Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Tarkus
I know Emerson, Lake & Palmer later became a joke because of their pompous and narcissistic music, arrangements and production. They were very preposterous at times, but in a way that also fascinated me: they just didn't give a toss. I got Tarkus in the mid-1970s, an album that's musically limitless. Of course it's very indulgent, but it's also fantastic musicianship, far beyond anything I could ever do. The most influence Emerson, Lake & Palmer had on me was that they frequently worked with classical instrumentation, and I loved that. It completely fascinated me, and I began trying to incorporate that in Celtic Frost - even on Morbid Tales, where there's a brief violin section, but of course much more on later albums and even into Triptykon. It's a lifelong influence that's derived from Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and Tarkus to me is probably their best album.