Adorned in chilling Giger artwork, this is the Swiss trio's apocalyptic vision, way ahead of most other metal bands, with maybe Voivod as the closest comparison with regards to oddball hallucinations of dark, barbaric worlds.
Tom G. Warrior grunts and yowls through the tracks in such an unconventional and warped style yet somehow it his guffaws slip exquisitely alongside the twisted riffs which seem to bend and curve like some eerie howl through the forest.
Celtic Frost wrote disturbing songs, it's no wonder they are considered such pioneers in their field, although we've never been sure which field they occupy! For CF thrash with the best, but also create spooky ethereal levels where demons are invoked and shadows flicker in and out, it's something we never quite understand but we come back for more, and that's what makes metal, as a musical force so magical, it's something we cannot put our finger on.
The riffs here are ultra-heavy, ultra-gloomy and unpredictable as they, like a sleek leviathan, twist and turn in the waters, it's like spending a night alone in a cankered cell, or having hideous nightmares of some age of torture passed. The vocalisations here are genuinely eerie, never needing to become spiteful or growled, Warrior simply moans, mourns and groans into the mic, as you imagine a procession of freakish orcs, bogeymen and forest dwellers in armour slipping over the hill, marching to some distant, nightmarish place.
'Circle Of The Tyrants' is possibly the most known cut on offer here, but every track on offer is a demented, hysterical journey into the grim woods and deranged mind. This is music to played with the lights off.
8.5/10
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