Celtic Frost - "Vanity / Nemesis", 1990

If you look up interviews done by Tom Warrior in the "Vanity / Nemesis" era, he seemed pretty unfazed by the backlash the band got for "Cold Lake"; he pretty much shrugged it off as another unpredictable album by Celtic Frost but didn't necessarily bash it like he used to do in more recent years. After all, it actually was more of a band effort, and he didn't write much on it except for the lyrics and a couple of songs, so he probably never believed in the project to start with. For "Vanity / Nemesis", though, while still a collaborative band effort, he was more involved in the songwriting, and Martin Eric Ain rejoined the lineup halfway through the recording sessions, contributing to some of the songs. "Cold Lake" guitarist Oliver Amberg was kicked out, while Stephen Priestly and Curt Victor Bryant were still on board, with Ron Marks taking care of all the guitar leads.

While the album might have been seen as a "too little, too late" effort by critics and by some of the disgruntled fanbase at the time, it was actually a big leap forward from "Cold Lake" and, in my opinion, it closed that chapter of Celtic Frost's career on a high note. It's not as genre-defining as "Morbid Tales" and "To Mega Therion" or adventurous as "Into the Pandemonium", but it features elements from all of these records and updates them with a more refined thrash metal approach. Sometimes it sounds more akin to countrymen Coroner or even to some of the more accessible Megadeth stuff, compared to the band's previous output, although the unmistakable guitar tone of Warrior sounds as glorious as ever, as exemplified by the opener "The Heart Beneath", a groovy banger that is as solid as any of the band's classics. Most of the album moves at a granitic, mid-tempo thrash metal pace, although there are a few faster tracks such as "Wine in My Hand (Third from the Sun)", "Phallic Tantrum" and "A Kiss or a Whisper"; the latter, in particular, might bring to mind some of the band's earlier material, with its double kick-driven rhythms and punkish power chords. 

The material sounds pretty consistent style-wise, definitely not as unpredictable as what could be heard on "Into the Pandemonium"; still, the band retains some of the gothic vibes of that record on moodier tracks such as the beautiful "Wings of Solitude", featuring female vocals and acoustic guitars that appear also on several other tracks, like on "Vanity" and "Nemesis". The band even attempts to repeat the surprise effect that "Mexican Radio" achieved on "Into the Pandemonium" with another questionable cover version, this time by none other than Brian Ferry, titled "This Island Earth"; it's frankly a failed experiment, and it should have been swapped with the non-album track "A Descent to Babylon (Babylon Asleep)", that was inexplicably relegated to the three-track "Wine in My Hand" maxi 12".

The production has also greatly improved from the sterile "Cold Lake", not only in the guitars department - that are massive, by the way - but also in terms of bass and drums, both punchy and very upfront in the mix. Overall, the sound on the album is perfectly balanced, and it feels like a logical development of the "Into the Pandemonium" production. The lyrics are leagues better and more in line with the visionary, gothic poetry of the 1987 masterpiece; Tom's vocals regain a bit of grit too, but at times they still echo that whiny tone that prevailed on the previous record, especially on the Brian Ferry cover or when he tries to follow the melody of a song a bit more. It's not as annoying as on "Cold Lake", but if he sang everything in a darker tone instead, the album would have sounded definitely fiercer and more in line with the classic Celtic Frost material. 

"Vanity / Nemesis" would have fared better if it was released a couple of years earlier, instead of "Cold Lake"; by 1990 standards, the band probably played it a little too safe, and the record couldn't compete with the ever-evolving thrash metal bands or with all the other new tendencies slowly gaining ground within the scene. That said, it might not be a classic, but it's still a classy album and surprisingly solid, while not particularly groundbreaking or creative; it could have been a convincing enough transitional album, leading up to something more grandiose and original with its follow-up, tentatively titled "Under Apollyon's Sun". As we all know, things turned out differently; the band dissolved in 1993, and it wasn't until 2006 that it came back with a very different record, titled "Monotheist". I still prefer remembering the more youthful Frost of "Vanity / Nemesis", while wondering what could have been if the band had kept playing through the 90s.