“There’s no other band that drew me in like them. It was the mood and atmosphere – and the aggression”: Alter Bridge’s Mark Tremonti on the visionary extreme metal band who changed his life as a teenager – and got him fanboying out as an adult

Creed and Alter Bridge guitarist Mark Tremonti may be the king of modern arena rock, but underneath the roof-raising riffs and massive choruses beats an 80s thrash heart. The man who helped serve up such monster hits as With Arms Wide Open, My Sacrifice, Rise Today and Blackbird has made no secret of his love of bands such as Metallica, Slayer, Kreator and even Bay Area b-listers Forbidden (oh, and Frank Sinatra, but we’ll gloss over that).

But his tastes go even further. Speaking to Metal Hammer in 2018, Tremonti revealed his deep love of Swiss visionaries Celtic Frost, and specifically the impact their 1984 debut mini-album Morbid Tales and the following year’s Emperor’s Return EP had on him.

“Growing up and becoming a metal fan, Celtic Frost was right behind Metallica as one of my favourite metal bands, and Morbid Tales/Emperor’s Return [reissued on a single CD] was my favourite record,” he told us. “It was a staple of my collection.”

Tremonti first heard Celtic Frost when he was growing up in Detroit. Metallica’s Master Of Puppets had been his gateway into metal, but he was soon hunting further afield for new music.

“From then on I was into finding the heaviest moodiest darkest music I could find,” he revealed. “I still remember my friend John introducing me to Celtic Frost with [1987’s] Into The Pandemonium, which I fell in love with right away. So as I used to do, I then went and picked up every record I could by the band, and Morbid Tales/Emperors Return became my-go to favourite.

“I often see Celtic Frost referred to as one of the most influential, if not the most influential, black metal bands in the world. There’s no other band that from that scene that drew me in like them. It was the mood and atmosphere they create with this record – and the aggression as well.”

Celtic Frost rose from the ashes of Swiss trio Hellhammer, whose primitive noise was widely ridiculed at the time but who have subsequently been acclaimed as one of the foundation stones for black metal. When that band split, frontman Thomas Gabriel Fischer – aka Tom G Warrior – and bassist Martin Eric Ain went on to form Celtic Frost.

Between Morbid Tales and Into The Pandemonium, their sound evolved from guttural brutality into a groundbreaking and unique form avant garde metal that touched on symphonic music, goth, US alt-rock and even industrial music. According to Tremonti, the band caught him just at the right moment – he was just starting on his own musical journey.

“At that point I was just a beginner guitarist and songwriter and still developing,” he said. “But once I started writing there’s no doubt it influenced me and still does to this day.”

The influence of Celtic Frost’s early records was never matched by their sales. Issues with their record label Noise were only compounded by 1998’s disastrously received, glam-influenced Cold Lake album. 1990’s intriguing Vanity/Nemesis wasn’t enough to restore their credibility, and the band split a few years later.

Tremonti had been too young to see Celtic Frost first time around, but he finally got his change when Fischer reunited the band in 2000, releasing a brand new album, Monotheist, six years later. That’s when the Tremonti finally got to meet his hero.

“When I heard they were coming to play Orlando as part of their comeback in 2006, I hit the show with a couple of friends,” he saus. “I pushed my way in to the rail, hands on stage, and stood there the whole show, singing every lyric of every single song they played. It felt like I was the only guy in the room that knew every lyric and change to every song, in a room full of people that at some level agreed with me. I was so excited to finally see a band I loved from my childhood as a fan.

“After the show I went around to the back of the club and the guys were standing by the tour bus. I walked up and introduced myself and the guys were super cool. Tom mentioned that he had read an interview or two with me where I had given them props and he really appreciated that. He was glad to meet me as well. I left there happier than I had been to meet one of my heroes I’ve had since I was a kid.”

A second encounter came a few years later when Fischer attended an Alter Bridge show in Sweden.

“We hung out a bit backstage and he talked to me a lot about Giger [Swiss artist H.R. Giger, whose artwork featured on Celtic Frost albums], and how he was helping him out with his daily needs at the time,’ says Tremonti. “Which was crazy because Giger is this iconic artist. It struck me because I feel the same way about Tom. He’s an icon.”