 3x - on the 1st, the ''difficulties'' within the fabric returned, highlighting themselves easily on a product 36 years old - fair enough. On the second time, i tried to listen to it ''without prejudice'', maybe also for the 2nd try, just like in 1988... - CF's musical tightness is obvious on C-Lake, it's like they felt like using a perceptible decadent sonic cosmetic over their basical death-doom-come-black stance of yore. Bearing this in mind, the 3rd time i could suddenly see why Herr Fischer should stop blaiming himself and that album for being a bad patch on the Helvetic Frosties' path (I found myself headbanging, at 61). . And let's think again - between this and Monotheist, as far as pure Cf is concerned, there was only a not-so memorable effort of redemption...and then a freakin 16yr cold lake of nothingness. Quite a Feat. CF must be on the Top10 most important EuroMetal groups of the last 40 years. It was a real and long battle. ''... After the battle is over And the sands drunken the blood All what there remains Is the bitterness of delusion''.
In 2008 (I think) Celtic Frost came to play in Mexico City. It was said that Martín and Tom no longer even spoke to each other. That was the last concert of the Monotheist tour, and at the end, that was Celtic Frost's last concert. Fortunately I filmed some songs on video with the permission of the band.
![[UNCUT] The Loyal Pin ปิ่นภักดิ์ EP.6 (2/4)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/GgeGQOP10RQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Whether you love Into the Pandemonium or dismiss it, you have to hand it to Tom for having the guts to move metal forward. Pandemonium was the precursor to so much of the 90s metal scene - gothic metal, industrial metal, symphonic metal. Bands like Therion, Paradise Lost, Moonspell, Emperor, Theatre of Tragedy, My Dying Bride, all owe something to that album.
The singing style is amazing. Tom took it from Rozz Williams from the Goth band Christian Death. If you love Into the Pandemonium you will love their 1982 debut album "Only Theatre of Pain"... You'll hear the influence clearly.
Don't forget Nightwish
Nailed it. I'm not sure PL would have "that sound" if the title-lyric guitar portion of "Mesmerized" didn't exist.
Fabulous album cover too!
You got babylon falls on there. Crazy heaviness
What I like about Celtic Frost is that they have a little something for everyone. If you're into thrash metal, black metal, death metal, doom, hardcore, gothic rock, hard rock and even some progressive rock, chances you'll find something you'll like in their discography. They were a very creative-minded band.
I saw Celtic Frost live in 2006 and that concert completely changed my life. 😍
In 2019 I finally had the opportunity to meet Tom and thank him for everything. Yes, I cried like a little girl.
🙈😂
I visited Zürich,in summer '86 and i met Martin Ain in a record shop where he worked. He was really nice. R. I. P.
I second that. I met Tom and Martin on a gig and they were very communicative and just great guys to talk to.
One of the 3 bands back in the day that showed me I didnt have to do music "by the rules" and could do whatever was in my head. I will always be indebted to CF!
What were the other two bands?
@@TheAsphyx666 The first was Mercyful Fate / King Diamond, and then to a much lesser extent Venom
@@tolnorzz Yeah, that makes sense. MF/KD rule.
Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, Tritptykon and now Triumph of Death. I am here for all of it. Long Live Tom Gabriel Warrior.
You left out Appolyon Sun. That's the band Thomas G created back in '95
Celtic Frost and Voivod!
A Metal School on Voivod would be awesome
@@lutfimakarim8258 Just saw Voivod and Prong in a little dive bar a couple weeks ago fucking hell of a show.
Prong kick ass.
@@jaysonraphaelmurdock8812 Metal School Prong would kick ass also. Celtic Frost's former roadies band, Coroner would be awesome too.
Saw them together with slaughter for tragic serenades tour cycle.
If Hellhamer and Celtic Frost had never existed metal would've stagnated and possibly died in the 80's. Motorhead brought the speed and the attitude that had a massive effect on the Thrash Metal bands. Hellhammer and Celtic Frost brought the dirt and rawness that influenced almost every early death and black metal man you can name. If that wasn't enough Tom came back after a lengthy hiatus and released one of the most interesting doom metal influenced albums in years. Triptykon continues to amaze fans to this day. Their influence on modern metal cannot be overstated.
Definitely among the most important representatives of the 1st Wave of Black Metal for sure, even though they’re actually from Switzerland; plus their 2 best songs “Circle of the Tyrants” & “Into the Crypts of Rays” are SUPER CLASSIC 🇨🇭 👍 🤘 💯 👍
35:53 Megadeth's In My Darkest Hour.
They directly influenced another Swiss band that I was heavily into in Coroner. Great video!
Coroner is seriously underrated. 🤘
They were CF's roadies for a while.
"To Mega Therion" and "Into the Pandemonium" were huge influences on my musical journey. If those records were never created, I wouldn't be the guitar player I became. 🤘🏼
In case you didn't know, Triptykon played two sets at last year's Houston Hell Heroes Metal Fest (2023). The first set consisted of all the songs from the first and second EPs of Celtic Frost as well as all the songs from To Mega Therion. The second set consisted of all the songs ever written by HellHammer. Both shows were very well received and can be found on YT.
I saw them do Celtic Frost at Bloodstock 2023, and it was incredible.
Morbid Tales One of the best albums that I came across in my youth!!! And still is
Still remember seeing Celtic Frost live at "Rotation" in Hannover, Germany, which was a former rotary printing facility in the famous Anzeiger-Hochhaus (the Hannoverscher Anzeiger was a daily newspaper) used for mostly metal concerts. Their show was amazing, very loud, full of energy, but most impressive was Reed St. Mark, he already used very thick drumsticks, and could play a normal drum pattern with just one hand while doing spins with the other stick, something we've never seen before. But for a couple of songs he changed his drumsticks for two baseball bats, and played with no audible difference. That was really cool. Saw many other acts in Rotation like Lee Aaron, Stryper and much more. Good ol' days... BTW We used to drink lotsa beers at the bar with Barbara Schenker back in the days, RIP.
This band literally changed my life in 1985. I am for ever thankful.
I bought To Mega Therion on vinyl when it came out in the 80s. I still have it .I definitely thought it was heavy dark and evil and unique. Thanks for the post.
Same here !
Gods above! This is band that has needed to be talked about since ever! To me they are The Templars Of Metal! Ain & Warrior are my aesthetic role models! Long hair, black leather, hard ballad makers, hail to them!
Cherry Orchards and Dance Sleazy were my first intro to Celtic Frost and I still listen to them today, I don’t care what people say, both are awesome tracks and I bet secretly Tom really enjoyed playing them as well 👍
Thank you. I'm not alone lol. I was never a CF fan until I saw their live video from the Cold Lake tour and it's the only album of their's I like.
Me too... Loved cherry orchards...
Dance on my wounded chest
Sure, but you should understand that it was a HUGE disappointment for OG fans. I bought it and returned it the same day, because it was like expecting to hear Black Sabbath's Children of the Grave and instead hearing Warrant's Cherry Pie.
Absolutely on point my friend.
Demos of cold lake rock
One of the most important bands in metal. They get left out of that conversation wayyy to often.
Got back from work, made dinner and got notified of a new Metal School video, couldn't be better!! 🤘😎
Metal School is a fantastic TH-cam channel. Always great fun, show after show. Please keep up your great work. I salute you!
🤘🏻🫡
As a long time death metal and black metal fan, I struggle to hear things the way non-metalheads do. But I think Celtic Frost might be one of the best entry points into extreme metal. They're heavy but also groovy and not overly abrasive, like you could probably play them at a party or on mainstream rock radio and not immediately piss everyone off.
I truly worshipped "Monotheist". I listened to it almost daily for months after it came out. It was almost like a spiritual experience for me and I still think the album is pure art.
Me too, mate. Gonna give it another listen right now.
Celtic Frosties with lot "ugh's!!" and the day will be good
UGH!!
ÖÜGH
I got their first album while in high school when it first came out (we were fans of Hellhammer before that of course!), and still a huge fan today! 🔥🤘🏼
Morbid Tales for life
The Vanity/Nemesis album is my most listened to Celtic Frost album by far. I can never get enough of that one.
Vanity nemesis is their best album and playing. Ron Mark's was amazing on it
This channel does not get nearly the recognition it deserves. Keep up the good work!
Stoked to finally see a little extreme metal featured! Hope to see some more classic extremity in the future.
Freaking awesome! I just got To Mega Therion the other day on vinyl!
I think my favourite gig was these legends and Kreator, Birmingham UK The Powerhouse 1987, what a night that was, first time I'd seen stagediving, it was chaos! Great times!
I would have loved to see that. Kreator and Celtic Frost -- two of my faves.
I see new Metal School video I about break my neck trying to click on it so fast! My favorite TH-cam channel!
Well done, I am 50 and am learning more about this band. I never had any of their albums back in the day. They were hard to find in the US unless you ordered them.
Celtic Frost shaped Extreme Metal and Heavy Metal to another level and with experimental fusions this band was so diverse in making metal that had never been heard at that time they created in the metal scene. Yet, they captured every essence for introducing us to the different styles of metal towards its' extremity and diversity thanks to Celtic Frost living legend Tom G Warrior but that wouldn't be possible without the late Eric Martin Ain R.I.P. such a phenomenal band.
I love Celtic frost from hellhammer through trypticon but into the pandemonium changed my whole idea of what metal could be ,sorrows of the moon was my anthem for the 90s period anyone who didn't like it was missing the boat ,rex irea mesmerized so much creativity one of the first three metal band to use female vocal candlemass paradise lost and frost.Thank you Tom G Reed st mark and Martin Ain I will to forever love your style and talent I was 14 and then 19 for into the pandemonium.Sorrows of the moon was a love song to me it was my metaphor for not shining and the love I lost ,I was devastated but strong because of the feeling it gave me , invincible.Kenny Lapham fan still.
YESSSSS! One of my all time favorites and one of the bands that opened up my teenage brain to the possibilities in metal. Ironically, I bought Cold Lake first because it had just came out and it was what was available in the record store. I only knew of them by reputation at that point! However, I did get ahold of Morbid Tales a bit later on and then finally got Into the Pandemonium, which for a 16 year old metal fan in 1989...that was MIND F'N BLOWING. It no doubt rewired my listening habits for life. And most every extreme metal band of any sort can trace their influence back to those first three Celtic Frost albums and of course Hellhammer.
For the record, "Downtown Hanoi" isn't terrible from Cold Lake. I think they might have re-recorded or remixed it for a later comp album, if I remember right.
Poor 'Cold Lake' - is it the Frosties' worst album? Oh yeah, you bet. Is it the worst metal album ever? No, but it really strains one's patience at times, and is certainly a disappointment in the band's catalogue. Still, there are some redeeming qualities in there once you get past Amberg's unfortunate guitars and Tom's awkward vocals! (Tom's vocals are fair enough, given that he'd all but destroyed his voice by that time and was recovering while trying to make the most of singing lessons, the songwriting problems are fair enough given that Tom had gotten tired of doing the heavy lifting on songwriting and had pushed the rest of the band into doing some of it against their inclinations, but Amberg's irritating guitar leads/solos are genuinely baffling, given that I had absolutely no complaints about him in Coroner... I have no idea what happened there!)
With that in mind, there's about an EP's worth of songs on there that really aren't that far out from what Celtic Frost did on the albums before and after it, and in some ways I find 'Cold Lake' just a bit more adventurous and interesting than the better-rated 'Vanity/Nemesis' (which I rarely listen to), while being (IMHO) a dash more accessible and conventional than 'Into the Pandaemonium' (one of my favorite metal albums ever, but certainly not everyone's cup of tea!)
Songs like "Downtown Hanoi" and "Juices Like Wine" (which were indeed re-recorded/remixed a couple years later), and "(Once) They Were Eagles" and "Roses Without Thorns" really weren't half bad, and really don't sound like "glam metal" at all to my ears (the album really comes across to me like a slightly lazier and less intense version of the sort of gothic/thrash hybrid that Celtic Frost were doing on much better-received albums of that era, with just a dash of "NWOBHM" and American heavy metal influences seasoned into the mix....)
Add in some of those stray songs from the same era that appeared on compilations here and there - 'This Island Earth", the David Bowie cover "Heroes", and "Descent Into Babylon (Babylon Asleep)" - and whip up another avant-garde interlude in the vein of "Tears In a Prophet's Dream", then be sure to give it a less off-putting album cover and band photo than 'Cold Lake' was actually graced with (that is, aim for something somewhat more sword-and-sorcery, gothic, or occult themed!), and I think you'd have had an EP or even full-length "worst album", that casual thrash fans and Celtic Frost fans alike might seen enough "cult" charm in to keep the band going strong through at least the early '90s, limited only by the band's willingness to stick together in spite of their differences (something Celtic Frost seemed to be having trouble regardless of the success of 'Cold Lake'), and the fact that the mid '90s would prove pretty hostile to heavy metal acts that couldn't find a way to adapt to increasing audience apathy for the oversaturation of metal at the time (the '90s really developed into a sink-or-swim environment that tested the endurance of metal acts that couldn't tough it out or evolve to take advantage of new trends and gimmicks! Celtic Frost might have been just weird enough to have stood out from the vast crowd of suddenly irrelevant and aimless thrash and death metal acts that were struggling to reinvent themselves at the time....)
Anyway, 'Cole Lake' probably wasn't the best introduction to Celtic Frost, but on the bright side, it only got better from there if you were willing to give the other albums a chance (and good thing that it sounds like you did just that!)
@@pietrayday9915 Great write up!
Agreed.
My fave Celtic Frost albums are Morbid Tales and Vanity Nemisis. i saw and met Celtic Frost in Las Vegas on the Monothiest tour. Small crowd,but it was awesome. Monotheist scares me every time i play it. Lol. Also i love Cold Lake for how bizarre it is.
Hellhammer started me on the path but Celtic Frost sealed the deal for my love of heavy music. Tom G. Warrior is one of the Heavy Music Godfathers without question.
Another great Episode of Metal School .Greetings from Germany 🤘🏻
Danke!
Well, I have three CF albums...To Mega Therion, Into The Pandemonium and Monotheist. That says it all as far as I'm concerned. These guys pushed the boundaries and made at least two totally unique masterworks (Pandemonium and Monotheist). Because of that, their influence is immeasurable. The Swiss had dadaism, H.R. Giger, Yello, Celtic Frost...all unique and very good art. Must be something in the cheese over there.🙂
Ayo this band right here is one of the greatest bands to ever do it I love these guys
Always loved Toms insane guitar solos
I just found this channel love it
Never knew about the Dean Martin cover. I always learn new stuff at Metal School!
Now you’ve got to do one on Coroner; a band that started as their roadies. 🤘
Tom Warrior even did vocals for Coroner's early demo!
While most of the other metal fans I knew back then were carrying on about the "Big Four" of Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax/Exodus/Testament/whatever also-ran was most popular that year, and occasionally Motorhead, Alice In Chains, or Pantera, my personal "Big Four" would have consisted of Coroner, Celtic Frost, Voivod, and either Sepultura, Candlemass, or Venom, depending on my mood! Coroner was tragically underrated, especially on their earlier technical thrash/speed metal albums - 'No More Colour' was one of the best '80s thrash albums nobody has ever heard of!
@@pietrayday9915I learned about them from Headbanger’s Ball where they played “Masked Jackal”. I loved them immediately. Fortunately I also had one of those accursed tape memberships, so I just bought Coroner & other thrash metal to meet the requirements. “Mental Vortex” remains one of my favorite albums. 🤘
@@NinjaRunningWildMasked Jackal is more relevant now than it was back then. 🤘
The Triptykon material is epic AF! Really great stuff! 🤘🤘
I love all periods of the band. Into the Pandemonium and Cold Lake both work for me for different reasons. I applaud Tom for trying out new avenues.
Emperor’s Return is crucial
Never stop this series, keep em coming
Celtic frost and venom two of the best extreme metal bands🤘
Hell yeah this band is one of the best bands ever glad to see your giving them some recognition
One of my favs. Thank you
That was crazy how Stephen Priestly appeared as drummer on Celtic Frost's most intense/brutal album: Morbid Tales, then returned appearing on their glam-style effort: Cold Lake, and then of course the not-too-heralded Vanity/Nemesis.
Awesome I can't tell you how much I've been waiting for you to do something about this amazing band cheers Metal School
My favorite channel taking a stab at one of my favorite bands. Awesome!!
Very nice video - thanks for that. Celtic Forst have long been forgotten by most music fans. What a pity! What's next? I guess Necronomicon. Best regards from Germany
For me it's the last Hellhammer EP and Vanity/ Nemesis. I love some of the early Celtic Frost too.
Excellent!
The live clips and interviews are awesome.
I thought I'd seen about all of the live clips, interviews, and photos, but there were a few in there that were totally new to me!
With that in mind, about the only thing the video was missing was the fact that the Apollyon Sun era was glossed over without a single sample from the EP and album, the 'Parched With Thirst...' compilation of stray recordings that appeared nowhere else was likewise glossed over with barely a mention beyond "Chapel in the Moonlight", and the omission of the (relatively obscure) 'Under the Apollyon Sun' and 'Prototype' demos from around the Apollyon Sun era: these were unreleased demos for what would have been the follow-ups to 'Vanity/Nemesis' had the labels been interested and the band been capable of getting back together at the time, and showed Tom Warrior dabbling a little more in the sort of thrash heard on 'Vanity/Nemesis', evolving into the sort of industrial thing that he was doing with Apollyon Sun.
Not a big loss, given that 'Parched...' was an odd "for collectors only"/"going out of business sale" kind of release, while Apollyon Sun was even more of a weird departure from Celtic Frost than 'Cold Lake' had been, and that the two '90s demos were not meant for public consumption: these recordings really didn't showcase Celtic Frost at their best, but there were some curiosities to be found in that era that I think are noteworthy, such as some of the Apollyon Sun and 'Prototype' songs that would be revisited by Triptykon with a gothic/doom style makeover.
@pietrayday9915
All good points.
Saw them in NJ in '87 opening for Exodus and Anthrax. I thought they were excellent.
The greatest Black Metal band ever. We all own respect and worship to the gods of morbid music. And YES, I also love into the pandemonium, and Monotheist is the most brutal and morbid album ever done !
Hail to Celtic Frost \m/
I remember a year ago had made a request for this video and you sir delivered. One of my top extreme metal bands and you nailed this, you even reminded me of the Cold Lake album I had forgotten about.
Let me like the video before actually watch it, I know it will be great 🤘
One of my favorite bands, Celtic Frost is excellent!
Toward the end I almost gave up on the want to listen to some of the back catalogue of a band I know about but have been missing all my life.
But good god, the snippets from Monotheist are right up one of my many alleys. I'll give this album a listen or two.
That's what these videos are really for.
Last video i asked if you heard of this band. You replied that you really haven't dug into black metal. Thank you for doing this.
I’ve been binging on this channel for a few weeks now, and it has become one of my favorites. I love learning about heavy metal acts I missed out on. This Celtic Frost video was amazing! I’m already itching to see what you’ve got in store for next month (May’s my birthday month.)
3 of the best albums in metal.
I really appreciate that you also covered the Hellhammer stuff, really good music.
Hellz Frostin' Yeah! 🤘
I like Celtic Frost and I will get all of their albums. 😀👍🤘🎸
I First heard Apocalyptic Raids in about ‘85, and still f*cking love it🤘🏻
You can tell Tom G was listening to Discharge, and not always for the better. His singing style on Mesmerized is right off Grave New World. Definitely hear the influence on the earlier stuff too, which I prefer.
You should definitely do venom and voivod as well
Released SIXteen minutes ago. SIXty SIX likes. Oooh. Evil! Another great job, Man. Keep it up.
Siiiiiick! Metal school does it again, with CF no less!
Thank you!
Monotheist and cold lake are my favorites
My only history of this band prior to watching this, was SOD's - "Celtic Frosted Flakes". This was an excellent video.
Fascinating insight into a band i previously knew by name only
Oh Yeah!! HUGE Celtic Frost fan here still 😁
So well done !!! THANK you very much !
My absolute favorite group of Swiss Misters followed closely by Coroner.
Always love a band that takes chances..and when it works its that much better
On the song mesmerized he sounds a bit like Rozz Williams of Christian Death..
Awesome stuff, always a pleasure to watch a new video
Everytime someone mentions Celtic Frost i hear SOD's "whatever happend to Celtic Frost?!?" in my head. Im humming it now!
Someone should write a song called "Whatever happened to SOD?"
I thought that exact thing when I clicked the video
One the essentials of black metal as i personally consider even into pandemonium as a black metal even vanity/nemsis with more of heavy metal approach!
Very cool video... I'm gonna have to check out all of you other vids
🤔I think these bands would honor your channel man', for giving such thorough examinations of all these bands', you leave no stone upturned'''.
I was waiting for the day you’d do this one, one of my all time favorites that went on to inspire the second wave of black metal bands, especially one of my favorites, Darkthrone who does a lot of Celtic Frost worship
Tom G was HR Giger’s assistant He is in the documentary “Dark Star” about Giger’s life.
@@Holychickendestroyer ooh that’s pretty cool! Didn’t know that
first 3 are all incredible albums in different ways, when Pandemonium came out it was a real shock but I was also exploring avantgarde and industrial stuff thanks to the older friends I made at a local record store, so I enjoyed the artistic nature of it. A real boundry pushing album. I saw them on the Cold Lake tour one of the most disappointing concert experiences of my life.
Great video. As much as I like CF i do think Triptykon are better. Tom sounds dialed up on those albums. P.S. Cold Lake is not as bad as everyone says I don't think.
'Cold Lake' could have used some "tough love" from a more assertive executive producer with a better feel for what make better-loved Celtic Frost albums tick! It's definitely not as bad as everyone says, but when it's bad, it's ugly!
On the down side, poor Ollie's guitar leads/solos were not at all a good fit for the band - he was great in Coroner, I have no idea what went wrong for him in Celtic Frost! Tom Warrior's weird "cat scratching" from earlier efforts just somehow seemed to be the right flavor of grotesque to fit '80s Celtic Frost's atmosphere, I guess.... Speak of Tom, he'd almost ruined his voice by growling/grunting/yelling untrained for years, and it was showing on this recording, where he was obviously experimenting with different vocal approaches while recovering from his injury and getting used to vocal training: the vocals are pretty awkward on this album, and fortunately, Tom would recover later and reappear in much better form. And the songwriting was just a bit "off": you can still hear Celtic Frost's signature blend of primitive "crust" thrash leaning into gothic rock with eclectic influences on 'Cold Lake', and I think the comparisons to "glam metal" are kind of exaggerated and misplaced, but 'Cold Lake' is definitely a different animal from anything the band had done before, given the odd subject matter for the songs, the brighter/cleaner production, and the peculiar mix of very different sorts of avant-garde experiments from the ones that made the likes of 'To Mega Therion' or 'Into the Pandaemonium' work as increasingly dramatic departures from the old Hellhammer sound.
On 'Cold Lake's" defense, it wasn't all dire: when Tom's vocals worked, they were fair, even decent... songs that weren't overpowered by Ollie's guitar leads/solos actually had a fairly palatable texture, even if they were a bit dry without that weird, dark, grimy dungeon sound from older 'Frost albums. And some of those songs were kinda catchy, even given the weird subject matter by even CF standards: "Cherry Orchards" actually has some charming moments, "Downtown Hanoi" is OK in my book and seems to have its fans among other metal fans too, "(Once) The Were Eagles", "Juices Like Wine", and "Roses Without Thorns" are catchy, inoffensive, and wouldn't have sounded far out of place on "Vanity/Nemesis"....
That's about an EP's worth of stuff there that I think might have been reluctantly accepted by Celtic Frost fans, had 'Cold Lake' not been saddled with a fistful of weaker songs, and a few mind-bogglingly misguided artistic decisions on the album cover and band photos. The compilation 'Parched With Thirst...' included, in addition to fine album cover art and some better-received re-recordings of 'Cold Lake' songs, a handful of other songs from roughly the same time that were pretty decent and could have easily filled out a possibly forgettable but easily forgivable later Celtic Frost effort in a similar vein to 'Vanity/Nemesis', such as "This Island Earth" and the cover of Bowie's "Heroes"... toss in another avant-garde sound-painting in the vein of "Tears in a Prophet's Dream" to balance the album out a little, and I'm pretty sure it would be remembered today as an underrated curiosity, if not an acceptable low point in an otherwise blameless catalogue....
Make no mistake: 'Cold Lake' was not destined to be a high point in Celtic Frost's catalogue, and anyone saying it's the band's worst album aren't wrong. But yeah, I gotta agree: it's not the abomination it's reputed to be: I've heard many far worse metal albums out there, and even when the album doesn't work for me, I have to appreciate that Celtic Frost were adventurous enough to try something that departs so much from their old Hellhammer sound when they could have just kept releasing variations on 'Morbid Tales' for the next couple decades (or something as safe and conservative as 'Vanity/Nemesis' ended up sounding after the backlash from 'Cold Lake'!), and I can also appreciate 'Cold Lake' as a document of a time in Celtic Frost's history when the band were feeling relatively good about themselves, optimistic about their future, and in a good enough mood to try something as weirdly out of character as "Cherry Orchards", "Tease Me", or "Seduce Me Tonight"! (I for one rather enjoyed the band in their goofier moments like "Chapel in the Moonlight", "Mexican Radio", and "Return to the Eve (Party Mix)" - it's fun to see an otherwise gloomy-sounding/looking band break character, wink to the audience, and laugh a bit, too many grindcore, black metal, death metal, and even thrash metal bands from that era were taking their public image/personas far too seriously!)
@@pietrayday9915 Incredibly detailed response from you that mate. If you don't write for a living you should consider it 🤘
I've been hoping for Frost since you started your channel! I'm super stoked!
lets talk about guitar tone. thats what 1st drew me to them. that pinched, cocked-wah sound... the only pedal I've found to simulate that is a DOD flashback fuzz
Into the Pandemoium is by far Frost's best album imo. For me their only filler free album. Tom's best vocal delivery also. Great band, and one of the most influential bands to me growing up. Loved the sound, the image and the album covers which are now considered classics. But yeah, Cold Lake is an abomination.
They have such a unique sound, you could take any song ever written and run it through a Celtic Frost filter and it would be recognizable as them. They did, for example, Mexican Radio, which I like as much as the original band version.
Your channel is just awesome, man. I love every video you put out. Thanks.
Since i last was here 5 months ago, I've re-listened to C-Lake 3x - on the 1st, the ''difficulties'' within the fabric returned, highlighting themselves easily on a product 36 years old - fair enough. On the second time, i tried to listen to it ''without prejudice'', maybe also for the 2nd try, just like in 1988... - CF's musical tightness is obvious on C-Lake, it's like they felt like using a perceptible decadent sonic cosmetic over their basical death-doom-come-black stance of yore. Bearing this in mind, the 3rd time i could suddenly see why Herr Fischer should stop blaiming himself and that album for being a bad patch on the Helvetic Frosties' path (I found myself headbanging, at 61). . And let's think again - between this and Monotheist, as far as pure Cf is concerned, there was only a not-so memorable effort of redemption...and then a freakin 16yr cold lake of nothingness. Quite a Feat. CF must be on the Top10 most important EuroMetal groups of the last 40 years. It was a real and long battle. ''... After the battle is over
And the sands drunken the blood
All what there remains
Is the bitterness of delusion''.
In 2008 (I think) Celtic Frost came to play in Mexico City. It was said that Martín and Tom no longer even spoke to each other.
That was the last concert of the Monotheist tour, and at the end, that was Celtic Frost's last concert. Fortunately I filmed some songs on video with the permission of the band.
That’s awesome! Wish I’d had some of that footage haha
@@MetalSchoolChannel Soon my friend.