HYLI Vol. LI - Celtic Frost and Neil Young
It's Classics Week™️: Andy sends Patrick some early Swiss blackened-thrash and Patrick sends Andy one of the classic rock GOATs
Hello again. My wife had a work event this weekend. To lay the groundwork a bit, she works at a big law firm, where the events in the past have either been a) kinda casual small-group gatherings or b) extremely stuffy firm-wide (I almost typed full-firm here, unwise) events. This week was a bit of a mix of both, with the entire firm together with significant others for the first time since pre-COVID, but it was an … Eighties party? People had wigs on and neon and tracksuits? Very different vibe for the firm. My wife went as Madonna and I went as the jock from the Breakfast Club. It was fun. It was especially fun not drinking/not being one of the drunkest guys there and noticing all the other EXTREMELY DRUNK GUYS. People watching rocks. As you can tell, I’m avoiding talking about new music here, since it’s still January and new music basically doesn’t exist until next month since everyone is still post-list season recovering. This shit sucks. Drop a new album so I can talk about it in this newsletter. Hope You Like It.
Celtic Frost - Morbid Tales
Andy: I love black metal. You, a die-hard reader of this newsletter who has never missed a single issue, know this. The nonsense that those Norwegian boys in the nineties got into influenced a genre that would grab me and has yet to let me go. I’ve spent a bit of time going over the bands that influenced those goofy kids (yes I’m trying to downplay the murders and church burnings) (Patrick: okay, I was wondering when it’d come up). Back in the early 80’s, sounds like this were actually revolutionary. Harsh vocals, the intertwining of the avant-garde, raw, stripped-down black-thrash. Yes, there is thrash in here and hardcore and heavy but the seeds of what would become black metal are obviously poking through.
The goddamn riffs here. If you like thrash, you’ll like this. If you like death metal, you’ll like this. If you like punk, you’ll like this. Pretty much if you like a riff, you will like this. I’m almost positive you aren’t reading this newsletter if you don’t like riffs so, congratulations, you’ll like this.
I could have easily picked their follow-up To Mega Therion but it doesn’t really matter. Both rule. Going deeper into their discography they start trying new…things. None of them really work or match the magic that they made with those first two albums in the 80s.
We both tried to pick something classic this week and all I wanted was to make Patrick listen to more black metal. This is Classic stuff here with capital C. They inspired the 2nd wave of black metal and the 2nd wave inspired the genre to reach the heights it has reached today. I think it worked out for everyone. Hope You Like It.
Patrick: This is very good. I’m a little bit cautious on it because, while it’s very good, it doesn’t feel quite as good to me as the stuff I already knew from that era, though it’s a bit more interesting? This came out the same year as Ride the Lightning, two years before Reign in Blood, and the same year as My War (there is a lot of Black Flag in this album). I don’t think Morbid Tales is as good as those, but I appreciate that Celtic Frost kinda mixes the thrash from Metallica, the hardcore from Black Flag, and even a bit of the black-metal (to my knowledge) from bands that would follow like Darkthrone, and kinda puts it all into a blender to craft one sound.
I didn’t like whatever you want to call the intro. I prefer it when my albums begin with songs and not just sounds (Andy: sounds rule). But it’s short, so it’s hard to complain too much, and then “Visions of Mortality” begins right after and is a total ripper. So much good chugging and tremolo picking on this album. Tom Warrior (hahahaha yes dude) would absolutely give James Hetfield a run for his money with his downpick-chugging riffs. Same goes for the title track. Unfortunately, while these songs rule, they just don’t really have the immediate staying power for me as some of the other references I’ve mentioned. I hear the tracks, they are good as hell, and then I just think “huh this is like “Creeping Death,” I’m gonna listen to Ride the Lighting after this,” instead of just enjoying the song itself. Maybe it’s a me problem (Andy: definitely a you problem), maybe those other bands from this era are just too ingrained in me.
I also feel the front half of this album is significantly better. Again, “Visions of Mortality” and “Morbid Tales” are sick, with the drumming on “Dethroned Emperor” also being pretty memorable. However, “Procreation (Of the Wicked)” kinda is a miss for me. Seems like stoner rock stuff that was big in the 1990s and kinda done better by Kyuss. “Danse Macabre” is also less of a song and more, like, a droney/dirgey type (Andy: do you remember that sounds rule?) and reminded me of the only song off the Stooges’ debut that I dislike (“We Will Fall,” unspeakably bad whiff). Fortunately, the album ends on another high with “Nocturnal Fear,” which leans back into the Black Flag kinda Henry Rollins flow a bit, which I enjoy significantly more than the experimentation of the prior track. I enjoyed this album a lot. Despite it reminding me of other stuff I like maybe more than making me love the album itself, it was still a fun journey and something I’ll probably revisit after re-listening to Metallica and Megadeth and Kreator and Slayer and Black Flag and …
Neil Young - Tonight’s the Night
Patrick: Picture this, I’m nine years old in 1998 and my dad buys the album Yield by the Seattle rock band Pearl Jam (Andy: ah yes the Rock Band band) and I steal it from my dad after he listens to it once and over the next three years I play it so much that the CD basically melts and then I ask my dad to buy it and he buys it because I took it from him so early on that he forgot he bought it in the first place. “Given to Fly?” Absolutely rocks. “Do the Evolution?” A punk song. Love that shit. During that time, Pearl Jam became probably my First Favorite Band (soon to be unseated by Oasis). Also during this time, I got the internet and an iPod shuffle (the little green guy) (Andy: OG fat brick boy here). Through doing some Googling, I found out Pearl Jam had an album WITHOUT EDDIE VEDDER and with some Canadian guy named Neil Young. It’s called Mirror Ball - it’s mostly fine. A couple of cool tracks and some good guitar but a bit of a minor work for both Pearl Jam and Neil Young. But at 11 or 12, it interested me enough to Google Neil Young and his bands Buffalo Springfield and Crosby (RIP), Stills, Nash & Young. Peak Limewire times too so within the span of, like, six hours (shoutout dial-up AOL Online), I had basically Neil’s entire discography at my fingertips. I’ve loved him ever since. I love this old dude so much. I’ve Googled what a … Pono Music Player is multiple times because of him (Andy: what is it? edit: wtf). At the time of typing up this newsletter, I’m switching my library back over to Apple Music from Spotify partially (not entirely) because I’m tired of not being able to listen to Neil (Andy: Apple gang holler).
Tonight’s the Night immediately took me in and got its claws in me. I would later find out that it was a bit of a brutal album for Neil to make, coming off the drug overdose deaths of both a band member (Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten) and a prominent roadie, leading Tonight’s the Night to be one of Neil’s most melancholic releases in his discography, which has like 42 albums over 50 years lol (Andy: arguably too many imo). Again, none of this was really news available for me to comprehend as a pre-teen, but I think whatever young boy angst I had connected with the sound, regardless of it originating from something much heavier.
So many of these tracks are all-timers for me. The title track opener is a great way to open the album (take note, Celtic Frost). Really sets the tone for the album with Neil’s vocal delivery. “World on a String” crushes me every time. “Albuquerque” and “Tired Eyes” might be some of the saddest songs I’ve ever heard. But, man, “Mellow My Mind” and “Lookout Joe” might be as close to perfect as songs get. The great thing about Neil’s voice, which is admittedly divisive, is that if it works for you, it really fucking works. Stuff like his voice cracking because he’s at the limits of his extremely limited range? A flaw for some, a feature for me. The delivery in the chorus of “Mellow My Mind” where he’s all “A lonesome whistle on a railroad track / Ain’t got nothing on those feelings, that I had” could be performed by someone with a much more traditionally “talented” voice and I would probably not like it 1/100th of the amount I like it from Neil, voice cracks and all.
The vocals are subjective but the guitar playing is not. Neil can objectively shred. Even if his solos are like two notes, they are perfect. Very few people have ever encaptured Dudes Rocking as much as Neil does. The guitar is fucking LOUD and it isn’t “guitar pedal pushing the amp with distortion” loud, it’s “I’M TURNING THIS LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT AMP (probably worth like 5k now lol) ALL THE WAY UP UNTIL THE KNOB FALLS OFF” loud and it fucking works. I love guitar pedals. I need guitar pedals because I’m not Neil Young and I never fucking can be Neil Young. What the fuck does he need them for? Listen to “Lookout Joe.” He’s Neil Young, man. This is fucking music, to me. I love it (Andy: you alright bud?). Hope You Like It.
Andy: Hey Pat? I liked the album. You can unclench now. You alright? I was worried at the end there that if I was like “this stunk,” you’d delete me from your phone and never talk to me again (Patrick: I would have done this like twenty volumes ago if that were ever on the table). It’s all good. I liked it.
Now, can you actually be helpful and tell me why I liked this? Don’t say something useless like “It’s Neil Young man. That’s why.” Like, why did I like this when so much of this stuff just completely misses me? Really. I can always understand and appreciate the technical side of things but some things about these songs kept me hooked through the entire runtime (Patrick: probably bc Neil can shred). I could run this back to back without breaking it up with some blast beats or breakdowns (Patrick: wow that’s big of you to admit, truly). That is some high praise from my Neanderthal brain.
I love the imperfections on this album. The strain in the voice, the little things that feel like mistakes that most people would go back and redo. Just get trashed and play music to deal with your emotions. I can’t play music but I get it. I give Pat all these depressive black metal albums and this album is probably the most emotionally devastating album we’ve shared on this newsletter (Patrick: I would have to imagine that’s A Crow Looked At Me but I cannot expect you to remember all 51 volumes of this newsletter). It hits you hard, lyrics entirely aside. It does what all good metal does for me (Patrick: you love country-rock as much as metal, got it). Just digs into your chest and makes you feel even if that feeling is sadness or desperation or exhaustion. Maybe I answered my own question of why I liked this.
I think I listened to this more than any album Pat has recommended me in only 3 days. I will not go and dive through his total 45 album discography but I will listen to the album Pat sends me a direct Apple Music® link to (Patrick: I have 44 more Apple Music Links at the ready 😊). I Liked It.