biocelticfrost

CELTIC FROST, The biggest and most important band outside the US and Germany. Celtic Frost was born out of the equally influential Hellhammer. The band was started by Thomas Gabriel Fischer aka Tom G. Warrior and Martin E. Ain. Celtic Frost debuted in 1984 with the EP Morbid Tales. They continued their journey to stardom wit the release of To Mega Therion in 1985. The band had Europe by it's feet now and they were well-respected in the realm of extreme metal even if a few metal publications felt that the band were amateurish.

After the release of Into the Pandemonium Celtic Frost continued with only Thomas G. Fischer remaining of the original trio. Celtic Frost then adopted a Glam Metal influenced approach with the release of Cold Lake, an album that tarnished the bands reputation quite a bit. The band released one more album before breaking up in 1993, the Vanity / Nemesis album. After about a decade away from the limelight, Celtic Frost returned with 2006's Monotheist and a long tour followed before the band decided to lay down Celtic Frost for good. This is the Celtic Frost biography.

MORBID TALES (1984-1985)

Celtic Frost was formed in Zürich, Switzerland in 1984 by Thomas Gabriel Fischer, more known as Tom G. Warrior and Martin Eric Ain along with session drummer Stephen Priestly. Since the Hellhammer days, the band started bulding up a small international fan-base despite being such an extreme band.

Celtic Frost signed up to Noise records and in 1984 they debuted with the mini-LP, Morbid Tales, which became an instant classic in the underground metal scene. Tracks like Into the Crypts of Rays and Procreation (of the Wicked) are legendary tracks from it. After that Celtic Frost set out on their first tour, through Germany and Austria. This was followed with an EP titled Emperor's Return. Which featured songs like Morbid Tales, Dethroned Emperor and an early version of Circle of the Tyrants. In 1985 Tom G. Warrior co-produced and sung on Coroner's first demo tape Death Cult.

Celtic Frost's strange antics made a few metal publications skeptical, Metal Forces had a long feud with the group and Celtic Frost refused to play in England because of it. The bands mixture of thrash, death and black metal with gothic imagery was too much to for most heavy metal fans at the time.

TO MEGA THERION (1985)

In 1985 Celtic Frost recorded and released their masterpiece To Mega Therion which did not feature Martin E. Ain on bass, but stand-in Dominic Steiner. But Martin Ain co-penned the album, but in the end he left the band prior to recording the album, which he regretted when looking back upon it. Ain did return after the album was recorded however. The cover artwork is a painting by H.R. Giger entitled Satan I. H.R. Giger became famous for creating the aliens for the Alien movie series.

The band remained friends with H.R. Giger until his death in 2014. The album was a major influence on the then-developing death metal and black metal genres. It also featured operatic female vocals, which was unheard of in extreme metal at the time. The album also had a doom-like heaviness to it.

INTO THE PANDEMONIUM (1987)

In 1987 Celtic Frost released their second full-length titled Into the Pandemonium. The album was more varied than many of Celtic Frost's earlier recordings, with an unlike covers in Wall of Voodoo's "Mexican Radio". The album was good but vastly different from the band's previous work and the term avant-garde metal was used to describe the bands sound. It was a departure from the extreme style found on the band's previous albums, Morbid Tales and To Mega Therion that Celtic Frost had become known for.

However, it does have the recurring symphonic elements found on To Mega Therion. The album has a more classic heavy metal style within the songs with elements of industrial, classical and gothic rock, and even has a industrial/EBM inspired rhythm in "One in Their Pride". It does have a few black metal elements remaining in Tom Warrior's vocals, though, and some thrash-influenced guitar riffs. But if some people thought that Into the Pandemonium was a sell-out it was nothing of what was yet to come.

COLD LAKE AND THEN SOME (1988-1993)

In 87/88 Celtic Frost started having financial trouble and personal tensions bewteen the band members tore the band apart. A few months later Thomas Gabriel Fischer reformed the band without Martin E. Ain and Reed St.  Mark and they were replaced by the trio of Stephen Priestly, Oliver Amberg and Curt Victor Bryant. Thomas Gabriel Fischer found a girlfriend and he was at a happy place in his life and it influenced the recordings of their upcoming album. In September of 1988 Celtic Frost released their third full-length titled Cold Lake, which was a departure from their original sound. Celtic Frost had incorporated influences from Glam Metal and it infuriated lots of their old fans. Calling Celtic Frost out as sell-outs. The album has become somewhat as a landmark of what not to do and it has definitely damaged the bands reputation ever since, even if it sold pretty well on the American market, next to albums by Poison, Twisted Sister and Mötley Crüe.

After the album was released Celtic Frost fired Oliver Amberg and recruited Ron Marks, whom had played live with the band before.

In 1990, the band took some revenge upon the critics with the release of Vanity / Nemesis. It was steps in the right direction, but it was in no means a return to their early sound and image. The album once again featured Martin E. Ain in the lineup. Celtic Frost continued struggling until about 1993 when they decided to fold the band.

POST FROST (1993-2001)

In the 90's Thomas Fischer started the industrial band Apollyon Sun and he made a few albums and recordings with them, he also wrote the autobiographical book called Are You Morbid?.

Reed St. Mark joined funk metal band Mindfunk and Martin E. Ain would pursue other interests. At this time Celtic Frost fell quite deep into obscurity.

THE REUNION 2001-2008)

In late 2001 Martin E. Ain and Thomas Gabriel Fisher got together again started writing new material, With Erol Unala from Apollyon Sun on guitars. They recruited experienced Swiss drummer Franco Sesa. But due to it's DIY nature it took a very long time to finish the album but in 2005 it was finally finalised. The album was self-financed through their Prowling Death Records. The album was produced by the band with some help of Peter Tägtgren. They signed a licensing deal with Century Media Records. The album was titled Monotheist and it was released in May of 2006. At the same time the band emarked on their biggest tour yet, the Monotheist tour, with gigs in Japan as well as in Europe and the United States. The band also recorded a music video for the track "A Dying God Coming Into Human Flesh".

There was talks of recording a new Celtic Frost album, but at the time Thomas Fischer had been putting in some time with his newly started black metal project Triptykon. Thomas then decided to quit Celtic Frost and the remaining members thought it was impossible to continue without him so in 2008 the band finally stated that Celtic Frost was put to an eternal rest.

Thomas Gabriel Fischer are still in Gothic Doom / Death metal band Triptykon. Mark St. Reed joined them in 2008 but has since then left the business. The same can be said about Martin E. Ain who has been quiet since Celtic Frost folded. In 2017 founding member Martin Eric Ain passed away.