Thrashcast Episode 9: Celtic Frost's "To Mega Therion" from 1985
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Thrashcast is the place to find riveting discussions on classic thrash albums, news and reviews. Your hosts are three thrash loving maniacs who grew up during the golden age of the genre. Kenneth, Billy and Jim will get together weekly to bring you a deep dive on some of your favourite thrash records.
Show Notes:
Episode Nine: Celtic Frost To Mega Therion (1985). This is the 1st studio release from Switzerland based extreme metal band and it is considered a landmark release becoming a major influence on the early development of the death metal and black metal genres. The album was released on October 27th, 1985 on Noise Records.
The album had no singles, but powerful tracks like The Usurper, Jewel Throne and Circle Of The Tyrants are built around brute power and primordial thrash riffs. These songs are written by the group's mastermind Thomas G. Warrior and show his surprisingly accomplished lyrics based on story lines he created.
The musical strength of Celtic Frost lies around the lyrics and the musical mix of death, black and doom metal with a nod to ambient leanings added in for good measure. The album's title – To Mega Therion means "The Great Beast" and comes from the Greek language. This is a fitting title given the nature of the songs and the importance of the early raw proto-thrash sound.
Fun Facts: The album art is credited to H.R. Giger entitled Satan I. He was a Swiss artist best known for his airbrushed images that blended human physiques with machines. He was also a part of the special effects team that won an Academy Award for the visual design of Ridley Scott's 1979 sci-fi/horror film Alien.
To Mega Therion is considered an influential staple in the annals of extreme metal.
Kenneth Gallant, HMS
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