When a band changes their main style to another one, extremely different from what it did in their past, complains can be expected. Our musical vision allows us to absorb and understand until a certain point. Beyond that, it will take some time and experience to rebuild our conceptions, but we rarely have it. For example, Big Daddy here took more than seven years to understand and like "Into the Pandemonium", CELTIC FROST's second album.

To explain clearly: this album is extremely far from what the band did on its earlier works. An experimental insight guided Tom Warrior and his partners to build such album. Instead of aggressiveness and even far from the classical influence shown on "To Mega Therion", only in few moments you'll have something that will remind you from what you heard before (as the song "Inner Sanctum"). Now, you have violins, French horns, synthesizers, with Tom exploring new vocal tunes as well. Even the structure of their earlier seminal Death Metal elements was changed for a more orchestral and even Gothic Rock influence. The band produced the album, and "Into the Pandemonium" sounds cleaner than its predecessor, but keeping a very good amount of musical weight. The aggressiveness only appears when the songs have such insight. Once more, the work of Walter Schmid on the remastering of the album is very good.

Wulf Ebert played cellos, Eva Cieslinski and Malgorzata Blaiejewska played violins, Jurgen Paulmann played the viola, and Lothar Krist was the conductor on "Tristesses de la Lune", "Oriental Masquerade" and "Sorrows of the Moon". Manü Moan made the vocals on "Tristesses de la Lune". Anton Schreiber played French horn on "Oriental Masquerade" and "Sorrows of the Moon". Andreas Dobler played guitars on "Rex Irae (Requiem)", "Oriental Masquerade" and "One in Their Pride (re-entry mix)". And the backing vocals were done by Thomas Berter (on "Mexican Radio"), Claudia-Maria Mokri (on "Mesmerized", "Babylon Fell" and "Oriental Masquerade"), H. C. 1922 (on "I Won't Dance") and Marchain Regee Rotschy (on "In the Chapel, in the Moonlight"). A great team of guests to make "Into the Pandemonium" what it is: a different and new classic, creating the roots and foundations for Avant-garde Metal and Symphonic Metal.

The best moments: the funny and heavy version for "Mexican Radio" (a song from a New Wave band called WALL OF VOODOO, here a heavy and melodic outfit, and harsh vocals), the hypnotic and seductively Gothic "Mesmerized" (with a scent of Groove on bass guitar and drums, along with fine clean guitars), the heavy and brutal "Inner Sanctum" (this one keeps some elements of the past, but with some hooking moments), the climatic and elegant "Tristesses de la Lune" with its female vocals and fine chords arrangements. "Babylon Fell" is another one with deep roots on their past, showing aggressive guitars and vocals, like some elements from "I Won't Dance (Elder's Orient)" (but with Gothic vocals contrasting with female backing vocals and harsh grunts), the courageous and enigmatic "Rex Irae (Requiem)". The original version ends on the orchestral instrumental "Oriental Masquerade", but I truly recommend you to pay attention on the bonus tracks of this version: the electric and charming "Sorrows of the Moon" (a different version for "Tristesses de la Lune"), the melodic and aggressive version of the band for "In the Chapel, in the Moonlight" (a song originally created by Billy Hill, and the most known version is from the romantic North American singer Dean Martin), and the excellent versions for "The Inevitable Factor" (both are excellent, and the difference are in the vocals, because the first one is with gothic vocals, and the second with the natural Tom's aggressive grunts).

Yes, "Into the Pandemonium" is still a trial hard to understand and too bitter to swallow in the first listening, but it's the root of what bands like THERION would do 10 years later.