CELTIC FROST's Rejected 'Disgrace'

CELTIC FROST frontman Tom Gabriel Fischer has posted the following message on his official blog:

"Disctrade, the Swiss distribution company and label whose owners told us to 'forget it and go back to your rehearsal room to practice' when we began sending out HELLHAMMER's 'Triumph of Death' demo tape in the second half of 1983, eventually ended up handling HELLHAMMER's and CELTIC FROST's recordings after all, due to their distribution agreement with Noise Records in Berlin, the label which signed HELLHAMMER in early 1984.

"Disctrade still lingers on and was recently sold to a larger company, prompting somebody from Disctrade to arrange for a whole package of vintage CELTIC FROST promotional material from the company's vaults to be handed to Martin [Ain, CELTIC FROST bassist]. The package contained priceless original slides from the first studio photo session with Reed St. Mark in 1985 (never used by Disctrade),original flyers, press clippings, guests lists, and so on.

"Among all the papers was an original rejection slip by one of Switzerland's major music store chains, Jecklin. The slip had been filled out on the occasion of the release of CELTIC FROST's 'To Mega Therion' album in 1985, the sleeve of which is adorned by H.R. Giger's 'Satan I' painting. The front side of the rejection slip contains a pre-printed list of defects which then may be marked to indicate the reason why the album is being rejected. This particular rejection slip, however, indicates no technical defect but instead features a brief handwritten note next to the pre-printed lines, reading: 'Diese LP fuehren wir nicht' ('We do not carry this album').

"The unprinted backside of the slip contains a further handwritten note, along with the official stamp of Jecklin's St. Gallen branch. The note reads 'Diese LP wird von uns abgelehnt wegen des Covers. Es ist eine Schande, auch wenn Giger es gemacht hat. [unterzeichnet] R. Schertenleib.' Translated, this means: 'This album is being rejected by us due to the cover. It is a disgrace, in spite of the fact that Giger created it. [signed] R. Schertenleib.'

"A true classic."

Check out a scan of the rejection slip at this location.

As previously reported, a brand new CELTIC FROST track, entitled "Ground", has been made available for streaming at this location. The song comes off the group's long-awaited "comeback" CD, "Monotheist", due on May 30 via Century Media Records (one day earlier internationally).