Celtic Frost
Vanity/Nemesis
[Noise]
After the controversy of "Into The Pandemonium" and the even greater
controversy of the abysmally bad "Cold Lake" (Celtic Frost's attempt
to play commercially viable metal), Tom and friends pulled yet
another about-face and "returned to their roots" - well, not exactly,
but closer to their roots than they had been in recent memory.
Still, after all the damage they had done to the Celtic Frost name,
it wasn't going to be an easy battle to win back old fans no matter
HOW good "Vanity/Nemesis"...well, "Vanity/Nemesis" isn't a good
album...
Sounding like a heavier version of "Cold Lake" (mostly due to the nauseously whiny vocal sound Tom employs), the songs just don't have the Celtic Frost magic - none of the feel is there anymore. Gone is the attention to detail, gone is the esoteric imagery, gone is the enveloping atmosphere - what we get instead is a slightly heavier than average bland metal album that suffers from a severely generic sound - this album could have been recorded by any number of equally uninspired metal bands, and just attaching the Celtic Frost logo on the front isn't going to turn lead into gold. Sure, there are a couple of moments when a half decent riff is played, but these "stand out" riffs would have been considered 3rd rate filler back when Celtic Frost still reigned supreme...oh yeah, remember that sinking feeling you had in your stomach when you first heard Celtic Frost's rendition of Wall Of Voodoo's "Mexican Radio" ? Well, you get to relive that glorious moment again on "Vanity/Nemesis"...TWICE! This time around, Tom's chosen to subject us to the vileness of both "This Island Earth" (Bryan Ferry/Roxy Music if I'm not mistaken) and "Heroes" (David Bowie). Could someone please destroy Mr. Warrior's album collection before he figures out how to play anything else ?
I was once asked if I would have been as critical of "Vanity/ Nemesis" had it not been a Celtic Frost album...the answer of course was "no" - the fact that it WAS Celtic Frost made me expect more of it, and hence I was harsher on it...but the other side of that same coin is that if this *wasn't* a Celtic Frost album, it would still have been a poor release, and not one I would have given more than 5 minutes to. This is an album that should be avoided. Yeah, it's NOT as bad as "Cold Lake", but that isn't really saying much...oh, how the mighty have fallen...
© 1999 chorazaim
Sounding like a heavier version of "Cold Lake" (mostly due to the nauseously whiny vocal sound Tom employs), the songs just don't have the Celtic Frost magic - none of the feel is there anymore. Gone is the attention to detail, gone is the esoteric imagery, gone is the enveloping atmosphere - what we get instead is a slightly heavier than average bland metal album that suffers from a severely generic sound - this album could have been recorded by any number of equally uninspired metal bands, and just attaching the Celtic Frost logo on the front isn't going to turn lead into gold. Sure, there are a couple of moments when a half decent riff is played, but these "stand out" riffs would have been considered 3rd rate filler back when Celtic Frost still reigned supreme...oh yeah, remember that sinking feeling you had in your stomach when you first heard Celtic Frost's rendition of Wall Of Voodoo's "Mexican Radio" ? Well, you get to relive that glorious moment again on "Vanity/Nemesis"...TWICE! This time around, Tom's chosen to subject us to the vileness of both "This Island Earth" (Bryan Ferry/Roxy Music if I'm not mistaken) and "Heroes" (David Bowie). Could someone please destroy Mr. Warrior's album collection before he figures out how to play anything else ?
I was once asked if I would have been as critical of "Vanity/ Nemesis" had it not been a Celtic Frost album...the answer of course was "no" - the fact that it WAS Celtic Frost made me expect more of it, and hence I was harsher on it...but the other side of that same coin is that if this *wasn't* a Celtic Frost album, it would still have been a poor release, and not one I would have given more than 5 minutes to. This is an album that should be avoided. Yeah, it's NOT as bad as "Cold Lake", but that isn't really saying much...oh, how the mighty have fallen...
© 1999 chorazaim