Song of The Week: Celtic Frost - Os Abysmi Vel Daath

Yeah so the honour of being of our very first song of the week goes to Os Abysmi Vel Daath by Celtic Frost. A track off their 5th and last studio album, Monotheist, released in 2006. Its Celtic Frost's first full album released after they reformed in 2001, having disbanded in 1993, and will be the only one, seeing that they've recently decided to split-up once again for good.

Celtic Frost have changed their style a bit over the years, since their first formation in 1984, ranging from thrash to gothic and doom. But this Swiss band's reputation as a leading influence on extreme metal stays with them pretty much all the time.

This song works in a pretty cool way. Its has a commonly slow tempo with the usual distorted, abrasive guitar tone a la doom metal. But true to their avant-garde roots of experimentation, there's some really eerie squealing in the background music which, coupled with the continuously heavy chugging riff, makes it chillingly atmospheric. And the vocals are so creepily dead and somehow simultaneously vicious, it just raises the hair off your skin. Lyrics are kinda poetic, depressingly so, though the chorus, if it can be called that, gets rather repetitive. But that just makes the whole song more chilling instead.

This is not a mainstream song you jig along to on the streets while playing it on your ipod, or feel contemplative about when you sit on the bus listening to it. Its not melodic or catchy, few doom metal songs are, and not everybody take such songs well. What it is though, is frighteningly dark and menacing. Late at night, draw your curtains, sit in a dark corner and give Os Abysmi Vel Daath a try. Your blood will run cold.



Found a slideshow of Celtic Frost on youtube that goes with the song, check it out.