Review Summary: An forgettable attempt to go mainstream. Celtic Frost should have stuck with what they were good at.
Celtic Frost is a band often credited for being on of the fathers of black metal. Although Celtic Frost was never really a full blown black metal band, their music has hints of thrash metal as well as a little death metal. After being looked at as one of the most brutal bands of their time they gained a lot of respect from listeners, especially in Europe. But somewhere along the line things changed for Celtic Frost. Aside from lead man Tom “Warrior” Fischer, the band wanted a change. This change resulted in Tom Warrior separating from the group. The result of this change was titled
Cold Lake.
It is possible the Celtic Frost grew tired of making heavier music. Another possibility for this change was seeing the success of bands like Poison, Motley Crue and Ratt; perhaps they were looking to make more money. Whatever the reason Celtic Frost changed everything about themselves including their image, sound and lyrics. Despite the change to try and be more radio friendly and commercially successful
Cold Lake was a flop. Reviews and overlooks of the album proved to all disapprove of Celtic Frosts new sound. Faithful fans of the band looked at the band as “sell outs” for attempting to go commercial and appeal to the masses.
In the end though it’s the music that matters right. And yes if Celtic Frost had gone from black metal for hair metal style music and it was good, then yes it wouldn’t really matter to me. Sadly like many of the glam metal albums out there
Cold Lake proves to be rather average. Many of the tracks prove to have a very similar sound. The truth is
Cold Lake does not have much variation. Songs such as “Downtown Hanoi” or “(Once) They Were Eagles” have the potential to be decent songs. Unfortunately these songs are a bit too simple for my taste and do not have enough substance to them.
It is pretty safe to say this is a glam metal album for the most part. Although a lot of the album still has a little bit of the traces of thrash metal here and there. Some tracks are a bit heavier then typical 80’s hair metal. Despite this fact there is still nothing spectacular in
Cold Lake. Instrumentally there is no impressive amount of talent shown off in this album. Where the artists of Celtic Frost have proven to be talented in their earlier black metal works seem to pack less of a punch in the glam metal scene. Guitar lines prove to have potential as some are catchy and fun, but in the end there is nothing memorable here.
Regardless of the music not being entirely unique or memorable
Cold Lake is not an unbearable or awful album. The problem with
Cold Lake is the music is just a little below average. And while yes Celtic Frost stopped doing what they were good at and changed gears
Cold Lake is not the equivalent of having your ears drilled out. Mainly the issue with this album is we have nothing here that makes you want to listen to it over and over again. The songs are basic and easily forgettable. Despite there being songs with potential, some songs including “Cherry Orchards”, “Blood on Kisses” or “Seduce me Tonight” kill a lot of things this album could have been.
Cold Lake is forgettable Glam Metal in a Nutshell. With basic vocals and simple instrumentals we don’t have anything that Celtic Frost can revere as a step in the right direction or a revolution. It is fortunate that Tom decided to reform the band and save them from the direction they decided to go, bringing them back to their black metal roots with their few more recent releases. Even if you are a fan of the glam metal scene I would not recommend this for you. And don’t make the mistake of getting this album thinking you are getting something black metal because the last thing
Cold Lake is would be what Celtic Frost was meant to be, Black Metal.
Final Rating 2/5
