By:
Daniel Jackson
Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 15/11/2015
Label: Corpse Flower
Records
Child Bite, along with Phil Anselmo brings the biggest name to the
tribute, and Phil sounds like he had a blast trying Tom G. Warrior’s unique
vocal inflections on for size. He’s like a middle-aged kid blasting “The
Usurper” in front of a mirror, doing his best impression of Warrior while his
parents are out of the house, which kicks this album off with a really fun tone
‘Morbid Tales: A Tribute to Celtic Frost’ LP//Digital
track listing:
Side A:
1.
Child Bite w/ Philip H. Anselmo - “The Usurper”
2.
Persekutor - “Procreation Of The Wicked”
3.
Acid Witch - “Cherry Orchards”
4.
Temple Of Void - “Os Abysmi Vel Daath”
Side B:
5.
Municipal Waste – “Nocturnal Fear”
6.
Hayward (featuring Scott Kelly and Jason Roeder of Neurosis)
- “Jewel Throne”
7.
Coffin's Slave (featuring Scott Carlson of Repulsion) -
“Dance Sleazy
8.
Evoken – “Dawn Of Megiddo”
MP3 Download Bonus: Black Anvil – “Dethroned Emperor”
Flexi Bonus:
Coffins Slave - Hellhammer’s “Reaper”
The Review:
There
was a time, particularly in the first half of the 2000s where tribute albums
were a dime a dozen. In fact, there were bands with only a single album out
with tribute albums arriving only a year after that album had come out, as was
the case with Evanescence. In a more relevant metal
context, Dwell Records released an enormous number of
metal tribute albums in the late 90s and early 2000s, to wildly varying
results. But those tributes also enabled them to get some great albums from the
likes of The Chasm and Evoken
into major US record stores, at a time when that made a huge difference.
In
2015, tribute albums seem less prevalent anecdotally, or at least more easily
ignored. It’s for that reason, along with the sheer effort and reverence ‘Morbid Tales: A Tribute to Celtic Frost’
has behind it, that this tribute is more special than just about any other out
there past or present. You can order the album with a 150 page illustrated
comic released earlier in the year, as the album is meant to be the comic’s
soundtrack. There’s no questioning Celtic Frost’s
influence and impact on the heavy metal genre, but this album really drives
that point home.
Child Bite, along with Phil Anselmo brings the biggest name to the tribute, and
Phil sounds like he had a blast trying Tom G. Warrior’s unique vocal
inflections on for size. He’s like a middle-aged kid blasting “The Usurper” in front of a mirror,
doing his best impression of Warrior while his parents are out of the house,
which kicks this album off with a really fun tone. Sadly, Persekutor
drop the ball a bit with a thin-sounding, antiseptic cover of “Procreation of the Wicked”, which takes
some of the steam out of the album early on.
Luckily,
there’s more than enough here to make up for a couple of stumbling blocks along
the way. Acid Witch’s cover of “Cherry Orchards” makes a case for being better than the original
for sheer personality, besides being really well-conceived and executed. Temple of Void’s take on “Os Abysmi Vel
Daath” from 2006’s ‘Monotheist’
and Evoken’s “Dawn of Megiddo” are powerful versions in their own right, and each
band remembers that the best part of covering a song is making it your own.
With
the level of care that went into producing most of these covers, combined with
the awesome idea behind the illustrated book that accompanies the album, what
you have here is all you could really want in a tribute. There’s a level of
passion for the band of honor here that so often feels absent from other
tribute albums. For that reason, along with the quality of music on offer, ‘Morbid Tales: A Tribute to Celtic Frost’
is a step above and beyond just about any tribute album I’ve heard to date.
You
can pick up an LP/illustrated book copy here.
