Cold Lake (Cold Lake - Celtic Frost)

Member Name: Frankingsteins

Product:	Cold Lake - Celtic Frost
Date:	15/05/08 (30 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Not quite as bad as I expected.

Disadvantages: Weak, repetitive and pointless.

The infusion of 'glam' was the most debilitating infusion into the development of heavy metal in the eighties, as bad as rap metal in the late nineties and all that emo-core stuff today, and at a time when a clearly deranged public were lapping up bands like Poison and Warrant, many established acts made the unforgivable shift of sound that earned them the moniker "sell-out." Judas Priest did it with 'Turbo,' not that they were exactly an underground band to begin with, and even experimental Swiss extreme metal pioneers Celtic Frost attempted the same thing with their third release, 'Cold Lake.'

The strangest thing about this album is that it really isn't that bad. Actually, that's not exactly true - the songs are all pretty awful, incredibly tedious and lacking any of the power or enjoyment of their earlier material, but it doesn't smack of the glam sell-out that it's widely reputed to be. For a start, there are no awful sparkly keyboards and no contrived power ballads, just the same medium tempo hard rock song repeated again and again with a lazy, hoarse vocal performance from a bored Tom G. Warrior. It sounds less like Poison than some of the European speed metal acts that were slowing down around this time, such as Accept.

I certainly wouldn't inflict 'Cold Lake' on anyone, as its half-hearted mix of commercialism and lazy thrash couldn't really appeal to anyone. Perhaps the sole excuse for its continued existence is as a benchmark of judging quality, and how easily people can mislabel a product.

1. Human (Intro)
2. Seduce Me Tonight
3. Petty Obsession
4. (Once) They Were Eagles
5. Cherry Orchards
6. Juices Like Wine
7. Little Velvet
8. Blood on Kisses
9. Downtown Hanoi
10. Dance Sleazy
11. Roses Without Thorns

Summary: Celtic Frost's third album (1988).