Celtic Frost
Into The Pandemonium

THE REVIEW

"The most avant-garde metal album that will ever be made", this was how in 1987 the metal magazine Kerrang defined the third album by Celtic Frost, perhaps not even imagining that 23 years later its primacy in avant-garde and experimentation would not be surpassed and not even fully understood even in these times where you hear everything and more.

Its art is intact and vibrant, permeated with epic and dark atmospheres, embracing influences of all kinds in its coils. The typically Celtic Frost metal is enveloped by classical sounds and lyrical voices, electronic music, theatrical opera, gothic and dark-wave sounds, all rendered fluid and immediate enough to confuse the listener, tossing them into completely different atmospheres from one track to another. Right from the opener "Mexican Radio" (a cover of Wall Of Voodoo) the disc's rule-free air is palpable, as the catchy verses of the song merge with the heavy electric guitar and Warrior's hoarse voice, a voice that in "Mesmerized" abandons its classic tone and settles into a tormented and afflicted singing, the metallic guitars become thin and shrill until releasing a sad chant accompanied by the soprano voice of Claudia Maria Mokri.

"Inner Sanctum", filled with tempo changes, is indelibly marked by the work of each musician, a black gem suffocated by suffocating tempos and restarts, nourished by violence and latent anger. In this work, the Frost highlight all their influences, musical and otherwise, forming a concept far from any canon, the highly inspired lyrics for the most part talk about the last days before the fall of Babylon, the decline and fall of a civilization, texts that are true and proper poems, as indeed happens in the following "Tristesses De La Lune", a poem recited by a vibrant female voice accompanied by classical music instrumentation (violins, oboe, etc...), plunging the listener into a state of enchanted bewilderment.

The atmosphere returns to morbid with the crazy "Babylon Fell (Jade Serpent)", a sinister and twisted ride immersed in angry and decadent atmospheres, as with the following "Caress Into Oblivion(Jade Serpent II)", even slower and more atmospheric with the usual wall of guitars and at times tribal rhythms and Tom's voice that returns whiny and suffering. A hammering and synthetic rhythmic carpet supports "One In Their Pride" scourged by a sick bass line by Ain, robotic voices, and a screeching violin, a piece of experimental and futuristic electronic music that again baffles the listener and annihilates any logical thread.

The compelling "I Won't Dance(The Elder's Orient)" enchants with its metallic pace and a breathtaking chorus sung in a duet by Warrior and Mokri with a powerful and precise performance by Reed St. Mark on the drums, "Sorrows Of The Moon" is the metal version of "Tristesses De La Lune", powerful and with cadenced rhythms and acoustic guitar strokes to enchant the atmosphere. The next track is the culmination of the experimental nature of the work, "Rex Irae(Requiem)", the perfect marriage between metal and classical music, a majestic and resounding wall of sound from an orchestra, the desolate grace of the soprano Mokri's voice, and Warrior's tormented vocals plus the feral electric guitar create an epic and decadent masterpiece, crossed by powerful double bass drums and metallized escapes halfway through the track, but the classical orchestra once again overrides everything in the finale, leading into the brief and evocative instrumental "Oriental Masquerade".

An understood work and one of the most fascinating and courageous ever composed, musical atmospheres totally distant from each other here marry properly and naturally, no album has ever lived up to its name as this "Into The Pandemonium", into the pandemonium!

UH!...