Celtic Frost-Into the pandemonium, 1987

Background-

By this point Switzerland's Celtic Frost had already released two lp's and two ep's between 1984 and 1986. Their popularity had risen during that time and this was a fairly highly anticipated release as far as underground metal goes. They had taken off the ghoul make-up and there were some definite musical changes.
Initial Reaction-
I was big into this band when this time came out. When I first heard it I thought that parts of it were odd. It probably took me almost six months to really get it, but I did.
Review
1. Mexican Radio-This is cover of a song that was originally done by Wall of voodoo. What a cover it is, it remains faithful enough to the original yet it adds the unmistakable Celtic Frost sound as well.
2. Mesmerized-This track has the old Frost heaviness, yet it's thicker and slower. There is way more of a doom feel to it and it just pounds away. The vocals are way different though as they are meant to sound kind of eerie and distant.
3. Inner Sanctum-More heavy pounding not totally removed from some material from their debut "Morbid Tales". Although it's a little different because the guitar has the sound like it's pulling back while plunging forward. That may not make any sense, but that's how it sounds to me. It's like a sort fast riff that has a thick, sludge feel mixed in with it.
4. Tristesses De La Lune- This song has an orchestral arrangement with female vocals. Very different to be on a metal album. It will make more sense later on in the album.
5. Babylon Fell (Jade Serpent)-The first of a two parter and it's somewhat similar to some material from their 1986 album "To Mega Therion". It has a huge monster riff that plows along.
6. Caress Into Oblivion (Jade Serpent II)-Fairly slow, it picks up and it's heavy through and through. I love the drum sound here.
7. One In Their Pride-This is like a drum machine with sampling of a rock launch. It's real dated and very repetitive. If it had been mixed in with some heavy music maybe it could have been something.
8. I Won't Dance (The Elders' Orient)-This is like hook oriented doom metal with female backing vocals and an eerie wall of drifting music. I don't remember anything like this before 1987. Immensely thick sound that's spoton with some sharp drumming from Reed St. Mark. Also love that hum on the guitar right before the chorus. Awesome song.
9. Sorrows Of The Moon-This song rips on and then slows down and has some odd vocals. Then it kind of goes back and forth and they actually do a lot here even though it's barely over three minutes long. The real kicker about this song is that it's really the same song as number four only done as a metal song instead of with an orchestra.
10. Rex Irae (Requiem)-This is a bit different as it has an orchestral arrangement mixed in with heavy guitars and drums. There are three voices here as one is female, one is a character who is supposed to be dying and then you have some grunts from Tom G. Warrior. It's a bit chaotic and you really have to try to stick with it.
11. Oriental Masquerade-This is a short orchestral piece with drums and guitar mixed in. Some people think it's a second part of the story from track ten.

Verdict-It's not every one's cup of tea and it wasn't twenty years ago as some reviewers loved it and some thought the band had lost their minds. Prior to this album Celtic Frost were normally lumped in with speed metal bands like Slayer, Exodus, Destruction and the like. Yet almost half of this album may not appeal to people who just liked straight-up metal. I can't pretend that every track works or that this is a perfect albums. I think the band had done as much as they could with their old sound once they finished "To Mega Therion" so they needed to progress. I think this was a start as some songs are very much like their earlier material, some are similar but show a greater doom influence and other tracks are way different from anything any metal bands were doing. I think it's very good, but it's certainly not for everyone. I think Celtic Frost had more influences that just metal and they themselves influenced different genres of metal. This probably isn't the CD you will be cranking in your car when you get out of work on a Friday. It's one that requires more attention and maybe more time. I think if they had followed the natural progression then the next album would have been incredible. Instead they choose to go a direction that almost killed their career. Fortunately their 2006 comeback "Monotheist" is in someways the album I think a natural follow-up to this album should have been.

***The 20 year old album review for July will be Def Leppard's Hysteria.