Celtic Frost "Monotheist (Russia, Fono Ltd., FO619CD)"

Monotheist is the sixth and, according to band members, final studio album by the Swiss heavy metal band Celtic Frost. The album was released in May 2006 and was the first new recording released by the band for sixteen years.

Preparation and development work for the project had been ongoing since 2000. The first recording sessions for the album started in late October 2002. The band consisted of founding members Martin Eric Ain (bass/vocals) and Tom Gabriel Fischer (voice/guitars/keyboards), along with guitarist/producer Erol Unala, Fischer’s long-time songwriting partner. Unala became an increasingly significant part of Celtic Frost during the songwriting.

“Obscured” comes from the demo track “November” from the 2002 demo album “Prototype”.

“Drown In Ashes” uses lyrics from the demo track “The Dying I”.

Working titles for the album included Probe and Dark Matter Manifest.

Celtic Frost’s earlier work melded elements of thrash metal and black metal. The sound of Monotheist has been described as difficult to reduce down specifics, as the songs vary from doom metal to “blackened thrash” to gothic metal to symphonic metal. The result is a wide-ranging but very dark heavy metal experience. Don Kaye at Blabbermouth called it “a monstrously heavy and oppressive slab of metal” which goes “into even heavier, blacker territory” than previous albums. Adrien Begrand of PopMatters said that the album was nearly a masterpiece of “brutally heavy” metal, “completely devoid of light.” Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic noted more subtle touches such as the “instantaneously infectious melody” of “A Dying God Coming into Human Flesh”, and the “haunting female voices” heard in duet with bandleader Tom Warrior on “Drown in Ashes”.

According to Fischer, some of the lyrics were influenced by the writings of the English occultist Aleister Crowley. This influence manifests itself in tracks such as “Os Abysmi Vel Daath”, which is partially a name of one of Crowley’s books.

Monotheist was released on CD, LP and as a digipak with a bonus track called “Temple of Depression”. Both the vinyl LP version and the Japanese CD release of Monotheist feature the bonus track “Incantation Against You”.

Track listing

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

Time:  01:08:17

A video was made for the song “A Dying God Coming into Human Flesh”.

The album was ranked number 2 on Terrorizer’s list of the best albums of the decade.

Recording information:

Recorded at Horus Sound Studio (Hanover, Germany), Oakland Recording (Winterthur, Switzerland), Celtic Frost Bunker (Zurich, Switzerland), Apollyon Sun Bunker (Zurich, Switzerland), Department of Noize (Kilchberg, Switzerland), FSK-18 (Winterthur, Switzerland), Transmutation (Thalwil, Switzerland), 2002 to 2005.

Mixed at Horus Sound Studio (Hanover, Germany), Oakland Recording (Winterthur, Switzerland), Department of Noize (Kilchberg, Switzerland), summer / autumn 2005.

Mastered at Oakland Recording (Winterthur, Switzerland), November 2005