Celtic Frost

Darkthrone – Old Star Review

By Dr. A.N. Grier on June 5, 2019 in 2019, Black Metal, Heavy Metal, Norwegian Metal, Peaceville, Reviews, Black Metal, Heavy Metal, 92 comments

“Well, you always get what’s coming to you. Though I’m a faithful and unfaltering fan of everything Darkthrone, the band’s 2016 full-length release kinda ticked me off. Having dealt with Napalm and Frontier Record’s insistence on sending out stream-only promos to music journalists across the world, I was a little peeved when Peaceville did the same with Arctic Thunder. Everyone remembers it. And I said some things I shouldn’t have. But, I got over it. And so did everyone else. But, when talk of the newest Darkthrone opus, Old Star, rolled around, I was content with receiving another stream-only promo. I mean, fair is fair, right?” Damn the stream!

Lice – Woe Betide You Review

By Master of Muppets on May 16, 2019 in 2019, Avante Garde, Black Metal, International Metal, Reviews, Season of Mist Underground Activists, Avante Garde, Black Metal, 70 comments

“So, yeah: Woe Betide You is a pretty sweet album. It’s not necessarily fighting for a spot on my current list of AotY candidates, yet Woe Betide You is one of the most dynamic albums I’ve reviewed to date, right up there with Great Leap Skyward’s Map of Broken Dreams.” Infestivus.

Totengott – The Abyss Review

By Mark Z. on April 18, 2019 in 2019, Black Metal, Doom Metal, Reviews, Spanish Metal, Thrash Metal, Xtreem Music, Black Metal, Doom Metal, Thrash Metal, 16 comments

“This Spanish trio’s 2017 debut took great pains to emulate the sound of Monotheist and Triptykon, to the point where I wouldn’t be surprised if Tom G. Warrior applied for a restraining order after its release. Nonetheless, the album was still enjoyable, in part because it had one of the best production jobs of anything I’ve ever reviewed on this site. Given that Totengott began life as a Frost cover band in 2013, it’s unsurprising that second album The Abyss largely continues to worship Warrior like he’s a god in human flesh.” Are you still morbid?

Cultic – High Command Review

By Mark Z. on April 4, 2019 in 2019, American Metal, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Eleventh Key Records, Reviews, Death Metal, Doom Metal, 77 comments

“Celtic Frost’s music was simple yet influential. But there’s a problem with simple yet influential music: it’s easy to play, and thus you’re going to have a lot of bad bands try to play it. Still, for the longest time I couldn’t really think of a particularly awful group that sounded like early Celtic Frost. Well, you know what they say: if you spend long enough poking around, you never know what you’ll dig up. Here, amidst the remains of half-baked riffs and ideas long ago discarded by young groups who knew they could do better, I’ve uncovered a true stinker of an album, a record that I question how it ever came into being: High Command, the debut full-length by Pennsylvania’s Cultic.” Celtic Lost.

Usurper – Lords of the Permafrost Review

By Mark Z. on March 26, 2019 in 2019, American Metal, Black Metal, Death Metal, Reviews, Soulseller Records, Thrash Metal, Black Metal, Death Metal, Thrash Metal, 29 comments

“In my lifelong quest to listen to every blackened thrash band on the planet I came across Usurper, a Chicago quartet who possessed a particularly heavy and ghoulish take on the style. Formed in 1993, the band sounded like if Celtic Frost had continued writing albums like To Mega Therion well into the 90s. Following several albums in this vein the band adopted a catchier approach with 2005’s Cryptobeast that made them even more fun to listen to. Sadly the group disbanded in 2007 before they could explore this direction further. But does any split really last forever these days?” No longer than a death in a comic book.

Funereal Presence – Achatius Review

By Eldritch Elitist on February 26, 2019 in 2019, American Metal, Black Metal, Reviews, Sepulchral Voice Records, The Ajna Offensive, Black Metal, 108 comments

“I’ve reviewed a lot of fucking black metal for this blog, and while I could never see myself tiring of covering the genre, I’d rather drown before hashing out another “The current state of black metal…” intro. For one thing, the sound and philosophies of modern black metal are constantly in flux, meaning that those who stumble upon my writings more than a year after publication will find them roughly as relevant as an instructional hip-hop dance VHS tape from 1992. For another, releases like Achatius feel displaced from the black metal timeline as a whole; it’s a record whose influences are clear, yet whose ambitions intriguingly conflict with its intent.” What is real? Funereal.

Mentor – Cults, Crypts and Corpses Review

By Dr. A.N. Grier on November 9, 2018 in 2018, Black Metal, Pagan Records, Polish Metal, Reviews, Thrash Metal, Black Metal, Thrash Metal, 24 comments

“This will stand as one of the most random introductions I’ve ever written. But the thought sprung to mind and, now, here we go. I dislike the word ‘mentor.’ But not for reasons you might expect. My dislike for the word has nothing to do with a bad experience as/with a mentor or mentee, or anything else along those lines. I hate the word because of how it rolls off my tongue. I’ve heard it pronounced as ‘mentor’ and as ‘menter.’ Yet, I’m incapable of saying the word as others around me say it. Instead, my enunciation transforms me into someone from The Great British Baking Show.” Mentor, mentee, manatee.

DungeönHammer – Infernal Moon Review

By Dr. A.N. Grier on October 12, 2018 in 2018, Black Metal, Dutch Metal, French Metal, Me Saco Un Ojo Records, Pulverised Records, Reviews, Thrash Metal, Black Metal, Thrash Metal, 112 comments

“Face it, there’s no one that sounds like Celtic Frost, or even Hellhammer before that. No one… Wait, what’s this?! A two-man band from France and Holland that praise the ground Hellhammer once walked on?! With a debut record called Infernal Moon?! And with the band name of… DungeönHammer…?? Wtf??” How’s the Hammer hangin’?

Throneum – The Tight Deathrope Act over Rubicon Review

By Mark Z. on July 12, 2018 in 2018, Black Metal, Death Metal, Hells Headbangers Records, Polish Metal, Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, 40 comments

“You’ve got to hand it to Throneum. Back in 2016 I took a big steaming metaphorical shit all over their Morbid Death Tales album, and less than two years later the raw death metal trio have come right back with nearly an hour of new music. And they even sent us the promo, to boot! Clearly the Polish troupe must be quite proud of their Tight Deathrope Act over Rubicon, but lingering memories of Death Tales’ shithouse production and underdeveloped songwriting left me reluctant to snag this regardless.” Walk the Deathrope.

The Konsortium – Rogaland Review

By Dr. A.N. Grier on June 5, 2018 in 2018, Agonia Records, Black Metal, Folk Metal, Norwegian Metal, Reviews, Thrash Metal, Black Metal, Folk Metal, Thrash Metal, 60 comments

“If you’re into the Norwegian black metal scene, you may know bassist/guitarist/songwriter Teloch. For those that don’t know, he’s the man behind Nidingr and responsible for guitars and songwriting on Mayhem’s Esoteric Warfare. If you do know the man, you already knew that and also know he’s a member of the once mysterious—but now not-so-mysterious—black/thrash outfit The Konsortium, where he writes and plays bass alongside the legendary black metal drummer Dirge Rep, and, together, they rip, shred, and tear shit apart.” At the Roga, Roga Cabana.