Celtic Frost "Vanity/Nemesis"

Vanity/Nemesis is the fifth studio album by Swiss heavy metal band Celtic Frost, released on April 11, 1990 through Noise Records.

Modern reviews see this album as a return-to-form compared to the band’s previous album, Cold Lake, but contemporary critics unfairly panned it. The band continued experimenting and evolving their music, this time fusing elements of traditional heavy metal, thrash metal and gothic rock. It has a different sound from the black/thrash metal of the first 2 albums, or the avant-garde metal of Into the Pandemonium, although Vanity/Nemesis retains lyrical and musical elements from those releases.

Vanity/Nemesis would be Celtic Frost’s last studio album before the dissolution of the band in 1993 and until their return album in 2006 Monotheist. Vanity/Nemesis was re-released in 1999 with additional tracks. The album also includes a cover of David Bowie’s 1977 hit “Heroes”.

The track “The Heart Beneath” was used on the Manga Entertainment compilation trailers on the UK, Dutch and Australian released video tapes.

Track list:

Side A

1. The Heart Beneath 03:50  
2. Wine in My Hand (Third from the Sun) 03:29   
3. Wings of Solitude 04:36   
4. The Name of My Bride 04:32   
5. This Island Earth (Bryan Ferry cover) 05:50   

Side B

1. The Restless Seas 04:41   
2. Phallic Tantrum 03:29   
3. A Kiss or a Whisper 03:05   
4. Vanity 04:26   
5. Nemesis 07:49

Total time:    45:47

Ron Marks performed as a session musician. Martin Ain assisted in the songwriting and rejoined halfway through the recording to complete the band (he also featured in the photoshoot).

Recording information:

Recorded at Sky Track Studio and Hansa Studios, Berlin, Fall/Winter 1989.

Mixed at Hansa Studios, Berlin, Winter 1989.

Mastered at Masterdisk, N.Y..