Morbid Tales is the debut record by the Swiss extreme metal band, Celtic Frost, released in November 1984. It was originally released in Europe on Noise Records as a mini-LP with six tracks, while the American release by Enigma/Metal Blade added two tracks, bringing it to the length of a regular studio LP. The band retrospectively refers to the LP release as the band's debut studio album.^[3]^[4]

In 1999 a remastered edition of Morbid Tales was released on CD by Noise Records, which also contained the tracks from their 1985 EP Emperor's Return as well as a 2017 remastered edition released by the same label on CD and vinyl formats.

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[1]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	5/10^[5]

Legacy

The thrash metal intensity of Morbid Tales had a major influence on the then-developing death metal and black metal genres. It included elements that were adopted by the pioneers of both styles.^[6] The band's bleak and dead serious fashion style was also influential, including their corpse paint face makeup.^[2]^[1] In 2017, Rolling Stone ranked Morbid Tales as 28th on their list of 'The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time.'^[7]

In the commentary for Darkthrone's album Panzerfaust, Fenriz cites this album along with Bathory's Under the Sign of the Black Mark and Vader's Necrolust as key riff inspirations.^[8]

"Danse Macabre" was later sampled in the demo track "Totgetanzt" from their 2002 demo album Prototype.^[9]

Track listings

All music by Thomas Gabriel Fischer, all lyrics by Thomas Gabriel Fischer and Martin Ain, except where noted.

Original Mini-LP version

Side one
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Into the Crypts of Rays" (Fischer)	4:46
2.	"Visions of Mortality"	4:49

Side two
No.	Title	Length
3.	"Procreation (Of the Wicked)"	4:02
4.	"Return to the Eve"	4:05
5.	"Danse Macabre"	3:51
6.	"Nocturnal Fear"	3:35

Full-LP American version

Side one
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Into the Crypts of Rays" (Fischer)	3:39
2.	"Visions of Mortality"	4:49
3.	"Dethroned Emperor" (Fischer)	4:37
4.	"Morbid Tales"	3:29

Side two
No.	Title	Length
5.	"Procreation (Of the Wicked)"	4:04
6.	"Return to the Eve"	4:07
7.	"Danse Macabre"	3:52
8.	"Nocturnal Fear"	3:36

1999 CD remastered edition

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Human (Intro)" (intro to "Into the Crypts of Rays"; originally joined as one track, CD reissue split this into two tracks)	0:41
2.	"Into the Crypts of Rays"	3:39
3.	"Visions of Mortality"	4:49
4.	"Dethroned Emperor"	4:37
5.	"Morbid Tales"	3:29
6.	"Procreation (Of the Wicked)"	4:04
7.	"Return to the Eve"	4:07
8.	"Danse Macabre"	3:51
9.	"Nocturnal Fear"	3:36
10.	"Circle of the Tyrants"	4:27
11.	"Visual Aggression"	4:10
12.	"Suicidal Winds"	4:36
Total length:		50:02

2017 remastered edition bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
10.	"Morbid Tales (1984 Rehearsal)"	3:41
11.	"Messiah (1984 Rehearsal)"	4:45
12.	"Procreation (Of the Wicked) (1984 Rehearsal)"	4:14
13.	"Nocturnal Fear (1984 Rehearsal)"	3:54

Personnel

Credits adapted from the original editions.^[10]^[11]

Celtic Frost

Tom Warrior – guitars, lead vocals, co-producer
Martin Ain – bass, bass effects, vocals, co-producer
Reed St. Mark – drums on tracks 10–12 (remastered edition)

Additional musicians

Stephen Priestly – session drums
Horst Müller – additional vocals (tracks 3, 5 & 7)
Hertha Ohling – additional vocals (track 6)
Oswald Spengler – violin (tracks 7 & 8)

Production

Horst Müller – producer, engineer, mixing, mastering
Karl Walterbach – executive producer

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Celtic Frost - Morbid Tales review". AllMusic. Retrieved 13 May 2003. With its highly focused thrash metal intensity and peculiar mix of satanic and esoteric lyrics, the album would sow the seeds of Frost's overwhelming influence in years to come.
^ ^a ^b Strachan, Guy (February 2005). "Black Metal Foundations Top 20: Celtic Frost, Morbid Tales". Terrorizer. No. 128. p. 42.
^ RIVADAVIA, EDUARDO (24 June 2014). "INFLUENTIAL CELTIC FROST DEBUT ALBUM 'MORBID TALES' TURNS 30 YEARS OLD". Loudwire. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
^ Warrior, Tom. "Rolling Stone Magazine's "The 100 Greatest Metal Albums Of All Time" Delineation II". Retrieved 7 June 2023. ...it is of course a significant honour to find Celtic Frost's debut album Morbid Tales of 1984 featured as number 28 of Rolling Stone magazine's 'The 100 Greatest Metal Albums Of All Time'.
^ Popoff, Martin (1 November 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. pp. 67–68. ISBN 978-1894959315.
^ Rivadavia, Eduardo (24 June 2014). "Influential Celtic Frost Debut Album 'Morbid Tales' Turns 30 Years Old". Loudwire. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
^ "Rolling Stone Share Their Choices for 'The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time'". 21 June 2017.
^ Bennett, J. (2010). "Darkthrone - Panzerfaust". Decibel. Archived from the original on 9 November 2010. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
^ "Celtic Frost - Prototype". Encyclopaedia Metallum. Retrieved 22 June 2016.
^ Morbid Tales (LP sleeve). Celtic Frost. Berlin, Germany: Noise Records. 1984. N 0017.((cite AV media notes)): CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^ Morbid Tales (CD booklet). Celtic Frost. Berlin, Germany: Noise Records. 1999. N 0325-2.((cite AV media notes)): CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)

v t e Celtic Frost
Thomas Gabriel Fischer Martin Eric Ain Franco Sesa Curt Victor Bryant Oliver Amberg Dominic Steiner Reed St. Mark Stephen Priestly
Studio albums	Morbid Tales (LP) To Mega Therion Into the Pandemonium Cold Lake Vanity/Nemesis Monotheist
Compilation albums	Parched with Thirst Am I and Dying
Extended plays	Morbid Tales Emperor's Return Tragic Serenades
Related	Apollyon Sun Coroner Hellhammer Triptykon In Memory of Celtic Frost