This album just rules. It's simple, heavy, raw, primitive, dark, gloomy, but at the same time, beautiful, unique, emotional, powerful and atmospheric, thanks to experimentations with classical instruments and opera singers. These adjectives aren't seen together very often, and that right there shows how special this album is. "Into The Pandemonium" is the quintessential Celtic Frost album in the way that all the songs are very strong overall, but also because this is where all of the band's experimenting came together.
The band shows off their "classical-meets-metal" side with "Tristesses de la Lune", "Rex Irae (Requiem)"(both include a female singer, with the former being sung completely in french) and Oriental Masquerade. The band still keeps their primitive, heavy as hell metal songs that are comparible to getting a sledgehammer to the head in this album, but some of them have been added a little something to make it more than just simple musical sledgehammer to the head. "Caress Into Oblivion" has a chanting monk at the beginning and tribal instruments in the background for some of the songs. "Mesmerized" and especially "Sorrows Of The Moon" play with atmosphere to nice effect, while "I Won't Dance(The Elder's Orient)" includes R&B background singers to the mix. This album also includes a very heavy version of new wavers Wall Of Voodoo's "Mexican Radio"! But not to worry people, the no-frills,simple but sweet headbangers are here as well and very well-represented by "Inner Sanctum" and "Babylon Fell". Hell, the band even experimented with electronic influences and sampling, with "One In Their Pride (Porthole Mix)" and "One In Their Pride (Extended Mix)".
It's true, this album did help usher in black metal, but to me, this album is much, much more than that. Into The Pandemonium is an album full of weird, gutsy, but very sucessful experiments, and they do it without alienating their fans, which is what they would do, however, with their next album, Cold Lake, with it's more radio-friendly sound and pictures of the band all glammed up. This is a very unique and groundbreaking album that no one should miss.
9/10
The band shows off their "classical-meets-metal" side with "Tristesses de la Lune", "Rex Irae (Requiem)"(both include a female singer, with the former being sung completely in french) and Oriental Masquerade. The band still keeps their primitive, heavy as hell metal songs that are comparible to getting a sledgehammer to the head in this album, but some of them have been added a little something to make it more than just simple musical sledgehammer to the head. "Caress Into Oblivion" has a chanting monk at the beginning and tribal instruments in the background for some of the songs. "Mesmerized" and especially "Sorrows Of The Moon" play with atmosphere to nice effect, while "I Won't Dance(The Elder's Orient)" includes R&B background singers to the mix. This album also includes a very heavy version of new wavers Wall Of Voodoo's "Mexican Radio"! But not to worry people, the no-frills,simple but sweet headbangers are here as well and very well-represented by "Inner Sanctum" and "Babylon Fell". Hell, the band even experimented with electronic influences and sampling, with "One In Their Pride (Porthole Mix)" and "One In Their Pride (Extended Mix)".
It's true, this album did help usher in black metal, but to me, this album is much, much more than that. Into The Pandemonium is an album full of weird, gutsy, but very sucessful experiments, and they do it without alienating their fans, which is what they would do, however, with their next album, Cold Lake, with it's more radio-friendly sound and pictures of the band all glammed up. This is a very unique and groundbreaking album that no one should miss.
9/10
