To Mega Therion (album)

To Mega Therion is the second studio album^{[note 1]} by Swiss extreme metal band Celtic Frost, released in October 1985 through Noise Records.^[2] The cover artwork is a painting by H. R. Giger titled Satan I.

To Mega Therion
Cover art by H. R. Giger[1]
Studio album by Celtic Frost
Released	October 1985
Recorded	14–28 September 1985
Studio	Casablanca, Berlin
Genre	Death metal[2][3] black metal[3] doom metal[3] thrash metal[4]
Length	39:52
Label	Noise
Producer	Horst Müller, Tom G. Warrior, Karl Walterbach
Celtic Frost chronology
Emperor's Return (1985) To Mega Therion (1985) Tragic Serenades (1986)

"To Mega Therion" translates to the great beast in Greek.^{[according to whom?]} It is an expression found in the Bible but was also a nickname used by Aleister Crowley.

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	8/10[3]

Ned Raggett in his review for AllMusic wrote, "The bombastic 'Innocence and Wrath' starts To Mega Therion off on just the appropriate note – Wagnerian horn lines, booming drums, and a slow crunch toward apocalypse. ... With that setting the tone, it is into the maddeningly wild and woolly Celtic Frost universe full bore, Warrior roaring out his vocals with glee and a wicked smile while never resorting to self-parodic castrato wails. 'The Usurper' alone is worth the price of admission, an awesome display of Warrior's knack around brute power and unexpectedly memorable riffs." According to Raggett, "other prime cuts" include "Circle of the Tyrants", "Dawn of Megiddo", "Tears in a Prophet's Dream", "Eternal Summer" and "Necromantical Screams". Raggett concludes his review by stating that the album "is and remains death metal at its finest".^[2]

Legacy

The album was a major influence on the then-developing death metal and black metal genres.

Canadian journalist Martin Popoff considers the album "a black metal landmark" and "the most consistent example of early death metal that exists". He remarks how "the band had decided to delve more into the extreme" and praised Tom Warrior's "surprisingly accomplished" lyrics and the mix of death, black and doom metal with a pinch of ambient music.^[3]

Decibel magazine ranked To Mega Therion #21 in their "Decibel Thrash Top 50" list. Writer Nick Green praises both its "purer" thrash metal tracks such as "Circle of the Tyrants" and the experimental edge of "Necromantical Screams."^[7]

Track listing

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Innocence and Wrath"		1:02
2.	"The Usurper"		3:24
3.	"Jewel Throne"		3:59
4.	"Dawn of Megiddo[note 2]"	Warrior, Martin Ain	5:42
5.	"Eternal Summer"		4:29

All tracks are written by Tom G. Warrior, except where noted.

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
6.	"Circle of the Tyrants"		4:36
7.	"(Beyond the) North Winds"		3:04
8.	"Fainted Eyes"		5:00
9.	"Tears in a Prophet's Dream"	Celtic Frost, Steve Warrior	2:30
10.	"Necromantical Screams"	Warrior, Ain	6:06
Total length:			39:52

Personnel

Celtic Frost

• Tom G. Warrior – guitars, vocals, effects, co-producer, assistant engineer
• Dominic Steiner – bass, bass effects
• Reed St. Mark – drums, percussion, effects

Additional musicians

• Martin Ain – bass (tracks 2 and 3 on 1999 re-release; songs originally from Tragic Serenades EP)
• Wolf Bender – French horn (tracks 1, 4 and 10)
• Claudia-Maria Mokri – additional vocals (tracks 2, 6 and 10)
• Horst Müller, Urs Sprenger – sound effects (track 9)

Production

• Horst Müller – producer, engineer, mixing
• Rick Lights – assistant engineer
• Karl Walterbach – executive producer

Notes

1. The band's debut Morbid Tales was initially released as a six-track EP, while the American release added two additional tracks as an LP. The band retrospectively refers to the American release as their first studio album.^[5][6]
2. Consistently misspelled as Dawn of Meggido on re-releases.