Celtic Frost is/was a gothic metal band from Zurich Switzerland. It is, along with {{Bathory}} and Music/{{Helloween}}, one of the most influential metal bands to come out of Europe. Celtic Frost (along with {{Bathory}}) was heavily influential on the extreme metal scene, particularly the {{black metal}} scene. Some have regarded Celtic Frost as a "missing link" between thrash metal and black metal.

Celtic Frost was founded by guitarist Tom Gabriel Fishcer after he had left the band Hellhammer. He formed the band with Martin Eric Ain and Stephen Priestly to record the mini-LP ''Morbid Tales'', which garnered interest in the undeground metal scene. A year later, they released the highly influential ''To Mega Therion''. With full attention on them, they released the highly avant-garde ''Into the Pandemonium'', which featured classical instruments, operatic female vocals, and sampling. Despite this, ''Into the Pandemonium'' is still held in high regards by fans. They eventually went on a tour to America. Because of this and many internal and external conflicts in the band, they released the album ''Cold Lake''. This album adopted many of the hair metal elements that were being used by many American metal bands at the time. This alienated their strong fanbase in Europe yet the album sold well in America. They soon released the album ''Vanity / Nemesis'' which combined the elements of ''Cold Lake'' and their earlier albums, but they still could not regain the popularity they had years before. Their final album they released before breaking up was ''Parched With Thirst I Am Dying'', which contained unreleased material, re-recordings of older songs, studio versions. Their final album was to be titled ''Under Apollyon's Sun'', but it never came to fruition. They eventually reunited in 2001 and began writing material for a new album, which resulted in ''Monotheist'', a return to their original style, but [[DarkerAndEdgier much darker]], with elements of DoomMetal. This was only short lived, because as of 2008, Tom and Martin decided to lay [[http://www.mikelceltic.com/ Celtic instruments]] Frost to rest for good.


* 1984 - ''Morbid Tales'' (EP) [[note]]Released with tracks from ''Emperor's Return'' in 1999[[/note]]
* 1985 - ''Emperor's Return'' (EP)
* 1985 - ''To Mega Therion''
* 1986 - ''Tragic Serenades'' (EP) [[note]]Features tracks from ''To Mega Therion'' with original bass lines by Dominic Steiner replaced by Ain's[[/note]]
* 1987 - ''Into the Pandemonium''
* 1988 - ''Cold Lake''
* 1990 - ''Vanity/Nemesis''
* 2006 - ''Monotheist''

!!This band contains examples of...

* AwesomeMcCoolName: Tom Gabriel Warrior and Martin Eric Ain. Tom's real name, Thomas Gabriel Fisher, is only slightly less so.
* CoverVersion: They have covered "Mexican Radio" by Wall of Voodoo, "This Island Earth" by Bryan Ferry and "Heroes" by DavidBowie.
* DarkerAndEdgier: ''Monotheist''.
* EpicRocking: Most of their longer songs were 6 minutes long, but ''Monotheist'' takes it to a new level, with "Triptych: II. Synagoga Satanae" being the absolute longest, spanning at 14:23 minutes.
* GenreShift: Their original sound was very similar to {{Music/Venom}} [[BlackMetal black]] / [[ThrashMetal thrash]] metal with some DeathMetal elements. ''Into the Pandemonium'' was somewhat less dark and had avantgarde influences, ''Cold Lake'' was GlamMetal, ''Vanity/Nemesis'' was ThrashMetal and finally ''Monotheist'' was GothicMetal.
* IAmTheBand: Tom G Warrior
* LeadBassist: Martin Eric Ain is a type B and C.
* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Generally stuck to a 9.
* OldShame: ''Cold Lake''.
** Oliver Amberg actaully ended up getting fired for this album. Additionally, this album was intentionally left unmastered and is out of print.
* PunctuatedForEmphasis: From "Wine in My Hand".
--> '''Third! From! The! Sun!'''
* SpiritualSuccessor: Tom Fischer's new band, Triptykon, was styled to continue in pretty much the exact same direction as ''Monotheist'' era Celtic instruments Frost.
** Celtic Frost itself is somewhat of a spiritual successor to Tom Fischer and Martin Eric Ain's previous band, Hellhammer.
* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules: In 2014, Tom Fischer and Martin Eric Ain were offered $140,000 to reform the band for an hour at Wacken Open Air. They immediately declined.
* SurprisinglyGentleSong: The sections of the Requiem featured on multiple albums, as well as the bonus track, "Incantation Against You."
* StepUpToTheMicrophone: Martin on "A Dying God Coming Into Human Flesh" and "Triptych I:Tottengot", both from ''Monotheist''.