Celtic Frost
Monotheist

THE REVIEW

The Celtic Frost are one of the most well-known bands coming from Switzerland and one of those groups with an undefined genre and a very diverse discography.

From the initial speed-thrash of the beautiful "Morbid Tales" (and the subsequent EP "Emperor's Return"), the band then focused on the more experimental and complex aspect of their sound, expressing themselves through various labels: doom, death, black, avant-garde and even daring the glam experiment ("Cold Lake"), which rightly caused a decline in popularity and sales. They tried again in 1990 with "Vanity/Nemesis" to return to the old proto-thrash paths, but soon after, the band would dissolve, only to reunite in 2001 and release this "Monotheist" in 2006, an album of dubious value.

Because if the first two songs "Progeny" and "Ground" are not actually bad, especially the opener which expresses a certain unhealthy and evil fury, then the album, track by track, descends into a doom mush with almost gothic traits that is decidedly unconvincing, indeed quite boring.

"A Dying God Coming Into Human Flesh" is always on the brink between a flat calm and nonetheless restrained malice, with the handbrake fully engaged even on the following and quite disappointing "Drown In Ashes," in which echoes of a female voice can also be heard, and the quieter, gothic soul decidedly takes the reins of the band.

Some riffs of "Os Abysmi Vel Daath" seem to lift the situation a bit if it weren't for the excessively repetitive and predictable course of the entire piece, the exact same discussion applies to the subsequent "Obscured," which drags on weak and trivial for all its seven minutes.

A bit of grit returns with "My Domain Of Decay" and "Ain Elohim" (the latter truly a little gem of violence that dabbles in thrash/black territory with fitting riffs and rhythms), which definitely stand out from the general flatness that unfortunately also envelops the remaining tracks of this album (especially the deadly, in a negative sense, "Sinagoga Sataneae," fourteen monstrously uninspired minutes).

"Warrior" Fischer and associates took 4 years (from 2002 to 2006) to think about, write, and compose the comeback album, maybe they did too little, or maybe (very likely) it's the usual matter of "de gustibus", it evidently interested them more to focus on that less straightforward and more complex and dark part of their career, so experimentation is welcome but let it be experimentation done with guts though! And "Monotheist" (I sadly reiterate) only rarely shows those qualities.

"Monotheist" therefore is one of the (not few) missteps of Celtic Frost and can only earn a mediocre rating, I hopeful await the album expected for 2008/2009 in search of a positive change and a return to the early, more direct and assaultive sounds that had made Celtic Frost a band with all the capabilities to compete with other sacred monsters in the field (like Venom).

Rating: 5/10