Celtic Frost
19 August 2006
Mean Fiddler , London
Public transport conspired so that I missed the first section of Celtic Frost`s return to UK shores, arriving to the infectious Ain Elohim from comeback album Monotheist. There`s been a mixed response from the diehards to this album, some claiming it doesn`t sound like Celtic Frost, though that was also said when Into The Pandemonium came out and that`s now a revered classic. For myself, with repeated listens Monotheist has proved to be one of my favourite releases thus far this year and it was a slight disappointment that more was not played from it.
Quickly it was apparent that the setlist would closely follow that of Wacken and indeed the presentation. The difference being that Wacken was on a giant open air stage whilst the Mean Fiddler is a medium sized venue. Hence where the detached nature of the performance worked a treat at Wacken, tonight it doesn`t have the same impact and reliance is on the music. This is accentuated by Tom Gabriel Fischer having little to say and Martin Eric Ain`s microphone hardly working. Fortunately Celtic Frost have a wealth of soup thick heavy riffing material and it`s a joy to just absorb yourself in it.
Fischer and Ain are in effect Celtic Frost, but rounding out the current line up is the lanky Anders Odden on guitar and Franco Sesa on drums. Sesa, covered in tattoos and smeared with paint, has been widely credited by Fischer and Ain as being essential to the band`s return and his performance was worthy of the Frost drum stool. Odden meanwhile, who was a lifelong fan of the band, is a more recent addition to the touring line-up. His presence adds balance to the persona of Ain, on the opposite side of the stage, and he appears to have been schooled in the rather unique Fischer style of soloing.
Visions Of Mortality inspires a crowd chant of "Celtic Frost" which sets things up nicely for some crowd movement during the more speedier Into The Crypt Of Rays, Inner Sanctum and crowd favourite Circle Of The Tyrants. Seemingly freshening things up, the latter featured an additional pause in the mid section`s riff. Whilst the slowing of some of the old material worked, sometimes things are better left as they are.
As at Wacken it`s the sprawling Synagoga Satanae that closes the show. Ain`s semi silent mic renders his monologue mid song pretty pointless but overall the song works. With no encore nobody moves for some time until the PA music is turned on and at about 85mins the set felt rather curtailed, but its certainly good to have Celtic Frost back.
Celtic Frost set list:
Totengott (Intro) / Procreation Of The Wicked / Dethroned Emperor / The Usurper / Ain Elohim / Necromantical Screams / Dawn Of Meggido / Mesmerized / Sorrows Of The Moon / Visions Of Mortality / Into The Crypt Of Rays / Inner Sanctum / Circle Of The Tyrants / Synagoga Satanae
LINKS:
Celtic Frost
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