CELTIC FROST Bassist: 'Revolutionary Music Is Made By Young People, And I Am Not Young Anymore'

Scott McLennan of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette recently conducted an interview with CELTIC FROST bassist Martin Eric Ain. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

On "Monotheist", CELTIC FROST's first album of new material since 1990's "Vanity/Nemesis":

"Some have said we didn't get heavy enough on songs like 'Dying God'. I've heard the call to speed. But heavy music doesn't have to be fast to be heavy."

On the many gloomy goth-metal bands that cite CELTIC FROST as an influence:

"So many bands have kept our name out there when we weren't making music together as a band. Our name has been dropped by so many extreme metal bands, that a lot of new fans of metal wouldn't even know who we are if that wasn't happening. There is still a lot of interest in what we created in the '80s, and that seems to have stood the test of time."

On being reluctant to get back into the CELTIC FROST fray as he felt he gave up much of his youth to a music career and was interested in other pursuits:

"I was 16 when the first HELLHAMMER record came out, and 22 when 'Vanity/Nemesis' came out. The Martin in CELTIC FROST was not the Martin that I am privately, and it took me a few years to figure that out."

On the current state of the heavy music:

"There are many interesting bands, but it is still an underground music. When we were first putting out records, heavy metal was in the charts. Today, it is like country music in the way both are genres of their own. People who like it, love it.

"When black metal first came out, it was exciting. But now it has grown clichéd. You take any two images of evil, say a goat and a pentagram, hang those on the stage, put on some spikes and black leather, and you can call yourself a black metal band. It has become watered down, and everything has become so clichéd."

On "Monotheist" coming across as somewhat different from what you may have heard before from CELTIC FROST:

"If people who hear this record think we are sounding like SEPULTURA or CATHEDRAL, well you have to remember that those bands were first listening to us. It may seem we end up sounding like some of the bands we influenced. Revolutionary music is made by young people, and I am not young anymore. This is not revolutionary."