Emperor's Return

Emperor's Return
EP by Celtic Frost
Released	August 1985[1]
Recorded	October 1984 at Caet Studio in Berlin, Germany (tracks 2 and 3) April 1985 at Line in Recording Studio in Zürich, Switzerland (tracks 1, 4, 5)
Genre	Thrash metal black metal[2]
Length	21:21
Label	Noise (Europe) Enigma/Metal Blade (USA)
Producer	Horst Müller, Rick Lights, Tom Warrior, Martin Ain, Karl Walterbach
Celtic Frost chronology
Morbid Tales (1984) Emperor's Return (1985) To Mega Therion (1985)

Emperor's Return is the second release by the Swiss extreme metal band Celtic Frost. It was released in 1985 as an extended play and was their first record featuring American drummer Reid Cruickshank (a.k.a. "Reed St. Mark").[3] The band's bleak publicity photographs from this period had an influence on the fashion and style of the developing black metal genre.[2] The tracks of Emperor's Return were remastered and re-released in the 1999 edition of Morbid Tales and yet again remastered and included in the 2017 edition of To Mega Therion.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	6/10[5]

Track listing

Side one

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Circle of the Tyrants"	4:29
2.	"Morbid Tales"	3:29

Side two

No.	Title	Length
3.	"Dethroned Emperor"	4:37
4.	"Visual Aggression"	4:11
5.	"Suicidal Winds"	4:36
Total length:		21:21

Personnel

Celtic Frost

• Tom G. Warrior – guitars, vocals, effects
• Martin Ain – bass, co-producer
• Reed St. Mark – drums (except "Morbid Tales" and "Dethroned Emperor")

Additional musicians

• Stephen Priestly – drums on "Morbid Tales" and "Dethroned Emperor"

Production

• Andrew Loyd – producer
• Horst Müller – engineer
• Karl Walterbach – technician
• Phil Lawvere – cover art

References

1. "Gatefold of Best of Metal Blade, Vol. 1" (JPG). Metal Blade Records. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
2. Strachan, Guy (February 2005). "Part Two: In the Name of the Lore". Terrorizer. No. 128. p. 42.
3. Fischer, Thomas Gabriel (2000). Are You Morbid?: Into the Pandemonium of Celtic Frost. London, UK: Sanctuary. p. 100. ISBN 978-1-86074-310-8.
4. Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Celtic Frost – Emperor's Return review". AllMusic. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
5. Popoff, Martin (1 November 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 68. ISBN 978-1-894959-31-5.