Celtic Frost are one of the most intensely studied bands to emerge from the early days of extreme metal. The Swiss trailblazers’ flair for the symphonic deeply impacted the pioneers of black metal, Emperor and Mayhem included. The same goes for many of the greats of thrash, death metal, and doom. Bands as defiantly singular as Death and Cathedral ultimately share roots in Celtic Frost’s ungodly intensity and apocalyptic imagination.