Celtic Frost - Monotheist

The welcome return of the black metal legends.

The comeback of Celtic Frost has been several years in the making. After working on remastering the band's early albums, frontman Tom Fischer (Tom G. Warrior) decided he'd like to put Celtic Frost back together again. For the past few years he and bassist Martin Eric Ain have been writing songs, and the project has finally come to fruition.

The 2006 edition of Celtic Frost is closer to the 1983 edition of Hellhammer. The songs are dark, plodding and heavy with droning doom metal guitars. Fischer's voice has aged nicely. His baritone is strong and unique, and he throws in some black metal style vocals as well. You'll also hear some female goth style vocals. The songs are flawlessly and painstakingly constructed with layer after layer of music that you appreciate more with each listen.

Celtic Frost has been a huge influence on black, death and doom metal, and it would be a shame if their comeback fell flat. Fortunately, that is not the case. After their last couple albums weren't as good as their earlier ones, Celtic Frost returns triumphantly with their best album since 1987's Into The Pandemonium.