Celtic Frost - Monotheist

Celtic Frost - Monotheist

When I first heard the song "A Dying God Coming Into Human Flesh", I hated it. It was slow, dreary, and the riffs where simple and monotonous. On top of that, the lyrics where cliche. They sing about depression and feeling cold about it. GHEY.

Over time, for some reason I learned to love it. Every weakness pointed out earlier morphed into a strength. But there was a strength that I totally missed at first: the songwriting.

If there's is one thing Celtic Frost where the masters of is piecing together a powerful song from mindlessly simple components. There are no verses or choruses in this song. They don't even repeat any riffs. The song marches forward from one section to another; from one mood another. As the transitions occur, the tension slowly builds, until it is torn open by power chords that pierce your ears like an agonizing nervous breakdown. Then, just as suddenly as the attack emerged, it fades away to a period of empty calm. The calm is then slashed open by a resolve to overcome the depression with escalating tempos, double bass drumming, more throbbing power chords, and Tom G. Warrior's resolute shouting. What a way to end the song.

A good chunk of the album is like that. All the riffs are stupid simple. But the way they are sequenced and how they are layered on top of one another generate textures so thick with tension that you can smell the smoke and grime emerging from the speakers.

This is a powerful work of art. It's easy to dismiss this as yet another Gothic metal band that can't really play their instruments trying to act all cool, dark, and melancholy. Ok, maybe they are. But they pull it off convincingly with actual songwriting ability. Give it several chances before making up your mind.

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