Friday, December 23, 2005

Celtic Frost vs. Trouble in 2006

This past year saw a big metal reunion album in Judas Priest's Angel of retribution, but unfortunately the album was very uneven. Now Candlemass did a reunion album this year as well. Unfortunately I have yet to hear it, but all the reviews have been positive so eventually I will track it down. There are two metal reunion albums coming up in 2006 that I am interested in. Celtic Frost are due to release their first album in 14 years. Trouble's new album is set to be released in March and it will their first album in 11 years. If you asked me which band I preferred in the 1980's then I would say Celtic Frost. Celtic Frost came from Hellhammer and they didn't know it at the time, but they really helped shape what would become black metal. They were fast at times, but more importantly they were very heavy. Trouble on the other hand one of just a few bands during the 80's who were playing slow and heavy, Sabbath inspired metal. Trouble were a big influence on a lot of today's doom and stoner bands. Even though I say that I liked Celtic Frost better in their prime, it would not surprise me if Trouble put out a better reunion album. My reasoning starts with the fact that Celtic Frost may have better in their prime, but Trouble were more consistent throughout their career. Celtic Frost were building and perfecting their early black metal sound from 84-86. Then in 87 they did Into the pandemonium and they were integrating other forms of music in with their old sound. It received mixed reviews. Then came Cold Lake in 1988 which was a huge clunker as they tried to combine their early sound with glam metal and the results were disastrous for both their career and my ears. In the early 90's they did return to their earlier sound, but their popularity had dwindled and they broke up after one more lp and a few new tracks on a best of album. Trouble did six albums between 1984 and 1995 and every single one was solid. They always seemed to receive good reviews but it wasn't until their self titled album (which was actually their fourth album) came out in 1990 that they started to really get noticed. The 1992 follow-up Manic Frustration also did well, but Plastic Green Head in 1995 turned out to be their last album before some of the band members went on to other projects. Trouble picked up on the sounds of Sabbath, but they had a bit more of a cleaner sound and I think the band managed to make small adjustments to each album so that they progressed without ever losing site of their basic sound. Celtic Frost on the other hand mastered their black metal sound in a very short time and felt the need to progress which is fine, but they went through very drastic sound changes and when the second attempt failed they ended up returning to a sound that although not bad was very derivative of what they had done like five years earlier. Of course I am hoping that both reunion albums are good and that both bands still find an audience, but my guess would be that Trouble's return will be the stronger album.

2 Comments:

Blogger T-_Bone said...

I have always been luke warm toward Trouble and Celtic Frost as well (though I really like To Mega Therion). Anyway - I will wait to hear any reviews before jumping on either of these releases.

BTW - count me as one who really liked thr 2005 Candlemass album. Very good release, in my top 10 for the year for sure.

Angel of Retribution was a poor release, especially Lochness, which wins the award for worst epic ever. By far!

7:06 AM  
Blogger Metal Mark said...

I definitely need to hear the Candlemass album, I have been listening to a lot of doom stuff as of late. I originally thought this post might also be about metal reunion albums and why some are good and some are not. I think that topic will have it's own entry some time soon.

8:27 AM  

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