All things considered, this is perhaps my favorite incarnation of Barbarian so far, a band that album after album reshuffles their love for a certain type of rough and essential classic metal, much like Dark Throne did since the new millennium but in my opinion in a more compact and a whole lot less mannerism. If Dark Throne’s approach is that of a Tarantino randomly gluing film clips together, here one can certainly trace precise trajectories from the early Frostian period on Doomentia to the more British one of the Hell’s Headbangers era and yet you always end up holding an album that is, taken as a whole, cohesive and clear in both form and intent.
There are many things I like about Barbarian and others that don’t exactly make me jump out of my seat for instance, the actual sector in which the band’s musical offer sits is not one that usually sparks particular interest in me. And yet I have a soft spot for sword and sandal imagery and ’80s paintings, you can’t deny the cover arts are little gems, but Celtic Frost are one of those bands that, when revisited, save for very rare cases like early Obituary and Samael, never quite convince me.
The big issue is that the kind of metal the band draws from has always bored me a little. Even if there are local bands, including recent ones (Hellcrash comes to mind), that do their “bang the head that does not bang” duty at supersonic speed, these riffs that are supposed to have a kind of virtue that is exhausted within their own form eventually start to wear me out. I cannot help it. The nostalgia component just cannot take root with me, unfortunately.
And it is not even like these are the first ones I leave on the table. I can think of plenty of early 2000s stuff that tried this, especially in Northern Europe. But the real issue is that I am not a metalhead, even if I may look like one, otherwise I would be one of those guys drinking up the whole HHR catalog, Midnight included, and no, I am not.
Anyway, as I said, this is probably the most interesting stuff they have produced so far. It is a bit like hearing the Death/Thrash version of GWAR. I imagine they are a pretty good background soundtrack live while you are hanging out at the bar.