Utter Trash--Celtic Frost

The Emperors Return

An Interview with Martin Ain of Celtic Frost

By Bob Ignizio

Celtic Frost l to r: Martin Ain, Tom Fischer, and Franco Sesa

Martin Ain was only 16 when he and Celtic Frost co-founder Tom G. Warrior (aka Tom Gabriel Fischer) recorded the debut EP by their band Hellhammer, the death/doom metal classic ‘Apocalyptic Raids’, in 1983. In 1984, Hellhammer morphed into Celtic Frost, and late that year their ultra heavy full length album ‘Morbid Tales’ took the metal underground by storm. The band continued on until 1989 - sometimes with Ain, sometimes not – and left behind a highly influential, sometimes frustrating, but never boring body of work including such revered classics as ‘To Mega Therion’ (1985) and ‘Into the Pandemonium’ (1987).

Despite the somewhat lackluster reception that greeted some of the band’s later work, fans still hoped that Warrior and Ain would get back together and make another Celtic Frost classic. Finally, this year those hopes have been realized with the release of ‘Monotheist’, an album which once again finds the band combining both their heavy and experimental sides while still breaking new ground.

Utter Trash: So what have you been doing since ‘Vanity/Nemeis’, the last Celtic Frost album, came out in 1989?
Martin Ain: For the last four or five years I was busy with Celtic Frost again, although it took quite a while to get things together. The case with me personally, after ‘Into the Pandemonium’ and even trying to find my way back into the fold, so to speak , with ‘Vanity/Nemesis’, I just wasn’t able to come to terms with myself and Celtic Frost. After I left Celtic Frost the first time around, I was completely broken down and burnt out.

You have to realize I was 16 when we recorded ‘Apocalyptic Raids’, 17 with Morbid Tales, and 21 when we had finished the ‘Into the Pandemonium’ tour. I had spent the better part of my youth when other guys are chasing skirts and drinking beer as a pastime trying to pursue a career as a musician and an artist. In the end, I was just not able to do anything properly, especially with music. This is why I stepped away from creating music. But I stayed in the music business, though. I started to promote shows in Switzerland, putting on concerts and parties. I started to run a club, and right now with friends of mine here in the Zurich area we run a local nightclub, two bars, and a restaurant.

UT: So what ultimately led to you and Tom getting back together again?
MA: I think a gut feeling, basically. If it would not have been for the record company that owned the rights to our back catalogue asking us about the possible re-issues of the re-mastered back catalogue in 1999, we probably wouldn’t have gotten together again. But once we got together again and talked about our past and what to do with the old albums and our legacy and everything, we of course pondered the question of why. Why did it happen, and why did this entire thing become supposedly so influential? What was it that made us want to do this and create this? I think those questions sunk in with both of us, and once Apollyon Sun [Tom Warrior’s post-Celtic Frost band] had run its course in 2001 and Tom approached me to see if I wanted to do something with him, I was stupid enough to say yes. (laughs)

UT: With that legacy you have, did you feel pressure when writing the new album?
MA: I think we felt a lot of pressure to come to terms with ourselves. We had to be true to ourselves, and to Celtic Frost. Which is of course the legacy, which is what people make of it these days. But we knew it wasn’t like forming a new band and being a completely new entity where you could bring in everything you want to. We realized that there was a past we had to honor, but we wanted to be ourselves. We didn’t want to fall in the trap of a lot of old timers who try to do the same kind of thing – “What does everybody want? What is it everybody likes about the band?” I think this is how a lot of mediocre comeback albums are made.

This is what we did back in the old days. It took four years to get this album together, and it wasn’t four years just bringing this album out of us. It was four years trying to find out what is Celtic Frost about nowadays. Forming this unit, forming this band again; that’s what took so long. I mean it took from 1984 with ‘Apocalyptic Raids’ to 1988 ‘Cold Lake’. Imagine coming from Hellhammer’s ‘Apocalyptic Raids’ in 1984 to Celtic Frost’s ‘Cold Lake’. And in those years in between you had ‘Morbid Tales’, ‘To Megatherion’, and ‘Into the Pandemonium’. Each of those albums was different. So of course this would have to sound different. We didn’t want this to sound like the old days. It was never in our minds to begin with. The entire vision, the entire idea of Celtic Frost was to be able to create something new, and from there take another step.

UT: How much of the new album is you, and how much is Tom?
I would say it was pretty even between Tom and me. Erol Unala [guitarist for Apollyon Sun who co-wrote several tracks on Monotheist] brought in a big part as well, I have to say. He wasn’t with Celtic Frost the first time around. And I think drummer Fraco Sesa was really crucial in bringing this to fruition. He was the crucial factor, the missing link you might say, that was needed to make things work.

We had approached Reid St. Mark [Frost drummer from 1985 to 1987] to begin with in 2001, but it didn’t work out for several reasons, most of them personal dealing with health issues with Reid. And for 1 ½ years it was just Errol, Tom and me creating music. A lot of the music we created is not on the album because it just didn’t work out; there was something missing. Franco came in at the right time and brought in some more focus and a fresh edge that was really needed. Things started to happen from then on.

But if you look at the lyrics, it’s 40% Tom, 40% me, and 20 percent Tom and me working together. I think also musically, I’ve never before had so much influence on the music as on this album. It’s probably the truest Celtic Frost album, and also the most emotional and spiritual album.

UT: There’s a wide range of vocal styles from Tom on this album, but I especially noticed his clean vocals were different than they’ve been in the past.
MA: His clean vocal style has really matured. I think Apollyon Sun, where he was doing a lot of singing, had a great influence on that. But also his heavy vocal style has progressed so much. Most of the vocals are first or second takes. He just sang the song all the way through and it was perfect. I think he’s just so secure and he knows what his vocal style is now. I think he’s done the most confident aggressive vocals he’s ever done.

On ‘To Megatherion’ you can hear his vocals sounding raspy at times, and that’s because he had his vocal chords overstrained. Which is why we had to cancel some shows on the following tours, because he lost his voice for a time. I think this time around he was so secure and knew how he could make this work. It’s so true and gutsy and honest.

I didn’t just write the lyrics this time around, I wrote them with an entire vocal arrangement in mind. In the old days when I wrote lyrics he had to find the vocal line himself. There was a lot of work involved with just him and me. I was blown away, because the Tom I remember from ‘Into the Pandemonium’ and ‘Vanity/Nemesis’ was in a completely different state of mind.

UT: So are you and Tom still friends after all these years, or is it more business?
MA: It’s not just business. There couldn’t be business if there wasn’t friendship. I think what we’ve realized is this isn’t the classic “let’s have a good time” friendship. It has become more of a family thing, like brothers in a sense. At times it’s a love/hate relationship, and I think now that we’ve both realized that, it’s made it easier to deal with each other. Especially at times when emotions are quite high. Of course in this business that can happen quite often, especially when you don’t expect it.

I think this was really important in making this project happen. Realizing that the bond is stronger. Besides my parents and my physical brother, Tom is the person I’ve had the longest relationship with in my life. Longer than any girlfriend. When I started out and met Tom, I was 14, 15, something like this. He was 3 years older than me, so to me he was kind of like a mentor. But that relationship has completely changed. Nowadays we’re equal, and regard each other as equals. Of course sometimes I still see the mentor there, because without him I would never followed that path to begin with. Maybe I would have had an easier life (laughs) if that wouldn’t have happened, but it did. And so this relationship is quite strong. Because it is so strong, it’s so difficult.

UT: What do you think of all the bands now who say Celtic Frost was an influence on them?
MA: I don’t know. I’m always asked this question, and every time I’m at a loss for words. What should I do? We didn’t plan on influencing anybody. We were influenced to begin with, and then we were struggling really hard to work out those influences and be able to create our own music. We were so involved in the creation of our own music we just weren’t able to think of something like, “most probably we’ll influence the entire extreme metal genre 10 years from now”, or “there will be a band that’s a worldwide success who will say we were an influence.” I don’t think about stuff like this, it’s bullshit.

I think inspiration and influences are used as references to say where you come from, to state that you’re knowledgeable about the history of this music and its place. Basically it gets used as a reference for people to know what you sound like. Generally speaking, when I hear somebody say we’ve influenced such and such a band and I listen to them and don’t hear any Celtic Frost whatsoever… then I really like it. I think those guys got what we were about in the first place: trying to create our own thing. If you’re influenced and inspired by ‘The Simpsons’ to create ‘Reign in Blood’, so be it. If it turns out to be ‘Reign in Blood’ I don’t give a toss, because it’s just a great piece of music.