Posts Tagged ‘1988’
I Won’t Dance…The Elder’s Orient
My introduction to the mighty Celtic Frost was through some knucklehead pal of ours named Chris Shelton. He had the cassette for The Emperor’s Return and I checked it out for a few days. I thought it was absolutely horrible. Total shit even. What was wrong with this singer? Was he trying to pinch one out or something?
Then after reading several glowing reviews of Into the Pandemonium in Aardschok America or Circus or whatever, I decided to give it a shot. I’m glad I did. This album is incredible. Very different than Emperor’s Return, which in later years was deemed to be neither a good nor bad thing.
Pandemonium came out in my senior year of high school. A former friend from high school and I sat next to each other in Mr. Gordon’s english class and constantly caught hell for talking (about music) during class. I really wish I had kept my english book from that year as just about every page was covered in band names and song quotes, many of which came from this particular Frost LP.
A few years later I started backtracking into the older Frost albums and I am glad I did. I “got it”. Tom G. Warrior was a great songsmith. Sure a lot of the riffs were simple, but he was creating music that no one had created at the time.
I always respected Frost for trying something new with every album, even Cold Lake. Although I will say this…One In Their Pride…WTF? Just plain awful.
As for Cold lake, it’s not a great album by anyone’s standards, but I don’t consider it to be a total wash. I liked Downtown Hanoi, Juices Like Wine and Once They Were Eagles. When I met Frost back in 2006, Tom G. signed my Cold Lake CD with the word “ABOMINATION”. I told him that I liked some of it and he responded, “You’re the only fucking one who did.” haha…Tom G. Ugh!
Now back to Pandemonuim. Other than that stupid “Pride” song, this album is great. I even dug the cover of Mexican Radio (Wall of Voodoo). My favorites would be Babylon Fell, Mesmerized, Rex Irae, Inner Sanctum and I Won’t Dance.
Definitely an album that brought me a lot of joy during such a shitty year. I hated school and didn’t want to be there.
Funny thing…there was this girl we kenw named Theresa(?) that looked EXACTLY like Tom G. Poor girl. She was also such a sleaze bucket…of course we dubbed her “The Bucket”.
ha! The Bucket!
Hey Doro! Nice ass!
Yes, I said that to her, to her face even. What a schmuck! I was 18 and one of the first 5 people in line to 
see Megadeth, Warlock and Sanctuary(!). We got there early because we wanted to be on the barricade at the Boathouse for the whole show. We were so excited to see Sanctuary…getting to see Warlock and Megadeth was just icing on the cake. But…this whole story is about Warlock.
So there we were in line when a van pulls up and Doro gets out with a few big body guard looking dudes flanking her. She walks right by us and I was trying to think of something to say. Being 18, my groin was doing most of my thinking at the time so I said, “Hey Doro!” to which she politely replied, “Jah?!” in her thick german accent. I pulled the total Butthead moment and said, “uhhhhh…nice ass!” Instantly in my head I said ‘d’oh!’ A big smile crossed her face and she said, “Oh, tank you!” Man, I felt like such a dumbass. I was such a dumbass.
But Warlock kicked total ass that night. Now if you have known me for longer than a minute, you probably know that I am not a fan of metal bands fronted by women, save a few exceptions. Warlock is one of those exceptions.
I remember it was right after meeting a former friend from high school in 1986, he introduced me to CK at the Triumph/Yngwie show. Years later I ended up in a band with CK. Good times, bad times…but back to Warlock. So we were at CK’s place and I was flipping through his records and saw Warlock’s first 2 albums, Hellbound and Burning the Witches. So he put on Burning the Witches and I was digging it. Instant fan! I proceeded to go out and buy those 2 on cassette as well as True as Steel a little later.
I remember reading in Circus magazine that they had a new one coming out called Triumph and Agony. I picked it up the week it came out and loved it. I still do. It’s not as raw as the previous 3 albums, but it’s great. Getting to see that tour was such a treat. I think there were only a few people there who actually knew anything about Warlock (or Sanctuary for that matter) and we let them know that we were fans. We were raising holy hell for them and they appreciated it. Doro made several comments about “this group of guys over here who know what the hell is going on! All of you should learn how to rock like these guys!” Sure, cheesey stage banter but to a bunch of 17 and 18 year old fans, it was pretty cool.
I was pretty disappointed when they broke up after that tour. Doro’s solo albums never did a lot for me but her debut, Force Majeur, was good enough to stay in my collection.
In order from best to worst:
- Triumph and Agony
- True As Steel
- Burning the Witches
- Hellbound
They played a good cross section of all of the albums in their set. I was super excited when they went into “I Rule the Ruins”.
Doro has played San Antonio at least twice since I moved here and I should go the next time she plays. Everyone says she still kicks ass live.
If you can find the Warlock: Live in London DVD, I highly recommend it.
The Metal Files 