| Monotheist | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 29 May 2006 | |||
| Recorded | 2002–2005 | |||
| Studio | Various
| |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 68:16 | |||
| Label | Century Media | |||
| Producer |
| |||
| Celtic Frost chronology | ||||
| ||||
Monotheist is the sixth and final studio album by the Swiss extreme metal band Celtic Frost. Released in May 2006, it marked the band's first new recording in 16 years. Upon its release, the album received universal acclaim from music critics.
Preparation and development for the project began in 2000. The first recording sessions for the album commenced in late October 2002. The band comprised founding members Martin Eric Ain (bass/vocals) and Tom Gabriel Fischer (vocals/guitars/keyboards), alongside guitarist and producer Erol Unala, who was Fischer's long-time songwriting partner. Unala became an increasingly significant contributor to Celtic Frost during the songwriting process. [4] Working titles for the album included Probe and Dark Matter Manifest. [5] [6]
"Obscured" is derived from the demo track "November," which appeared on the 2002 demo album "Prototype."
"Drown in Ashes" features lyrics from the demo track "The Dying I."
Celtic Frost's earlier work blended elements of thrash metal and black metal. The sound of Monotheist has been characterized as challenging to define, as the songs range from doom metal to "blackened thrash" to gothic metal to symphonic metal. [7] The result is a diverse yet profoundly dark heavy metal experience. [8] [9] Don Kaye of Blabbermouth described it as "a monstrously heavy and oppressive slab of metal," venturing "into even heavier, blacker territory" than previous albums. [1] Adrien Begrand of PopMatters remarked that the album approaches a masterpiece of "brutally heavy" metal, "completely devoid of light." [8] Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic highlighted more nuanced elements, such as the "instantaneously infectious melody" of "A Dying God Coming into Human Flesh" and the "haunting female voices" that duet with bandleader Tom Warrior on "Drown in Ashes." [7]
According to Fischer, [10] some of the lyrics were influenced by the writings of English occultist Aleister Crowley. [10] This influence is evident in tracks such as "Os Abysmi Vel Daath," which is part of the title of one of Crowley's books. [8] [9] [11]
Monotheist was released on both CD and LP formats. A limited edition digipak included the bonus track "Temple of Depression." Both the vinyl LP version and the Japanese CD release of Monotheist featured the bonus track "Incantation Against You."
A music video was created for the song "A Dying God Coming into Human Flesh."
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [7] |
| Aux Portes du Metal | 64% [12] |
| Blabbermouth | 8/10 [1] |
| Chronicles of Chaos | 8/10 [13] |
| El Portal del Metal | [14] |
| Metal Crypt | [15] |
| Metal.de (GER) | 9/10 [16] |
| Metal Music Archives | [17] |
| Metal Reviews | 66% [18] |
| Metal Storm | 90% [19] |
| Metal1 (GER) | 10/10 [20] |
| Metalfan (NL) | 80% [21] |
| Media Assault | [22] |
| Ox Fanzine (GER) | 10/10 [23] |
| PowerMetal.de (GER) | 8.6/10 [24] |
| Scene Point Blank | 9/10 [25] |
| Sonic Seducer (GER) | 7/10 [26] |
| Stormbringer (AT) | 8/10 [27] |
| The Music (AU) | 4/5 [28] |
The album received overwhelmingly positive reviews and is widely regarded as a triumphant comeback for the band. Blabbermouth awarded the record an 8/10, stating,
"The question regarding every comeback by a long-dormant group is always whether they can recapture the sound, vibe, and chemistry that made them successful the first time around. The answer here is yes: Fischer and Ain (along with new drummer Franco Sesa) have labored long and hard to create an album that ranks with their best work in terms of sheer heaviness and atmosphere, while employing some dramatic new musical ventures that honor the experimental side of the band. If the group's songs are less concise and perhaps not as catchy as earlier work, they're still propelled by sheer musical muscle and an epic, ambitious scope." [29]
The album was ranked number 2 on Terrorizer 's list of the best albums of the decade. [30]
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Progeny" | Thomas Gabriel Fischer | Martin Eric Ain, Fischer, Franco Sesa | 5:01 |
| 2. | "Ground" | Fischer | Fischer, Erol Unala | 3:55 |
| 3. | "A Dying God Coming into Human Flesh" | Ain | Ain, Fischer, Unala | 5:39 |
| 4. | "Drown in Ashes" | Fischer | Fischer | 4:23 |
| 5. | "Os Abysmi Vel Daath" | Ain, Fischer | Ain, Fischer, Sesa, Unala | 6:41 |
| 6. | "Temple of Depression" (Limited edition digipak bonus track) | Fischer | Ain, Fischer, Unala | 4:59 |
| 7. | "Obscured" | Ain, Fischer, Unala | Ain, Fischer, Unala | 7:04 |
| 8. | "Incantation Against You" (Japanese version and vinyl LP bonus track) | Ain | Ain, Simone Vollenweider | 5:06 |
| 9. | "Domain of Decay" | Fischer | Ain, Fischer, Unala | 4:38 |
| 10. | "Ain Elohim" | Ain | Ain, Fischer, Sesa, Unala | 7:33 |
| 11. | "Triptych: I. Totengott" | Ain | Fischer | 4:27 |
| 12. | "Triptych: II. Synagoga Satanae" | Ain | Ain, Fischer, Sesa | 14:24 |
| 13. | "Triptych: III. Winter (Requiem, Chapter Three: Finale)" | (instrumental) | Fischer | 4:32 |
| Chart (2006) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| French Albums (SNEP) [31] | 194 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [32] | 67 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [33] | 41 |
Celtic Frost was a Swiss heavy metal band from Zürich. They are remembered for their strong influence on the development of several metal subgenres, particularly extreme metal, and for their avant-garde approach to music in general.
Hellhammer was a Swiss extreme metal band from Nürensdorf, active from 1982 to 1984. Although the band's sound and style were heavily criticized and poorly reviewed during their active years, they have been widely praised in retrospect and are often regarded as a key influence on black metal. In June 1984, Hellhammer disbanded but two of its members soon formed the influential extreme metal band Celtic Frost.
Into the Pandemonium is the third studio album by Swiss extreme metal band Celtic Frost, released on 1 June 1987 through Noise Records in Europe, and through Combat Records in the US. The album marks the return of bassist and backing vocalist Martin Eric Ain, who had previously appeared on 1984's Morbid Tales, but not on the band's previous album.
Probot was a heavy metal side project of former Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl. Described by Grohl as "a death metal Supernatural", the album mixes instrumentals recorded by Grohl himself with various metal singers whom the musician admired. The album was released in February 2004 by Southern Lord Records. It featured one single entitled "Centuries of Sin"/"The Emerald Law".
1349 is a Norwegian black metal band from Oslo, Norway, formed in 1997. The band's name is a reference to the year the Black Death reached Norway.
Thomas Gabriel Fischer, also known by the stage names Tom Warrior and Satanic Slaughter, is a Swiss musician. He led the extreme metal bands Hellhammer and Celtic Frost and is currently the frontman of the band Triptykon.
Martin Eric Ain was an American musician best known as the bassist of the influential extreme metal bands Hellhammer and Celtic Frost. He used the stage name Martin Eric Ain throughout.
Morbid Tales is the debut album by Swiss extreme metal band Celtic Frost, released in November 1984. It was originally released in Europe on Noise Records as a mini-LP with six tracks, while the American release by Enigma/Metal Blade added two tracks, bringing it to the length of a regular studio LP. The band retrospectively refers to the LP release as the band's debut studio album.
9.0: Live is the first live album by American heavy metal band Slipknot. The band recorded the two-disc album during a 2004–05 world tour that promoted their third studio album Vol. 3: . Released on November 1, 2005, by Roadrunner Records, 9.0: Live features tracks from Slipknot's first three studio albums: Slipknot, Iowa, and Vol. 3: . Many of the included tracks are rarely played live; "Skin Ticket" from the album Iowa was its first live performance. 9.0: Live peaked in the top twenty in album sales for Austria and the United States, and was certified gold in the United States. Critical reception was generally positive, with Adrien Begrand of PopMatters calling it a "very worthy live album".
A triptych is a work of art that is divided into three sections.
Gothic metal is a fusion genre combining the aggression of heavy metal with the dark atmospheres of gothic rock. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different styles of heavy metal music. The genre originated during the early 1990s in the United Kingdom originally as an outgrowth of death-doom, a fusion of death metal and doom metal. Lyrics are generally dark and introspective with inspiration from gothic fiction as well as personal experiences.
Vanity/Nemesis is the fifth studio album by Swiss heavy metal band Celtic Frost, released on 11 April 1990 through Noise Records.
Apollyon Sun was a Swiss industrial metal band formed by singer/guitarist Tom Gabriel Fischer and guitarist Erol Unala in early 1995, after the termination of Celtic Frost, Fischer's prior group. The group was unofficially dissolved in 2001 when Fischer invited Erol Unala to contribute to the reformation of Celtic Frost. Their name is taken from the Celtic Frost demo "Under Apollyon's Sun".
This is a timeline documenting the events of heavy metal in the year 2008.
Sub is the debut album by Swiss industrial metal band Apollyon Sun, released in 2000 on Mayan Records.
Eidolon is the fifth studio album by German melodic black metal band Dark Fortress. The album was released on 25 February 2008 through German record label Century Media. The album has also a digipack version. The vinyl record version was released on 14 October 2016, again by Century Media.
Triptykon is a Swiss extreme metal band from Zürich, formed in 2008 by Thomas Gabriel Fischer, founding member of the pioneering heavy metal bands Hellhammer, Celtic Frost and Apollyon Sun.
Eparistera Daimones is the debut album by Swiss extreme metal band Triptykon, the most recent musical project of Thomas Gabriel Fischer, founding member of the pioneering heavy metal bands Hellhammer and Celtic Frost and industrial project Apollyon Sun.
Erol Uenala, also known as Erol Unala, is a Swiss industrial and metal musician. He was a member of the industrial metal band Apollyon Sun and the thrash metal band Celtic Frost.
Sarke is a Norwegian metal band from Oslo, formed in 2008. The band has released seven studio albums and is currently signed to Norwegian record label Indie Recordings.
