ninehertz

I freely admit to being an old Frost fan, seeing as I got into them in the 80s and saw them on the "Pandemonium" tour. When they announced they were getting back together and recording a new album, I was in two minds about it. Would it be a return to form, or simply another disappointing album in the vein of Cold Lake and Vanity Nemesis?

It arrived through the door on Tuesday, and I can safely say that I'm not disappointed in this release. There are a few tracks that have been clearly influenced by bands like Soulfly and various other "Nu Metal" bands stylistically, some parts are very "goth" influenced (especially the vocals), but there again, Frost always had a tendency to wander down that particular path when no-one else had (most of Into the Pandemonium). Other tracks are simply pure Celtic Frost. Cool.

It clearly shows that Celtic Frost as a band have not decided to recreate former glories or revisit the past, but as they always did, it strides off confidently down it's own path. It's a much more together album than some of their later material, and it does have quite a gloomy/doomy feel to it, and overall it feels very "grown up" and the band have progressed in their writing. "Domain of Decay" stands out for me as a pure Celtic Frost track, aggressive riffage and even some "Heys" from Tom G. "Winter" is another cool Frost track, as the third part of the "Requiem" started by "Rex Irae" off Into the Pandemonium, though strangely, they've not recorded the 2nd part.