Description

Here you have it! The two demos Celtic Frost did between the Vanity/Nemesis album in 1990 and the return to form with Monotheist in 2006. First out is the Nemesis Of Power demo from 1993 and here we find a band that is still being heavy and a bit influenced of what was going on in the music scene in the early 90s. If you look at Celtic Frost career and how they went from Morbid Tales to Into The Pandemonium on top of a downward slope with Cold Lake to a possible comeback with Vanity/Nemesis then you should know that the band was constantly moving and never set out to make ten albums precisely like Morbid Tales. This demo shows that no matter how low the band had sunken in the 90s they still had no plans on looking back on what they had done before. In 1993 bands like Celtic Frost, Anvil and so on was dead in the eye of the public. So speaking of this demo, then we find music that isnt that far off from the Vanity/Nemesis album but there’s also parts that could be compared to Into The Pandemonium. Then we have groovy parts, much like what other bands were doing, at the time, after Pantera’s breakthrough album Cowboys From Hell. There are keyboard parts ala Vanity/Nemesis, a gothic female voice ala Into The Pandemonium but then its chugging music on some parts , while other parts sounds like 90s alternative rock and then theres drum machines and Tom singing through a vocoder. This demo isnt totally bad, its just that its so mixed that its hard to know what Tom G. Warrior really wanted musically at this point. So we have a demo thats not really going anywhere but atleast have some pleasant moments. So for all the identical crisis, here its still Celtic Frost trying to find themselves, but a few years down the line it would become worse. This leads us to the 2003 demo Prototype. This is by far the strangest Celtic Frost recording there is and im not sure this ever was meant to be a Celtic Frost recording. It feels more like some leftovers from Warrior’s industrial metal outfit Apollyon Sun. Tom was no stranger to experimentation but sadly, though, it’s quite thoroughly awful no matter how open minded I try to be. We have some trance techno music with loops alongside a crunchy bass. Then we have cyber cover of The Beatles Helter Skelter, which might be the best track here even though its hard to enjoy, because of all the beeping noises and guitar samples. Listen to Tom’s lyrics in the track Human Dirt, what I am what I am what I am, and it sure would have been better if it had read What Am I. And the two last tracks on this demo shouldnt even be mentioned. Get Wicked has someone rapping in a foreign language and then it ends with Hip Hop Jugend, an electronic track with some ooh baby aah baby lyrics. People who say Cold Lake is the worst the band ever did then they sure dont know the full history. I dont mind the Nemesis Of Power demo, as it has lots of parts that works, but I surely rather listen to Cold Lake than Prototype.

Track list:
1. Devil And The Flesh-Nemesis Of Power demo 1993
2. Pearl Of Love-Nemesis Of Power demo 1993
3. The Man Who Would Weep-Nemesis Of Power demo 1993
4. Primeval Rapture-Nemesis Of Power demo 1993
5. Icons Alive-Nemesis Of Power demo 1993
6. Carmina Burana
7. Untittled-Nemesis Of Power demo 1993
8. Helter Skelter-The Beatles cover-Prototype demo 2002
9. Totgetanzt-Prototype demo 2002
10. The Dying I-Prototype demo 2002
11. Beautiful End-Prototype demo 2002
12. November-Prototype demo 2002
13. Deep Inside-Prototype demo 2002
14. Relinquished Body-Prototype demo 2002
15. Human Dirt-Prototype demo 2002
16. Get Wicked (Dagger And Grail)-Prototype demo 2002
17. Hip Hop Jugend-Prototype demo 2002