Monotheist
Studio album by Celtic Frost
Released	May 29, 2006
Recorded	2002-2005
Genre	Doom Metal Black Metal Gothic Metal
Length	68:16 (normal edition) 73:15 (limited digipack) 73:22 (vinyl)
Label	Century Media Records
Producer	Celtic Frost and Peter Tägtgren
Professional reviews
Allmusic link
Celtic Frost chronology
Parched With Thirst Am I and Dying (1992) Monotheist (2006)

Monotheist is a comeback album by Swiss metal band Celtic Frost, released in 2006. It is the first new recording released by the band in 14 years. Preparation and development work for this project have been ongoing since 2000, originally inspired by Celtic Frost's involvement in the acclaimed 1999/2000 official album re-issues.

Compared to Celtic Frost’s previous works, Monotheist possesses a heavier, much darker atmosphere reminiscent of doom/gothic metal, and eschews much of the Thrash sound of their early work. According to the band's bassist, Martin Eric Ain, some of the lyrics are partially influenced by the writings of the English occultist Aleister Crowley. This influence manifests itself in tracks such as "Os Abysmi Vel Daath", which is partially a name of one of Crowley’s books.

The final track, “Winter (Requiem, Chapter Three: Finale)” is the concluding part of Celtic Frost's requiem, which began with "Rex Irae" from 1987’s “Into the Pandemonium”. The second part has yet to be released by the band.

Monotheist is available in a Digipak version with a bonus track, called "Temple Of Depression". Both the vinyl LP version and the Japanese CD release of Monotheist feature the bonus track “Incantation Against You”.

A video was made for the song "A Dying God Coming into Human Flesh"

Working titles for the album included "Probe" and "Dark Matter Manifest".

Contents 1 Track listing 2 Development 3 Credits 4 External links

[edit] Track listing

1. "Progeny" — 5:01 (Ain/Fischer/Sesa)
2. "Ground" — 3:55 (Fischer/Unala)
3. "A Dying God Coming into Human Flesh" — 5:39 (Ain/Fischer/Unala)
4. "Drown In Ashes" — 4:23 (Fischer)
5. "Os Abysmi Vel Daath" — 6:41 (Ain/Fischer/Sesa/Unala)
6. "Temple of Depression" — 4:59 [on limited digipack edition]
7. "Obscured" — 7:04 (Ain/Fischer/Unala)
8. "Incantation Against You" — 5:06 [on vinyl and Japanese editions]
9. "Domain of Decay" — 4:38 (Ain/Fischer/Unala)
10. "Ain Elohim" — 7:33 (Ain/Fischer/Unala)
11. Triptych:
    "Totengott" — 4:27
    "Synagoga Satanae" — 14:24
    "Winter (Requiem, Chapter Three: Finale)" — 4:32 (Ain/Fischer/Sesa)

[edit] Development

The initial part of the recording sessions for the new album started in the second half of October 2002, the re-envisioned Celtic Frost core consists of founding members Martin Eric Ain (bass/vocals) and Tom Gabriel Fischer (voice/guitars/keyboards), along with Fischer's long-time songwriting partner in and co-founder of Apollyon Sun, guitarist/producer Erol Unala. Unala has become an increasingly significant part of Celtic Frost during the very comprehensive songwriting sessions.

In 2002 Celtic Frost released a demo called Prototype

1. "Helter Skelter"
2. "Totgetanzt"
3. "The Dying I"
4. "The Beautiful End"
5. "November"
6. "Deep Inside"
7. "Relinquished Body"
8. "Human Dirt"
9. "Get Wicked (Dagger And Grail Edit)"
10. "Hip Hop Jugend"

[edit] Credits

• Tom Gabriel "Warrior" Fischer: voice, guitars, arrangements, programming
• Martin Eric Ain: bass, lead and backing vocals (most vocals on "A Dying God Coming Into Human Flesh", all vocals on "Triptych I: Totengott", and spoken parts on "Triptych II: Synagoga Satanae"), and executive producer of album
• Erol Unala: guitars, engineer
• Franco Sesa: drums
• Lisa Middelhauve (Xandria): guest vocals on “Drown In Ashes”
• Ravn (1349): backing vocals in final chorus of “Temple Of Depression”
• Simone Vollenweider: backing vocals on “Obscured”, and lead vocals on “Incantation Against You”
• Satyr (Satyricon): brief segment of lead vocals on "Triptych II: Synagoga Satanae"
• Peter Tägtgren: backing vocals on “Triptych II: Synagoga Satanae” and co-producer of album
• Walter J.W. Schmid: Engineering, Mixing, Mastering
• Phillip Schweidler: Engineering, Mixing

[edit] External links

• "The Great Beast Resurrected" – article in PopMatters covering the band’s comeback and an early review of the album

v • d • e Celtic Frost Thomas Gabriel Fischer · Martin Eric Ain · Franco Sesa Curt Victor Bryant · Oliver Amberg · Ron Marks · Anders Odden · Dominic Steiner · Reed St. Mark · Stephen Priestly · Erol Unala Albums Morbid Tales · To Mega Therion · Into the Pandemonium · Cold Lake · Vanity/Nemesis · Monotheist EPs Emperor's Return · Tragic Serenades · I Won't Dance