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Nov 14, 20223 min read

Celtic Frost - Morbid Tales (1984)

FROM THE CRYPTS - CELEBRATING PAST ALBUM RELEASES in the HISTORY of HARD ROCK & HEAVY METAL…



38 years ago, in November of 1984, Celtic Frost released their debut EP Morbid Tales.


The first European release on Noise Records was a mini-LP with six tracks, while the American release by Enigma/Metal Blade Records added two tracks, bringing it to the length of a regular LP.



Background:

By May 1984, Hellhammer had disbanded. Fischer and Ain, along with session drummer Stephen Priestly, regrouped as Celtic Frost.

“Way back in 1984 and 85, when Martin Eric Ain and I recorded Celtic Frost's first two albums Morbid Tales and To Mega Therion, 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.” — Tom G. Fischer

Despite the looming criticism from the media, their 1984 debut EP, Morbid Tales was a hit in the underground, and the band set out on its first tour through Germany and Austria.


Morbid Tales (along with Emperor's Return and To Mega Therion) was a pivotal release for underground Metal scene and introduced a new and more varied sound. Celtic Frost, along with Venom and Bathory were pioneers in the still underground Black Metal scene, although Celtic Frost were much more experimental with the addition of classical instruments, operatic female vocals and sampling.


The Thrash Metal intensity of Morbid Tales had a major influence on the development of the then-burgeoning Death and Black Metal sub-genres. The EP included elements that were adopted by the pioneers of both styles. The band's bleak and dead serious fashion style was also influential, including their corpse paint face makeup.



Reissue’s:

In 1999 a remastered edition of Morbid Tales was released on CD by Noise Records, which also contained the tracks from their 1985 EP Emperor's Return as well as a 2017 remastered edition released by the same label on CD and vinyl formats.


Critical Reception:

In 2017, Rolling Stone ranked Morbid Tales as 28th on their list of The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time.


In the commentary for Darkthrone's album Panzerfaust, Fenriz cites this album along with Bathory's Under the Sign of the Black Mark and Vader's Necrolust as key riff inspirations.

Danse Macabre was later sampled in the demo track Totgetanzt from their 2002 demo album Prototype.


In his review for AllMusic, Eduardo Rivadavia stated;

“Though they'd been together for barely a year and had yet to play their first concert, Celtic Frost brought a remarkably accomplished vision to the recording of their first album, 1984's Morbid Tales. With its highly focused Thrash Metal intensity and peculiar mix of satanic and esoteric lyrics, the album would sow the seeds of Frost's overwhelming influence in years to come. And, along with the powerful visual impact of its bandmembers' leather-bound wardrobe and badly-drawn facial corpse paint, songs like Visions of Mortality and Morbid Tales would be analyzed, digested, and regurgitated by manic hordes of disillusioned European youths forming their own Death Metal bands in years to come. Following the hellish primal screams of intro Human, and the lethal Speed Metal of Into the Crypts of Rays, Tom Warrior (aka Thomas Gabriel Warrior) and company lock into a fierce groove which rarely falters through to the last riff of closer Nocturnal Fear. With its primitive grind, the excellent Procreation (Of the Wicked) (later covered by Sepultura) remains a career highlight, but shows no sign of the band's future experiments in Avant-garde Metal. In fact, these are only hinted at by the female voice recital utilized in Return to the Eve, and the bizarre noise experiments of Danse Macabre -- a collage of sound effects, violin, Warrior's moans, and all-around mayhem. As for Celtic Frost's own source of inspiration, Venom and other New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands provide the bulk of it. The main riff of Dethroned Emperor, for instance, simply offers a slight variation of Diamond Head's Am I Evil. But it was Celtic Frost's very isolation from Rock's typical breeding grounds which fed their uniquely European perspective. Had they not been impoverished outcasts within Switzerland's protective prosperity in their formative years, it is unlikely that theirs could have been such a twisted and wonderful evolution."

Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells



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