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Monotheist is the fifth and final studio album by the Swiss extreme metal band Celtic Frost. The album was released in May 2006 and was the first new recording released by the band in 16 years. Upon its release, the album was met with critical acclaim.

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Monotheist
Studio album by Celtic Frost
Released	29 May 2006
Recorded	2002–2005
Studio	Various Horus Sound Studio, Hanover, Germany Oakland Recording, Winterthur, Switzerland Celtic Frost Bunker, Zurich, Switzerland Apollyon Sun Bunker, Zurich, Switzerland Department of Noize, Kilchberg, Switzerland FSK-18, Winterthur, Switzerland Transmutation, Thalwil, Switzerland
Genre	Experimental metal black metal death metal[1][2] doom metal gothic metal[3]
Length	68:16
Label	Century Media
Producer	Celtic Frost Peter Tägtgren
Celtic Frost chronology
Parched with Thirst Am I and Dying (1992) Monotheist (2006)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
Blabbermouth	8/10[1]
Sputnikmusic	[5]
Metal Storm	90%[6]
Metal Underground	[7]
Scene Point Blank	9/10[8]
Metal Crypt	[9]
The Art of Blasphemy	98%[10]
Sea of Tranquillity	[11]
Storm Bringer (GER)	[12]
Metal Temple	8/10[13]
Metalfan (NL)	80%[14]
Metal1 (GER)	10/10[15]
Power Metal (GER)	8.6/10[16]
El Portal del Metal	[17]
Chronicles of Chaos	8/10[18]
Ox Fazine (GER)	10/10[19]
Metal.de (GER)	9/10[20]
Media Assault	[21]
Metal Music Archives	[22]
Truemetal (IT)	93%[23]
Metal Reviews	66%[24]
Aux Portes du Metal	64%[25]
Metalitalia (IT)	6.5/10[26]

Development

Preparation and development work for the project had been ongoing since 2000. The first recording sessions for the album started in late October 2002. The band consisted of founding members Martin Eric Ain (bass/vocals) and Tom Gabriel Fischer (voice/guitars/keyboards), along with guitarist/producer Erol Unala, Fischer's long-time songwriting partner. Unala became an increasingly significant part of Celtic Frost during the songwriting.[27] Working titles for the album included Probe and Dark Matter Manifest.[28][29]

"Obscured" comes from the demo track "November" from the 2002 demo album "Prototype".

"Drown in Ashes" uses lyrics from the demo track "The Dying I".

Music

Celtic Frost's earlier work melded elements of thrash metal and black metal. The sound of Monotheist has been described as difficult to reduce to specifics, as the songs vary from doom metal to "blackened thrash" to gothic metal to symphonic metal.[4] The result is a wide-ranging but very dark heavy metal experience.[30][31] Don Kaye of Blabbermouth called it "a monstrously heavy and oppressive slab of metal" which goes "into even heavier, blacker territory" than previous albums.[1] Adrien Begrand of PopMatters said that the album was nearly a masterpiece of "brutally heavy" metal, "completely devoid of light".[30] Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic noted more subtle touches such as the "instantaneously infectious melody" of "A Dying God Coming into Human Flesh", and the "haunting female voices" heard in duet with bandleader Tom Warrior on "Drown in Ashes".[4]

According to Fischer,[32] some of the lyrics were influenced by the writings of the English occultist Aleister Crowley.[32] This influence manifests itself in tracks such as "Os Abysmi Vel Daath", which is the partial name of one of Crowley's books.[30][31][33]

Release

Monotheist was released on CD and LP. A limited edition digipak featured the bonus track "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".

The album was ranked number 2 on Terrorizer's list of the best albums of the decade.[34]

Track listing

Credits

• Thomas Gabriel Fischer – vocals, guitars, arrangements, programming
• Martin Eric Ain – bass, 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, additional programming on "Temple of Depression"
• Franco Sesa – drums

Session musicians

• Lisa Middelhauve (Xandria): guest vocals on "Drown in Ashes"
• Ravn (1349): backing vocals in final chorus of "Temple of Depression"
• Simone Vollenweider: guest backing vocals on "Temple of Depression", additional vocals on "Obscured", and lead vocals on "Incantation Against You"
• Sigurd Wongraven (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

Charts

Chart (2006)	Peak position
French Albums (SNEP)[35]	194
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[36]	67
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[37]	41

References

External links

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

На других языках

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[de] Monotheist (Album)

Monotheist ist das fünfte Studioalbum der schweizerischen Extreme-Metal-Band Celtic Frost. Es ist das Reunion-Album der Band, welche zuvor 1990 mit „Vanity / Nemesis“ ihren letzten Longplayer aufgenommen hatte; gleichzeitig ist es auch das letzte Album der Schweizer, die sich 2008 aufgrund von persönlichen Differenzen wieder auflösten. Das Album wurde mit einer großen Tour mit Co-Headliner Kreator auch live beworben.

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- [en] Monotheist (album)

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[es] Monotheist

Monotheist es el sexto y último álbum de estudio de la banda suiza de metal extremo Celtic Frost, lanzado el 29 de mayo de 2006 en Europa y un día después de América, a través de la discográfica alemana Century Media. Este álbum es el primer trabajo del grupo tras su separación en 1993 y es el único álbum con el batería Franco Sesa y Erol Unala.

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[ru] Monotheist

Monotheist — пятый и последний альбом швейцарской метал-группы Celtic Frost, записанный в период с 2002 по 2005 год, и выпущенный 29 мая 2006 года на лейбле Century Media Records. Продюсером альбома был Петер Тэгтгрен.

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