Celestia- Frigidiis Apotheosia: Abstinence Genesiis

Artist: Celestia
Album: Frigidiis Apotheosia: Abstinencia Genesiis
Label: Paragon Records

This is the long-anticipated new album from France's Celestia, a black metal project of Noktu Geiistmortt (Drakkar Productions, ex-Mortifera). Celestia has been around in the black metal world since it's inception back in 1995. It's been 6 long years since the release of "Apparitia - Sumptuous Spectre", and the wait was well worth it. "Frigidiis Apotheosis" is excellent from the opening track, "She's Dead (Valse Funeste de Decomposition)" to the final one, "Frigidiis Apotheosis (Dormant Rests of Raped Necrosia)". Noktu handles the vocals and all instruments except for the keyboard and drums on the album, and he does it flawlessly. His raspy scream are perfect for the melodic, but still raw at times, style of black metal presented here. Noktu proves himself to be multi-talented, playing both guitar and bass on the album instead of bringing in a guitarist like on some of Celestia's previous releases. Some of the riffs sound fairly simple to play, but the important thing is they fit the music perfectly. After using him on the "Delhÿs-cätess" demo, he once again enlisted the help of Malefic from Xasthur for synth duty which worked out really well. Malefic's keyboard tracks give the album a lugubrious atmosphere which, if you are familiar with his work, should be of no surprise to you. Astrelya handled the drumming but from what I gather, he no longer seems to be in the band. That's a shame because I really enjoyed his style of playing. Overall, "Frigidiis Apotheosis" is a really good album and the best release so far from Celestia. The packaging puts it over the top with an embossed slipcase and 20 page booklet making it well worth picking up.