FROM THE CRYPTS - CELEBRATING PAST ALBUM RELEASES in the HISTORY of HARD ROCK & HEAVY METAL…
On October 27, 1985, Celtic Frost released their debut studio album, To Mega Therion (meaning the great beast in Greek) via Noise Records. The cover artwork is a painting by H.R. Giger entitled Satan I. The album was a major influence on the then-developing Death Metal and Black Metal genres.
Background - HellHammer to Celtic Frost:
Celtic Frost's frontman, guitarist and singer Tom Gabriel Fischer, adopted the alias Tom Warrior. With Steve Warrior on bass, he formed one of the earliest extreme metal bands, Hellhammer, in 1981. Steve Warrior was later replaced by Martin Eric Ain – also a pseudonym. The band attracted a small international fan-base, got signed to Noise Records in Germany and recorded their debut EP Apocalyptic Raids in March 1984, now a rare find on eBay or second-hand record stores around the world.
Metal publications were also skeptical of Hellhammer's musical endeavor. Metal Forces 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 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.”
By May 1984, Hellhammer had disbanded. Fischer and Ain, along with session drummer Stephen Priestly, regrouped as Celtic Frost. Their 1984 debut EP, Morbid Tales was a hit in the underground metal scene, and the band set out on its first tour, through Germany and Austria. This was followed with an EP Emperor's Return. Both early releases are now available on one CD.
One of their more influential recordings was 1985's To Mega Therion which did not feature Ain on bass, but stand-in Dominic Steiner. Ain did return after the album was recorded however.
These albums were some of the pivotal LPs for underground metal 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.
Critical Reception:
Ned Raggett in his review for AllMusic wrote, "The bombastic Innocence and Wrath starts To Mega Therion off on just the appropriate note – Wagnerian horn lines, booming drums, and a slow crunch toward apocalypse. ... With that setting the tone, it's into the maddeningly wild and woolly Celtic Frost universe full bore, Warrior roaring out his vocals with glee and a wicked smile while never resorting to self-parodic castrato wails. The Usurper alone is worth the price of admission, an awesome display of Warrior's knack around brute power and unexpectedly memorable riffs." According to Raggett, "other prime cuts" include Circle of the Tyrants, Dawn of Megiddo, Tears in a Prophet's Dream, Eternal Summer and Necromantical Screams. Raggett concludes his review by stating that the album "is and remains Death Metal at its finest".
Canadian journalist Martin Popoff considers the album "a black metal landmark" and "the most consistent example of early death metal that exist". He remarks how "the band had decided to delve more unto the extreme" and praised Tom Warrior's "surprisingly accomplished" lyrics and the mix of Death, Black and Doom Metal with a pinch of Ambient music.
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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