Celtic Frost - To Mega Therion (1985)
Genre - Thrash Metal / Black Metal / Avant-Garde Metal
Celtic Frost is a rather unique band, there music genre can not really be described as one thing since they do a lot of different metal. From avante-grande, doom, thrash, black, death (by standards back then), and even glam metal at one point. The band's genre is an issue argued on by a lot of fans. People have grown to accept them as avant-garde metal, due to their heavy experimenting on albums, such as the one I will be reviewing.
Innocence and Wrath - Like the opening track for their debut album, Innocence and Wrath is an introduction track. For an intro this sounds pretty damn good actually and sets the tone for the first actual song of To Mega Therion.
The Usurper - To Mega Therion is switches up from black metal, thrash metal, and even a mixture of the two, The Usurper is thrash metal. The main riff for this track is a continuation of the previous introduction, the same way as Human (Intro) and Into the Crypts of Rays on the band's debut album Morbid Tales. This track is fast and aggressive and pure thrash metal and overall an enjoyable song, there are even three short guitar solos here. 9/10
Jewel Throne - Things now switch up into black metal mode with this track. Jewel Throne has a ton of loud deep growling and heavy guitar, at the same time the vocals from Tom Warrior is still understandable. The track follows the same riff for a while and then it changes up and breaks into a very nice distorted guitar solo, another great song so far. 9/10
Dawn of Meggidio - Slowed down compared to other songs on the album, think The Thing That Should Not Be. The guitar riffs here are weird, they sound depressing yet the set the mood good. The same depressing mood continues for the most part up until the guitar solo hits. As I stated earlier think Metallica's The Thing That Should Not Be, not bad but not the band's best work. 7/10
Eternal Summer - We are back to thrash metal here and this might be my favorite song off of this album, the lyrics to this one deal about nuclear war which is nothing unfamiliar in the world of metal. The tempo stays nice, fast, and keep a good flow for the most part to say about this track. The song slows down eventually leading into a distorted guitar solo, that would sound like a Megadeth one for the best example. The song slows down again but then it picks up the speed one more time into the main speeding riff. Celtic Frost did some of their best work on this song right here. 10/10
Circle of the Tyrants - This is a rather unique mix of thrash and black metal. The main riff starts off fast and the vocals here are pretty deep. This song might make someone lost interest because of too many damn tempo changes. It slows down and speeds up a lot throughout this track, which isn't bad to be honest. This song has some cool drumming though, just hear the double-bass kicks, there is even a cool guitar solo here. Personally I like the version of this song off of Morbid Tales/Emperor's Return better, good song nonetheless but the tempo changes are pretty annoying here. 6.5/10
(Beyond the) North Winds - Better change from the previous track, and by the way we are back to black metal here. Although the main riff is repetitive the speed and great sound of it doesn't hurt the song in my opinion. The riff remains strong and fast throughout the whole song, it even stays fast through the guitar solo on here. (Beyond the) North Winds is a pretty good black metal song I have no complaints here. 9.5/10
Fainted Eyes - Decent song here in my opinion, the highlight here is the riff which is awesome fast. Fainted Eyes is filler to me. 6.5/10
Tears in a Prophet's Dream - Wow this just sounds like it is straight from Hell. Another introduction here that really gets the last track started. Like Human (Intro) and Innocence and Wrath, Tears in a Prophet's Dream sounds very good.
Necromantical Screams - Perfect for use in a horror film, Necromantical Screams is the song straight out of Hell! The heavy guitar riff and Tom Warrior's growls sound freaking killer here. This is an amazing work of art here by Celtic Frost, I can not give Necromantical Screams anything but a... 10/10
Overall - I will admit my favorite Celtic Frost album is Morbid Tales, however To Mega Therion has some great songs here despite some of the mediocre stuff. Another down side here that seems present on Celtic Frost a lot is the bass playing, it can't really be heard much. Other than the bass playing this is a strong album. If you are a fan of bands like Slayer I am sure enough you'll dig Celtic Frost big time.
Genre - Thrash Metal / Black Metal / Avant-Garde Metal
Celtic Frost is a rather unique band, there music genre can not really be described as one thing since they do a lot of different metal. From avante-grande, doom, thrash, black, death (by standards back then), and even glam metal at one point. The band's genre is an issue argued on by a lot of fans. People have grown to accept them as avant-garde metal, due to their heavy experimenting on albums, such as the one I will be reviewing.
Innocence and Wrath - Like the opening track for their debut album, Innocence and Wrath is an introduction track. For an intro this sounds pretty damn good actually and sets the tone for the first actual song of To Mega Therion.
The Usurper - To Mega Therion is switches up from black metal, thrash metal, and even a mixture of the two, The Usurper is thrash metal. The main riff for this track is a continuation of the previous introduction, the same way as Human (Intro) and Into the Crypts of Rays on the band's debut album Morbid Tales. This track is fast and aggressive and pure thrash metal and overall an enjoyable song, there are even three short guitar solos here. 9/10
Jewel Throne - Things now switch up into black metal mode with this track. Jewel Throne has a ton of loud deep growling and heavy guitar, at the same time the vocals from Tom Warrior is still understandable. The track follows the same riff for a while and then it changes up and breaks into a very nice distorted guitar solo, another great song so far. 9/10
Dawn of Meggidio - Slowed down compared to other songs on the album, think The Thing That Should Not Be. The guitar riffs here are weird, they sound depressing yet the set the mood good. The same depressing mood continues for the most part up until the guitar solo hits. As I stated earlier think Metallica's The Thing That Should Not Be, not bad but not the band's best work. 7/10
Eternal Summer - We are back to thrash metal here and this might be my favorite song off of this album, the lyrics to this one deal about nuclear war which is nothing unfamiliar in the world of metal. The tempo stays nice, fast, and keep a good flow for the most part to say about this track. The song slows down eventually leading into a distorted guitar solo, that would sound like a Megadeth one for the best example. The song slows down again but then it picks up the speed one more time into the main speeding riff. Celtic Frost did some of their best work on this song right here. 10/10
Circle of the Tyrants - This is a rather unique mix of thrash and black metal. The main riff starts off fast and the vocals here are pretty deep. This song might make someone lost interest because of too many damn tempo changes. It slows down and speeds up a lot throughout this track, which isn't bad to be honest. This song has some cool drumming though, just hear the double-bass kicks, there is even a cool guitar solo here. Personally I like the version of this song off of Morbid Tales/Emperor's Return better, good song nonetheless but the tempo changes are pretty annoying here. 6.5/10
(Beyond the) North Winds - Better change from the previous track, and by the way we are back to black metal here. Although the main riff is repetitive the speed and great sound of it doesn't hurt the song in my opinion. The riff remains strong and fast throughout the whole song, it even stays fast through the guitar solo on here. (Beyond the) North Winds is a pretty good black metal song I have no complaints here. 9.5/10
Fainted Eyes - Decent song here in my opinion, the highlight here is the riff which is awesome fast. Fainted Eyes is filler to me. 6.5/10
Tears in a Prophet's Dream - Wow this just sounds like it is straight from Hell. Another introduction here that really gets the last track started. Like Human (Intro) and Innocence and Wrath, Tears in a Prophet's Dream sounds very good.
Necromantical Screams - Perfect for use in a horror film, Necromantical Screams is the song straight out of Hell! The heavy guitar riff and Tom Warrior's growls sound freaking killer here. This is an amazing work of art here by Celtic Frost, I can not give Necromantical Screams anything but a... 10/10
Overall - I will admit my favorite Celtic Frost album is Morbid Tales, however To Mega Therion has some great songs here despite some of the mediocre stuff. Another down side here that seems present on Celtic Frost a lot is the bass playing, it can't really be heard much. Other than the bass playing this is a strong album. If you are a fan of bands like Slayer I am sure enough you'll dig Celtic Frost big time.
