"Nyarlathotep. The crawling chaos. I am the last and will speak to the empty spaces... beyond worlds, vague phantoms of monstrous things; vile temples with gigantic columns resting on nameless rocks below space and reaching voids above the spheres of light and darkness. And omnipresent, incessant, in this repugnant cemetery of the universe, the muffled roll of drums and the monotonous wailing of blasphemous flutes played in inconceivable lightless chambers, beyond time, to whose rhythm dance clumsily, darkly, and gigantically, the last gods: the blind mute stupid monsters whose soul is Nyarlathotep"

Excerpt from Nyarlathotep by H.P. Lovecraft

 

A Dark Sound... A Rotten Sound... The Sound Of Chaos...

This CD by Celtic Frost cannot be described with simple words, I will try to review it even though I think I picked a very difficult CD for me:
the year was 1985, a very important year for black metal as "The Return..." by Bathory of Quorthon and this album by the Swiss Celtic Frost were released. After the release of the first two EPs, namely "Morbid Tales" and "Emperor's Return", singer-guitarist Tom Warrior recruited the excellent Reed St.Mark behind the drums, and a short while later the revitalized trio released this CD, a milestone of extreme metal.

"To Mega Therion" opens with "Innocence And Wrath", a splendid intro opening the doors to this masterpiece of rare beauty, the first real track is "The Usurper", a very fast and aggressive track typically thrash, followed by "Jewel Throne", another brutal track. Next comes "Dawn Of Meggido", a much slower track compared to the first two but with heavier sounds thanks to the sound of horns and timpani, after which it progresses to "Eternal Summer", a track that starts very fast until the pace slows down and then brutally explodes. The sixth track is a band classic, "Circle Of The Tyrants", a macabre track with much more black sounds compared to the previous ones, followed by "(Beyond The) North Winds", a much more static track than the previous ones, the next "Fainted Eyes" is a good track where Warrior delivers an excellent vocal performance supported by the drummer.

"Tears In A Prophet's Dream" is a splendid instrumental-ambient piece composed of an evil and macabre sound, this masterpiece closes with the splendid "Necromantical Screams", a track that summarizes the entire sound of Celtic Frost and after a series of deadly riffs and drum beats concludes with the sound of timpani and horns.

A historic album, for me, it deserves to be among the top 10 metal albums of the 80s.

"The night opens on the brink of the abyss. The gates of hell are closed: at your risk, you attempt them. At your call something will awaken to respond to you."

 

Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos

01   Innocence and Wrath (01:03)

[Instrumental]

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

04   Dawn of Megiddo (05:47)

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 ...

10   Tears in a Prophet's Dream (02:34)

[Instrumental]

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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