Morbid Tales
| Untitled | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 5/10[3] |
Morbid Tales is the debut EP by the Swiss extreme metal band, Celtic Frost, released in November 1984. It was originally released in Europe as a six-track mini-album. However, the first American release by Enigma/Metal Blade added two tracks, making Morbid Tales an LP.
In 1999 a remastered edition of Morbid Tales was released on CD by Noise Records, which contained also the tracks from their 1985 EP Emperor's Return.
Legacy
The thrash metal intensity of Morbid Tales had a major influence on the then-developing death metal and black metal genres. It included elements that were adopted by the pioneers of both styles.[4] The band's bleak and dead serious fashion style was also influential, including their corpse paint face makeup.[1][2]
In the commentary for Darkthrone's album Panzerfaust, Fenriz cites this album along with Bathory's Under the Sign of the Black Mark and Vader's Necrolust as key riff inspirations.[5]
"Danse Macabre" was later sampled in the demo track "Totgetanzt" from their 2002 demo album Prototype.[6]
Track listings
All songs written by Tom Warrior and Martin Ain, except where noted.
European version
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Into the Crypts of Rays" (Warrior) | 4:46 |
| 2. | "Visions of Mortality" | 4:49 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 3. | "Procreation (Of the Wicked)" | 4:02 |
| 4. | "Return to the Eve" | 4:05 |
| 5. | "Danse Macabre" | 3:51 |
| 6. | "Nocturnal Fear" | 3:35 |
US version
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Into the Crypts of Rays" (Warrior) | 3:39 |
| 2. | "Visions of Mortality" | 4:49 |
| 3. | "Dethroned Emperor" (Warrior) | 4:37 |
| 4. | "Morbid Tales" | 3:29 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 5. | "Procreation (Of the Wicked)" | 4:04 |
| 6. | "Return to the Eve" | 4:07 |
| 7. | "Danse Macabre" | 3:52 |
| 8. | "Nocturnal Fear" | 3:36 |
1999 CD remastered edition
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Human (intro)" (Intro to "Into the Crypts of Rays"; originally joined as one track, CD reissue split this into 2 tracks) | 0:41 |
| 2. | "Into the Crypts of Rays" | 3:39 |
| 3. | "Visions of Mortality" | 4:49 |
| 4. | "Dethroned Emperor" | 4:37 |
| 5. | "Morbid Tales" | 3:29 |
| 6. | "Procreation (Of the Wicked)" | 4:04 |
| 7. | "Return to the Eve" | 4:07 |
| 8. | "Danse Macabre" | 3:51 |
| 9. | "Nocturnal Fear" | 3:36 |
| 10. | "Circle of the Tyrants" | 4:27 |
| 11. | "Visual Aggression" | 4:10 |
| 12. | "Suicidal Winds" | 4:36 |
| Total length: | 50:02 | |
Personnel
Credits adapted from the original editions.[7][8]
- Celtic Frost
- Tom Warrior – guitars, lead vocals, co-producer
- Martin Ain – bass, bass effects, vocals, co-producer
- Reed St. Mark - drums on tracks 10-12 (remastered edition)
- Additional musicians
- Stephen Priestly – session drums
- Horst Müller – additional vocals (tracks 3, 5 & 7)
- Hertha Ohling – additional vocals (track 6)
- Oswald Spengler – violin (tracks 7 & 8)
- Production
- Horst Müller - producer, engineer, mixing, mastering
- Karl Walterbach - executive producer
References
- ^ a b Strachan, Guy (February 2005). "Black Metal Foundations Top 20: Celtic Frost, Morbid Tales". Terrorizer. No. 128. p. 42.
{{cite magazine}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ a b c Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Celtic Frost - Morbid Tales review". AllMusic. Retrieved 13 May 2003.
With its highly focused thrash metal intensity and peculiar mix of satanic and esoteric lyrics, the album would sow the seeds of Frost's overwhelming influence in years to come.
- ^ Popoff, Martin (1 November 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. pp. 67–68. ISBN 978-1894959315.
- ^ Rivadavia, Eduardo (24 June 2014). "Influential Celtic Frost Debut Album 'Morbid Tales' Turns 30 Years Old". Loudwire. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Bennett, J. (2010). "Darkthrone - Panzerfaust". Decibel. Archived from the original on 9 November 2010. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help); Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Celtic Frost - Prototype". Encyclopaedia Metallum. Retrieved 22 June 2016.
- ^ Morbid Tales (LP sleeve). Celtic Frost. Berlin, Germany: Noise Records. 1984. N 0017.
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ Morbid Tales (CD booklet). Celtic Frost. Berlin, Germany: Noise Records. 1999. N 0325-2.
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)