Celtic Frost Morbid Visions is the first release from this legendary group from Sweden. Released in 1985 after disbanding Hellammer the year previous. The name and branding change was supposed to be a fresh start for the band as they felt that the Hellhammer concept had been undercooked when their first release(s) came out and as a result their name had been turned into a joke in the metal industry.<\/p>\n\n
The album starts off with a spooky intro (As does almost any good evil album)<\/i> and straight at it with “Into the Crypts of Rays” which from the outset is a noticeable increase in quality of their recorded output. To me, its still basically Hellhammer but just a refined version of them. And let’s face it Hellhammer had 2 out of 3 members carry on with Celtic Frost anyway.<\/p>\n\n
As the album goes further there’s some standout tracks on this “Dethroned Emperor” and “Procreation (Of the Wicked)” which have some absolutely massive riffs which have survived the test of time. Celtic Frost have been one of the few bands at this point to really harness the slower elements of heavy-ness here. Especially considering everyone else (Venom, Slayer, Sodom, Bathory etc)<\/i> were racing each other to be the fastest or most extreme. <\/p>\n\n
The album was originally released as a 6 track EP in Europe but almost immediately after was released as an 8 track album in the US. So with that in mind its probably important to note I listened to the US release this time around. Initially the album was panned by some of the bigger metal magazines at the time, but over time the importance of this album as part of the first wave of black metal and the influence this had on other extreme metal bands has overshadowed the initial bad reactions from the press.<\/p>\n\n\n
Honestly, There’s still some jittery-ness in the recording but this is a massive record with some really catchy songs, which carry it well past the minor technical issues which are present. <\/p> \n\n
As we go <\/p>\n\n
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