Celtic Frost live at Tuska Open Air Metal Festival 2006. The band's distinctive skull-and-spears logo can be seen on the banners.
Background information
Origin
Zürich, Switzerland
Genres
Thrash metal
avant-garde metal
black metal
doom metal
Years active
1984–1987, 1988–1993, 2001–2008
Labels
Century Media, Noise, Metal Blade
Spinoffs
Triptykon
Spinoff of
Hellhammer
Past members
Thomas Gabriel Fischer
Martin Eric Ain
Franco Sesa
Isaac Darso
Stephen Priestly
Reed St. Mark
Ron Marks
Dominic Steiner
Curt Victor Bryant
Oliver Amberg
Erol Unala
Renee Hernz
Website
celticfrost.com
Celtic Frost (/ˈkɛltɪkfrɒst/)[1] was a Swiss heavy metal band from Zürich. They are remembered for their strong influence on the development of several varieties of extreme metal[2][3] and for their avant-garde approach to music more generally.[4]
In June 1984, guitarist and vocalist Thomas Gabriel Fischer and bassist Martin Eric Ain formed Celtic Frost after terminating the band Hellhammer a month prior. Celtic Frost's debut record, Morbid Tales, was then released in November of the same year.[5] This was followed by the full length studio records To Mega Therion (1985) and Into the Pandemonium (1987).[2] These releases are generally considered canonical to the legacy of the band's influence on extreme metal genres. Each of them contains samples of avant-garde composition, though Into the Pandemonium in particular is notable for its idiosyncratic style and experimentation with musical boundaries beyond heavy metal.
Celtic Frost's next album Cold Lake (1988) saw a new lineup, and a stark change of style, which was widely derided due to its commercial and flamboyant tone.[2][4] After the release of Vanity/Nemesis (1990), the group temporarily disbanded. Celtic Frost then re-formed in 2001 and released the critically acclaimed Monotheist (2006), and finally disbanded permanently following Fischer's departure in 2008.[6]
Music across the band's tenure mixed elements of various extreme metal styles. Their earlier music is frequently classified as thrash metal or black metal with an experimental inclination, while their final album has been described as doom metal. Celtic Frost were inspired by early heavy metal bands such as Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Venom, gothic rock groups like Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Christian Death[7] and Joy Division,[8] and by hardcore punk bands such as Discharge[9] and GBH.[10]
^"Interview with Tom G. Warrior". Metal Rules. November 1999. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
^ abcBukszpan, Daniel. The Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal. Barnes & Noble Publishing, 2003. p.43
^"Celtic Frost Profile". Centurymedia.com. Archived from the original on 22 February 2008. Retrieved 26 March 2008.
^ abWagner, Jeff. Mean Deviation. Bazillion Points Books, 2010. pp.116-124
^Fischer p.80
^September 9, 2008 – PRESS RELEASE Retrieved from Internet Archive 6 January 2014.
^Cite error: The named reference pyro was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference louder was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^J. Bennett, "Procreation of the Wicked", Precious Metal: Decibel Presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces, Albert Mudrian, ed., Da Capo Press, p. 34.
CelticFrost (/ˈkɛltɪk frɒst/) was a Swiss heavy metal band from Zürich. They are remembered for their strong influence on the development of several varieties...
but two of its members soon formed the influential extreme metal band CelticFrost. Inspired by the music of Black Sabbath, Venom, Raven, Motörhead and...
is a Swiss musician. He led the extreme metal groups Hellhammer and CelticFrost, and today is the frontman of the band Triptykon. Fischer (as "Tom Warrior")...
the Pandemonium is the third studio album by Swiss extreme metal band CelticFrost, released in 1987. The album marks the return of bassist and backing...
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as the bassist of the influential extreme metal bands Hellhammer and CelticFrost. He used the stage name Martin Eric Ain throughout. Ain was born in the...
Morbid Tales is the debut record by the Swiss extreme metal band, CelticFrost, released in November 1984. It was originally released in Europe on Noise...
pioneering heavy metal bands Hellhammer, CelticFrost and Apollyon Sun. Fischer announced his departure from CelticFrost in May 2008 and shortly afterwards...
included bands such as Venom, Bathory, Mercyful Fate, Hellhammer and CelticFrost. A second wave arose in the early 1990s, spearheaded by Norwegian bands...
fashioned after those of early extreme metal bands such as Venom and CelticFrost (note the similarity of the album title to Morbid Tales). The production...
Discharge and the heavy metal of bands like Venom, Trouble, Hellhammer, CelticFrost, Black Sabbath and Motörhead. While the term was first associated with...
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Sodom, Kreator, and Destruction from Germany, as well as Switzerland's CelticFrost (formed by two-thirds of Hellhammer), Coroner and Carrion (who later...
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metal, death metal emerged during the mid-1980s. Bands such as Venom, CelticFrost, Slayer, and Kreator were important influences on the genre's creation...
Norway, and Tokyo in Japan. Pioneers of experimental metal include Boris, CelticFrost, Earth, Helmet, Maudlin of the Well, Neurosis, Sunn O))), and Voivod...
of the industrial metal band Apollyon Sun and the thrash metal band CelticFrost. Uenala and his brother Kurt grew up in Aadorf, Switzerland. Apollyon...
up only three months after recording this EP, and later regrouped as CelticFrost. The EP would be reissued six years later as Apocalyptic Raids 1990 A...
extreme metal band CelticFrost, released in 1992. It consists of album tracks, demos and various other recordings of the band. CelticFrost Thomas Gabriel...