Celtic Frost
Monotheist

    "Monotheist". The final chapter of the rediscovered Celtic Frost. A work that, like the monumental albums of the past, escapes any classification, and it is precisely in this element that all its strength lies. Released in 2006, it features the unmistakable Thomas Gabriel Fischer on guitar and vocals, the equally legendary and dark Martin Eric Ain on bass (always out of the spotlight, always supporting Fischer, but a fundamental and valuable collaborator in the composition of the songs) and the new entry Franco Sesa on drums, replacing Reed St. Marc, who declined the reunion offer for health reasons; also present is guitarist Erol Unala, who will leave the group shortly after the album's release, thus returning the band to a trio, as in its glorious past.

    "Monotheist", as I was saying. An album not easy to assimilate, all centered on themes of death, frustrated human desires, and decomposition, themes supported by the most macabre imaginable artwork, with black and white photos of the four musicians with faces in an advanced state of decay, much like the face on the cover. The music then seems to speak for itself, leaving the listener, track after track, a growing sense of anguish, of mortal abandonment to their most feral and unhappy thoughts. The music proposed here is, as I said, not easy to classify: each piece has its autonomy, yet it is complete only in the entirety of the album: the genre is a Thrash-Nu Metal that extensively borders on Doom and features various hues that range from a noise typical of Industrial (perhaps Fischer's experience with Apollyon Sun was influential in this regard) to touches of delicacy with female voices or violins typical of Gothic (or rather like in their monumental "Into The Pandemonium").

    The arrangement of the tracks is done skillfully: Fischer & Co. take us by the hand from the Thrash-Nu Metal fury of "Progeny" and "Ground" to the morbid melancholy of "A Dying God Coming Into Human Flesh", one of the most successful tracks, featuring an unexpected Martin Eric Ain on vocals as the dying God, a slow song, mostly acoustic but interrupted in the refrain by anguishing bursts of rage. More Gothic-tinged is the following "Drown In Ashes", introduced by a fluted female voice, which continues to spread the veil of melancholy that the previous piece had already started to weave. Tougher and Doom is "Os Abysmi Vel Daath", all centered on themes derived from Kabbalah and Aleister Crowley's theories, also chiseled by a faint female voice in the background, swept by Fischer's aggressive voice, interrupted by a noise interlude that seems to open in the listener's mind the infinite echo of the ultimate Abyss. "Obscured" brings us back to more melancholic territories with its slow, unhealthy melody, with a refrain where a female voice seems to weep with us for our fate. As if to shake us from the mortal torpor and anguishes that the previous piece had cast upon our minds, the good Fischer awakens us with "Domain Of Decay", proceeding more Thrash-like and almost lively despite its not excessive speed, preparing us for the outbursts of the subsequent, pessimistic "Ain Elohim". At this point begins what our artists define as 'the Triptych', a trio of tracks starting with the noisy "Totengott" and proceeding with the excellent "Synagoga Satanae", with a Doom and also violent flavor, the longest song on the album, a provocation that behind a text praising the Devil actually wants to be, as Ain explains, a dedication to all those whom the Church considers acolytes of Satan, including free thinkers. The album closes with a piece entirely played by violins, which is actually the third part of a Requiem of which the first part is "Rex Irae" (in "Into The Pandemonium") and the second part still needs to be written: it is on these sad notes that the album concludes, leaving a lingering sense of latent anguish in the listener.

    "Monotheist" is inferior, I would say, to the sacred monsters created by the band in the distant '80s, but it is undoubtedly a well-executed work, perhaps too much so: they wanted to infuse all the possible melancholy and anguish into their music, and they succeeded admirably. Celtic Frost is a group that has made experimentation its hallmark, offering us absolute masterpieces in the past and now this "Monotheist": the Celtic Ice has returned, and the hope now is that it has returned to stay, because this is one of those groups that has never finished saying what it has to say.