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"To Mega Therion" the great beast, the central monolith in the majestic triad of masterpieces branded Celtic Frost, three records that forcefully introduce avant-garde and sound experimentation into the extreme 1980s metal.
The catacomb-like and slowed riffs suffocated in powerful and minimalist rhythmic frameworks enjoy frequent, fast, and violent changes of time, accelerated and granitic, the voice of Tom G Warrior evoking primal human fury and fears and his guitar creating evocative, dark, and decadent scenarios that will embrace the entire work of the brilliant Swiss trio.
Imposing ancestral and majestic orchestrations created by the brass adorn the more avant-garde compositions, the fascinating and hypnotic voice of soprano singer Claudia Maria Mokri hovers over the work like a broken-winged angel, her laments and calls crashing against explosive walls of black and mournful sounds, obstinate rhythms and primitive rage.
From the initial instrumental "Innocence And Wrath" the troubled and mystical atmosphere of the record is palpable, the sound of horns rises majestically among the thundering percussion to merge directly into "The Usurper", intense and powerful tracing the sonic coordinates of the work, brought to its sublimation in classic tracks like the devastating "Circle Of The Tyrants", immersed in fast and agonizing tempo changes and fierce reprisals, or the lashing, sinister and harsh sonic musings of the cruel "Jewel Throne", "Eternal Summer", "(Beyond The) North Winds" and "Fainted Eyes" true obsessive and ingenious metallic diadems adorned with mystical and philosophical lyrics.
The symphonic gem "Dawn Of Megiddo" slowed and majestic, scourged by the heavy winds and a morbid march evokes ancient visions, hordes of beings suffocating in golden and shiny armor slowly and agonizingly advancing towards their end through a hazy and acrid fog, the work closes with "Necromantical Screams" choral, decadent and shadowy painful march towards nothingness, dominated by experimental tones and Warrior's leaden guitar work blending with the heavy orchestral tones of the brass, Tom's hoarse proclamations are accompanied by the angelic voice of the soprano... thus sealing a work of art.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
02 The Usurper (03:26)
Lend me your steel-bearing hand
So I may reign the Jewel Throne
My soul feels the gods' demand
As the lost kings uphold my side
[Chorus]
Blood and sand
Mark their way
The usurper's tears
Guide my sword...
Fantasia slept in my thoughts
As I was a son of infinity
The emperor, forgotten, rests in my dreams
As, back to the wall, I start the conquest
Innocence and wrath
Now lie far beyond
As we cross the deserts
To reach the fortress' gates
Tragical serenades
Are whispered in the wind
As eyes in fury
Grant us our strength
(They're) throning on the dignity of might
But the successor is to enter the hall
False truth saw them climbing the steps
But I remain the Jewel Throne's choice
03 Jewel Throne (04:05)
Once prayed to my gods, searching for the whistled memories
Empty eyes are staring now, to my feet a land of sorrow
I'm the king, sitting in the dark hiding from the shadows of the wind
Wafts of might, wine of fire, I was called to taste
Silver horses brought us here, to the edge of the universe
We left the falling walls as the stars' collapse began
Now I rest on the highest steps, revealed the eternal frontier
As I gaze from the Jewel Throne to the portal of infinity
Fallen have the "chosen ones", debris remain in the dust
Far behind, beyond the sands, the wind sings to those who fell
Forever now, my hands laid down the poisoned weapons
I will pray to my gods, searching for the mysteries
05 Eternal Summer (04:34)
The pyramids tremble, darken the sun, (the) sky tums red
They reached the wall of no return (and the) breeze has stopped
Who wore the crown will never be known - might is broken
For all we'll drown into the sand - what will remain?
Inverted horizons, denied truth and blinded eyes
The Titans arise, the monuments fall, we cannot halt
Wishful pleads at last came true, some always knew
The clouds burn - or is it fire? ... the gods wince
Human pride and megalomania - The Titans watched it all
The trace led to nowhere - Wrath had to come
As ushers at the gates - To ecstasy and excess
AII turn their backs - They won't give us any rest
(The) fires won't redeem, illuminated's the night - the eternal summer
When they came high from the sphere on shrieking wings ...
Now they're trapped to the ground, to heat and dust
And the eye is glowing above ...
06 Return to the Eve (04:08)
Dreaming eyes
Hope to return
As shadows fall onto
Distorted paths
Delivered from the fetters of light
Drifting back into my reality
The subconscious deprecates the day
In the twilight of my own intellect
Dull is my mind
Captive of illusion
Remaining awake
Is just dust
Take my soul away into the dark
Dreaming a thousand morbid dreams
No tomorrow when the wind caress my mind
Could I ever return, it would be my doom
Obsessed by the nightmare's sound
Drifting back into realms of chaos
Reality has become my dream
I'll be covered by the abyss' ground
An endless fall
Memories in the light
Frontiers of chaos
Return to the eve
07 Circle of the Tyrants (04:39)
After the battle is over
And the sands drunken the blood
All what there remains
Is the bitterness of delusion
The immortality of the gods
Sits at their side
As they leave the walls behind
To reach the jewels gleam
The days have come
When the steel will rule
And upon his head
A crown of gold
Your hand wields the might
The tyrant's the precursor
You carry the will
As the morning is near
I sing the ballads
Of victory and defeat
I hear the tales
Of frozen mystery
The new kingdoms rise
By the circle of the tyrants
In the land of darkness
The warrior, that was me
Grotesque glory
None will ever see them fall
And hunts and war
Are like everlasting shadows
Where the winds cannot reach
The tyrant's might was born
And often I look back
With tears in my eyes
Grotesque glory
None will ever see them fall
And hunts and wars
Are like everlasting shadows
08 (Beyond the) North Winds (03:07)
On days of northern wind, past illusions surround my dreams
Drops of mute oceans breath in the palm of my hand
The sound of silent waves still caresses all my thoughts
Where warm, mystic floods dominated the upper hemisphere
And dark ships sailed beyond those lost realms
Through gates to eternity, above the sleeping mind
Forever inconquerable seemed the walls of time
To those who always feared and always fled the dawn
But then, the guardians growl invited the thirst for steel
Part god, part man, if I walked by their side
The old man's dream now has ended much too soon
Forgotten rests the wisdom that brought them once so far
Vanished until rebirth, we sleep the endless sleep
For one who knows never tries to reappear ...
09 Fainted Eyes (05:05)
Try to see through fainted views
As reality disappears in haze
A journey between eternal walls ...
The senses unfold before my eyes
As the endless dreams begin to reign
And my hands slip off the edge
[Chorus]
The waters grow dumb
While they descend (behind)
Fainted eyes
Drifting in the streams of wisdom
While recognizing all those banal tales
Sin beyond truth, (I see) glimmering splinters
Encountering my past in flickering whispers
While they drown behind their frontiers
And the rulers sink in agony
Fallacy and false idols
Unbelievable is the human direction
But the screams die away in the distance
Try to see through fainted views
But the dust still covers all my dreams
I wouldn't tell you anyway ...
11 Necromantical Screams (06:02)
Necromantical screams
Only you are deaf
Is there life beyond death?
You entreated death, the answer will come
Oebris of faith, even you are false
Immortal morals, catch up with time
Vault of darkness, filled with hate
[Chorus]
Deny life, addiction to death
Procession of damnation, expulsion of light
Hazardous ways into the rush
Soul is frozen and flesh is weak
Necromantical screams
Only you are deaf
Intelligence is mute ...
Respect and thoughts, buried long ago
Pleading for the end, blind and dumb
We won't feel, there could be more
I will remain alone in the dark
... only you are deaf
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By Cronos
"A historic album, for me, it deserves to be among the top 10 metal albums of the 80s."
"This CD by Celtic Frost cannot be described with simple words... a masterpiece of rare beauty."
