Celtic Frost - "Tragic Serenades" (LP Review)

"Lend me your steel-bearing hand
So I may reign the Jewel Throne
My soul feels the gods' demand
As the lost kings uphold my side

Blood and sand
Mark their way
The usurper's tears
Guide my sword"

As I've discussed before, I'm surprised at how well Celtic Frost early material has held up some 30+ years later.  The music was always ferocious (even if, or perhaps because, the production is so raw), the Tolkienesque lyrics (e.g., the opening stanzas from "The Usurper" above) are still engaging, and the result is that CF is one of the few metals bands that I now appreciate even more than I did back in the day.  Furthermore, I recently discovered CF's 2006 reunion LP, "Monotheist", as well as the material from the post-CF band Triptykon, and I find they exhibit a peerless progression of complexity, depth, and execution of their vision, which first surfaced in 1984's "Apocalyptic Raids". 

So I was sad to discover a month ago that bassist Martin Eric Ain died.  Ain was a long-time collaborator with Thomas Gabriel Fischer (aka Tom G. Warrior), participating in the last half of Hellhammer and most of Celtic Frost, and in the process they substantially influenced many sub-genres within metal.  Their up-and-down relationship mirrors that of Bob Mould and Grant Hart: compare Bob's note about Grant and Thomas's note about Martin.

To mark Martin's passing, I'm choosing Celtic Frost's 1986 EP "Tragic Serenades" for several reasons.  First, it's the only CF release I have on vinyl (the rest of their early material I taped from Scott Kinkade).  Second, the existence of this EP is due to Martin leaving Celtic Frost prior to 1985's "To Mega Therion", then returning in 1986.  This EP re-records two songs from TMT, "The Usurper" and "Jewel Throne", but with Martin on bass.  It closes with a "party mix" (?!) of  "Return to the Eve", first seen on "Morbid Tales".

So it's a three song EP, all of which are re-recordings of existing songs -- certainly this is only necessary for completists and its release didn't really advance their musical journey past the source material.  On the other hand, this EP exists because of Martin and his difficult relationship with Thomas, and as such is a fitting tribute to his passing.

Standout songs: "The Usurper" and "Jewel Throne"  (full EP).

Final score: 7/10  Ultimately, this is just an interesting footnote in the CF canon. 


Bonus link: Martin sings lead on 2006's "A Dying God Coming Into Human Flesh".