shopaholic_man's Full Review: To Mega Therion [Remaster] by Celtic Frost
The Book of Revelation
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. (Revelation 13:1-2)
In Greek, the word To Mega Therion means the Great Beast, as referred to here in the book of Revelation. Revelation, the last book of the new Testament is about the Apocalypse, Judgment Day and the Rapture. It is my second favorite after the Book of Mark (since that's who I was named after). Those chosen will go to the Kingdom of Heaven, those marked with the number of the beast will burn. (Yes, that is a very simplified version of the Book of Revelation, when I taught Sunday School, we tended to focus on the cheerier Books) You don't need to be a biblical scholar to determine that the great beast referred to herein is Satan.
The band Celtic Frost takes the name of their epochal sophomore album from the Greek word for "the great beast" (a.k.a. Satan, Lucifer, etc) To Mega Therion. It marked a decidedly new direction in the history of heavy metal and many consider Celtic Frost as one of the main forerunners of Death Metal.
Back in 1984, heavy metal was in full swing with classic old school metal bands like Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and Blue Oyster Cult. Some of the newer bands coming out started the trend of hair metal with bands like Poison, Motley Crue and Ratt. However, when I worked as a DJ in college as the Master of Metal on radio station WBIM, a new group had come out that redefined Heavy Metal and started a new trend. Although Celtic Frost's debut album Morbid Tales, set the ground work, it was their 1985 sophomore album To Mega Therion that paved a new road for heavy metal, the advent of Death Metal.
Celtic Frost is a band from Zurich, Switzerland founded by Tom Gabriel Fischer (aka Tom Warrior). Although they broke up last year after their last album MonoTheist, they continue to be cited as one of the most influential bands of the new genre of Death Metal. In fact, the Swedish symphonic death metal band Therion takes their name not directly from the greek word for Beast, but from the Celtic Frost album To Mega Therion. They cite Celtic Frost as one of their influences as do countless other black metal, viking metal, melodic death metal and other metal bands.
The album features a very blasphemous album cover featuring a painting by H.R. Giger (popular for designing the sets of the movie Alien and the alien itself), entitled Satan I. The album itself does not take any religious stance, it just puts to music the Apocalypse as set forth in the Book of Revelation. I would note that the songs focus not on the ones who will experience the joy of the Rapture, but on those who will burn for eternity for following the Great Beast. For the record, despite my love of heavy metal, I pretty much dismiss any "satanic" lyrics in heavy metal music and continue to be a practicing Lutheran (a Protestant religion practiced by most of us with Finnish roots) who goes to church on Sundays. I just want to make sure that you are aware that Celtic Frost isn't singing love songs, songs about little fluffy bunnies or songs of joy here, these are songs of pretty bleak and terrifying subjects.
The Songs
The album starts off with an incredible amount of "Sturm and Drang" with the opening song Innocence and Wrath. This is Wagnerian Ring music set to a heavy metal beat! This prelude is only a minute long though and soon sets into the onslaught of fast paced crushing guitar chords over a blast beat with rasped lyrics for The Usurper. Today perhaps one would say, I've heard plenty of songs like that, but back in 1985, this was new. This music would knock the posers of Cinderella and Motley Crue on their butts. It was loud, brutal and aggressive and yet it retains definite melodies, and clearly defined guitar work. Although many better guitar players have come and gone, Fischer throws plenty of the fast paced guitar solos into the mix that now are almost required in the death metal genre.
Jewel Throne begins with the same aggressive assault now expected from death metal.
Silver horses brought us here, to the edge of the universe We left the falling walls as the stars' collapse began Now I rest on the highest steps, revealed the eternal frontier As I gaze from the Jewel Throne to the portal of infinity
Fischer sang the growling vocals and the guitar onslaughts, guest bass player Dominic Stiener filled in for regular bassist Martin Eric Ain and Reed St. Mark is on drums. Dawn of Meggido is a song about the Rapture spoken of in the Apocalypse in which all of those who aren't chosen will be destroyed. Eternal Summer continues the gloom and doom with the story of what will happen to those marked by the beast.
Anger and despairing themes mark Circle of TryantsAfter the battle is over and the sands drunken the blood All what there remains is the bitterness of delusion.
The remaining songs on To Mega Therion are (Beyond the) North Winds / Fainted Eyes / Tears in a Prophets Dream and Necromantical Screams.
If you ever wondered where the death metal storming our shores from Finland, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden originated from, check out Celtic Frost : To Mega Therion. If you ever wanted to know what the Apocalypse would sound like set to music, check out Celtic Frost - To Mega Therion. It just may scare you back to church if you haven't been!
My Thoughts
Okay, honestly, I am offended by H.R. Giger's album cover. It is in poor taste to say the least. Aside from that though, this is a very solid metal album that I like to listen to when I am in a metal kind of mood. Not only is this a great death metal album, but when you put it in perspective to when it was released, it was really quite original. Moreover, To Mega Therion still holds up today.
Summary
If you look to the Northern European countries for your latest albums of death metal, check out where it all began, neutral Switzerland! Who would have thought that the land of watches, cuckoo clocks, yodeling and the Sound of Music would have started such a trend! Celtic Frost changed the sound of heavy metal with To Mega Therion. It's music for the coming Apocalypse! Five Stars
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