Celtic Frost

Allegedly, Hellhammer broke up on May 31, 1984, and CELTIC FROST formed the very next day.  Or so the story goes.  Hellhammer was about primitive, raw extreme metal, and Tom Warrior and Martin Ain felt they had achieved all they could with that band.  So Celtic Frost was born.  In 1984, they introduced themselves to world with Morbid Tales.

"Into the Crypts of Rays," one of the best Celtic Frost songs.  Ever.

The sound was an extension of what Hellhammer had been doing.  Less primitive and visceral, but still bearing that old-school death/black vibe.  With the early material, Celtic Frost stuck to this template.  After Morbid Tales, the Emperor's Return EP came out in 1985, featuring more of the same.

The link says it's from Morbid Tales, but it's really from Emperor's Return

 Changes in Celtic Frost's sound began to happen with the 1986 album To Mega Therion.  On this album, there was a stronger move away from the primitivism of Hellhammer while still retaining a strong old-school black/death feel.  At the same time, CF began to incorporate symphonic elements and their music took on a grander, more epic atmosphere.

This song illustrates the evolution of CF's sound

The 1987 album Into the Pandemonium marked a pretty big shift for Celtic Frost.  More progressive than their earlier stuff, CF were now using clean vocals, female singing, more of the symphonic sounds, and the songs themselves sounded less old-school.  It's a great album, but not very black metal.

"Babylon Fell" is one of the few songs off of the album that would really fit into my discussion on black metal

After Into the Pandemonium, Celtic Frost put out the 1988 glam album Cold Lake, and more or less became irrelevant until they broke up in 1993 and re-formed in the 2000s.  Their 2006 album Monotheist was a great return to form.  It is very much in the vein of To Mega Therion and, to a lesser degree, Into the Pandemonium.

Select Discography:

Morbid Tales EP (1984)

Emperor's Return EP (1985)

To Mega Therion (full-length) (1986)
Tragic Serenades EP (1986)
Into the Pandemonium (full-length) (1987)

Next time: NME