CELTIC FROST - Monotheist
May 20, 2006, 18 years ago
(Century Media)
I guess we knew it wouldn’t sound like Cold Lake, but beyond that Celtic Frost are a hard band to predict. And, true to form, Monotheist is quite unlike any previous album and yet still bears all the aesthetic trademarks that once made this band so special. Grimy, brittle and bleak, the opening salvo of ‘Progeny’ and ‘Ground’ churn and grind with an eerie, almost sluggish hostility. ‘A Dying God Coming Into Human Flesh’ is lumbering, Swans-like doom; the darkness of Morbid Tales filtered through Godflesh, My Dying Bride and Neurosis. ‘Os Abysmi Vel Daath’ sounds like Crowbar possessed by Bauhaus. ‘Domain Of Decay’ is a pounding, retarded clutter of triplets and priapic, Satyricon-style groove worship. And on it goes, countless flashes of inspiration (as if they haven’t disseminated enough already) delivered at a relentlessly restrained but destructive pace. It’s the sound of a legendary band slipping seamlessly back into gear; heavier, darker, sharper and cooler than ever.
