Monotheist - Celtic Frost

Having been disbanded for over ten years, Swiss metal innovators Celtic Frost returned in 2006 with new album 'Monotheist', with long-term members Martin Ain and Tom G Warrior joined by a new guitarist and a new drummer. The album is the result of four years of work, and it shows- every aspect of the album is clearly a labour of love, from the music to the lyrics to the album sleeve design, the special edition consisting of a gatefold digipack in a slipcase and including a rather excellent high-quality poster of the album cover. The music itself sounds inventive and unique, filtering loose, sludgy, chugging doom through the band's raw, proto-black-metal sound ...  Read the complete review

Over ten years after their break-up, Swiss metal legends Celtic Frost reformed with the high-profile comeback release 'Monotheist,' an album that successfully recaptures much of what made them great in the first place, without feeling like a step backwards for a band that was constantly reinventing itself. This is a difficult album to approach, even for those inducted into the world of extreme metal. It's predominantly slow, ominous and crushingly heavy, interjected with old-school thrash metal reminiscent of the 'Morbid Tales' and 'To Mega Therion' releases, and it's almost always overlong. The hammering production values make for a loud and excruciating ...  Read the complete review