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Tom from TRIPTYKON Does Not Like AT THE GATES Right Now

Manos Spanos
We're really excited for the upcoming At The Gates album and eventual tour. You know who isn't too excited? Triptykon's Tom Gabriel Fischer. You see, Triptykon is set to tour Europe with At The Gates and have one Switzerland date on the tour. Triptykon got offered to play a Swiss festival in a different town, but due to an assumed proximity clause in their contract with At The Gates, were not allowed to accept the offer. This angered Tom, who took to his personal Facebook page to vent: Triptykon-At-the-Gates-drama You have to wonder if At The Gates even knew about this situation or it was just their handlers who denied Triptykon's performance. Either way, I can't see somebody denying the chance to see the two bands play together for what I assume would be a cheaper ticket price than that of the large festival Triptykon hope to play. I also found it curious Triptykon is not a dictatorship, much in the way I assume Nine Inch Nails is run. Fischer clearly takes the opinions of his bandmates into consideration when deciding on business matters.
01 min read

TRIPTYKON Cancels MARYLAND DEATHFEST Appearance Following H.R. GIGER’s Death

Manos Spanos
TRIPTYKON — the occult/avant-garde metal project formed by former HELLHAMMER/CELTIC FROST singer, guitarist, and main songwriter Tom Gabriel Fischer (a.k.a. Tom Gabriel Warrior) — has canceled its appearance at the Maryland Deathfest on May 22. Says Fischer in a statement: "The greatest surrealist artist of our time, H.R. Giger, died in a tragic accident on Monday, May 12, 2014. In the wake of Giger's death, his closest friends are gathering to comfort his widow, Carmen, and to assist her in organizing Giger's funeral and his memorial service. I am one of those friends. "We are all still attempting to deal with the shock of this unexpected and extremely painful loss. "For 30 years, H.R. Giger has been my mentor. As I wrote in my eulogy, a few days ago: 'At a time when almost everybody ridiculed, ignored, or even obstructed the music the then almost completely unknown Swiss underground band HELLHAMMER was creating, Giger listened to us, talked to us, and gave us a chance.' The result was CELTIC FROST's 'To Mega Therion' album which, in turn, was the basis for all subsequent collaborations between us. "In all of his work with CELTIC FROST and TRIPTYKON, H.R. Giger was immensely generous, in spite of repeated objections of mine and countless attempts to convince him to accept proper compensation for his amazing contributions. "I have also been an assistant to H.R. Giger and his wife for seven years. I have long seen them as very close friends, even as family. We have experienced many challenging events together, and we have repeatedly taken care of each other in every conceivable manner. "I thus simply cannot and do not wish to fail to attend H.R. Giger's private funeral, and to take part in the subsequent public memorial service, to be held in one of Zurich's largest churches. Moreover, I am an integral part of the group of Giger friends who are currently involved in the difficult task of arranging these events. I cannot possibly just be a recipient. In a moment like this, I have to and wish to give as much as I possibly can. "It is an extremely unfortunate coincidence that these unexpected and tragic proceedings collide with TRIPTYKON's planned appearance at Maryland Deathfest on May 22. We are thus regretfully forced to withdraw from the festival. Within TRIPTYKON, we discussed the possibility of playing the concert without me, with a close friend of ours filling in on guitar and vocals. The other members of the band did not see any merit in performing as an incomplete lineup, however. "Withdrawing from Maryland Deathfest was not an easy decision to take by any means. We are disappointing our audience and the promoter of the festival, it contradicts our sense of commitment, and the band's reputation will suffer damage. We were looking forward immensely to TRIPTYKON's return to the U.S. After a lengthy and expensive petition process, the U.S. authorities granted us the required U.S. work permits last week. Moreover, a U.S. crew had been hired, and flights and hotels for band and crew had already been booked. "In 1985, during CELTIC FROST's very first tour, I was forced to cancel three concerts due to overstrained vocals. I vowed to never let such a thing happen again and took the appropriate steps. Ever since then, I have never again been the reason for a cancellation of a concert by either CELTIC FROST or TRIPTYKON. There have been instances, in Paris and London for example, when I went onstage with CELTIC FROST in spite of flu and substantial fever, in order to avoid letting down the band's fans. "It is thus utterly against my nature and my own professional demands to be the cause for TRIPTYKON's first cancelled show. But these are truly extraordinary circumstances, caused by the death of a truly extraordinary artist and friend. I hope our audience will understand, and I apologize sincerely. And I am extremely grateful for the incredible understanding and goodwill extended to TRIPTYKON by the promoter of Maryland Deathfest." TRIPTYKON's second album, "Melana Chasmata", was released on April 15 (one day earlier internationally). The CD was made available through a collaboration between TRIPTYKON's own label, Prowling Death Records Ltd., and renowned metal giant Century Media Records. This is the same label partnership already responsible for CELTIC FROST's final album, "Monotheist" (2006), HELLHAMMER's "Demon Entrails" demo compendium (2008), and TRIPTYKON's debut album, "Eparistera Daimones
04 min read

TRIPTYKON’s TOM GABRIEL FISCHER: ‘I Was Really Close To Losing Everything’

Manos Spanos
J. Bennett of Noisey recently conducted an interview with former HELLHAMMER/CELTIC FROST and current TRIPTYKON singer, guitarist, and main songwriter Tom Gabriel Fischer (a.k.a. Tom Gabriel Warrior) in Paris, France. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below. Noisey: The English translation of the new [TRIPTYKON] album title ["Melana Chasmata"] is something along the lines of "Deep Depressions." Is that right? Tom: Yes, it's difficult to translate exactly, but that's an approximate translation. Of course, depressions can be a geological feature or a psychological feature. In this instance, both. Parts of the album sound melancholy, but mostly it sounds angry. I think the first one is much angrier. It was fueled by hatred and frustration over the very unpleasant termination of CELTIC FROST. This new album is far more introspective and based on personal experiences — not just my own, but [those] of several of the band members. We chose the album title years ago, but since that time, certain things have happened that have made the title even more appropriate. On a personal level, it was an exceedingly difficult album to complete, and we're all very happy that it's done. Noisey: Why was it difficult? Tom: The four years since the last album have been very difficult for some of us in the band, including myself. Nothing in my own life resembles the way it was four years ago. My life has drastically changed, and most of those changes have been outside any spectrum of choice. And I'm not the only one in the band who has had dramatic changes to their private lives. We didn't know that when we started the album, of course. Noisey: It sounds like these personal changes you're talking about have been largely negative. Are the members of TRIPTYKON, yourself included, worse off today than they were on the last record? Tom: I think at this point everyone is well into the recovery phase, so to speak. Everybody is on their own path with their own issues. But I'm not trying to bring up tragedy here or anything pathetic. None of us wanted to be in this situation, and none of us had any idea that the others were going through something similar. It's a complete coincidence. We envisioned the time writing this album completely differently. But like so many things in life, we have no control. That's why the album took four years to write instead of two. In the meantime, we've accepted that at least three members have completely different lives now, and that's beyond their choice. But one of the things that has helped us through this is that we have a band and we honestly love the music we are playing and we know we are friends. I know that sounds cliché, like some kind of hippie family, but that's the way it is. Noisey: How bad did it get? Tom: I was really close to losing everything — much closer than anyone reading this can probably imagine. But if it got to the most extreme, I'm sure I could've called our bass player [Vanja Šlajh] and she would have taken care of me as good as possible. And that's the main difference between TRIPTYKON and CELTIC FROST. At the end of CELTIC FROST, I sometimes got the feeling that if I was lying on the floor bleeding, someone would still stick a knife in my back. But in this band it's the opposite. Read the entire inter
03 min read

TRIPTYKON: Audio Samples Of Two New Songs

Manos Spanos
TRIPTYKON — the occult/avant-garde metal project formed by former HELLHAMMER/CELTIC FROST singer, guitarist, and main songwriter Tom Gabriel Fischer (a.k.a. Tom Gabriel Warrior) — will release its second album, "Melana Chasmata", on April 15 (one day earlier internationally). The CD will be made available through a collaboration between the group's own label, Prowling Death Records Ltd., and renowned metal giant Century Media Records. This is the same label partnership already responsible for CELTIC FROST's final album, "Monotheist" (2006), HELLHAMMER's "Demon Entrails" demo compendium (2008), and TRIPTYKON's debut album, "Eparistera Daimones", and "Shatter" EP (2010). Like its predecessor "Eparistera Daimones", the album was produced by TRIPTYKON's singer/guitarist Tom Gabriel Warrior and guitarist V. Santura and recorded and mixed at V. Santura's own Woodshed Studio in southern Germany as well as at TRIPTYKON's rehearsal facilities in Zurich, Switzerland, in 2013 and 2014. Those who have already heard "Melana Chasmata" have described it as "atmospheric, dark, diabolical, and dramatic", "diverse, epic, and doomy, but on an entirely different level", "a fierce boulder of abhorrence", or "very heavy and yet very aesthetic at the same time". "Melana Chasmata" will feature the following nine songs, at a playing time of around 67 minutes: 01. Tree Of Suffocating Souls 02. Boleskine House 03. Altar Of Deceit 04. Breathing 05. Aurorae 06. Demon Pact 07. In The Sleep Of Death 08. Black Snow 09. Waiting Further new TRIPTYKON music has been recorded, to be released as an EP or mini album later in 2014 or early in 2015. Among other formats, the album will be released as a 32-page mediabook (with lyrics and liner notes to every song, and with a special fold out poster), as a gatefold vinyl double album (with posters and large-format booklet), and for digital download. Additionally, Century Media is scheduled to issue a special box set, limited to 2000 copies. The box set will include the album, a TRIPTYKON silver pendant, a poster, postcards, a TRIPTYKON tote bag, and a cap. To commemorate the unveiling of "Melana Chasmata", Century Media will release a collector's gatefold seven-inch vinyl single, featuring the songs "Breathing" and "Boleskine House". The single will be available on March 17 , and be limited to a pressing 1000 (of which 200 will be in red vinyl). "Breathing" and "Boleskine House" will also be available as a digital single (including the option for a digital booklet), and they will be streamed on YouTube and SoundCloud. Audio samples of "Breathing" and "Boleskine House" can now be found at Amazon.com. "Melana Chasmata" will be further distinguished by featuring, for the second time for TRIPTYKON, the extraordinary art of legendary Swiss surrealist HR Giger. Following "Eparistera Daimones", the group began to make arrangements for an entirely different cover for the second album. Completely unexpectedly, HR Giger approached Tom Gabriel Warrior in October of 2011 to express his appreciation of how TRIPTYKON had used his art on the first album and to propose a continuation of the artistic collaboration. This development thus marks the first time any musical artist has worked with HR Giger on three albums (CELTIC FROST's "To Mega Therion", and TRIPTYKON's "Eparistera Daimones" and "Melana Chasmata"), and it commemorates a collaboration that has now lasted for 30 years.
04 min read

TRIPTYKON: ‘Melana Chasmata’ Album Details

Manos Spanos
TRIPTYKON — the occult/avant-garde metal project formed by former HELLHAMMER/CELTIC FROST singer, guitarist, and main songwriter Tom Gabriel Fischer (a.k.a. Tom Gabriel Warrior) — will release its second album, "Melana Chasmata", on April 15 (one day earlier internationally). The CD will be made available through a collaboration between the group's own label, Prowling Death Records Ltd., and renowned metal giant Century Media Records. This is the same label partnership already responsible for CELTIC FROST's final album, "Monotheist" (2006), HELLHAMMER's "Demon Entrails" demo compendium (2008), and TRIPTYKON's debut album, "Eparistera Daimones", and "Shatter" EP (2010). Like its predecessor "Eparistera Daimones", the album was produced by TRIPTYKON's singer/guitarist Tom Gabriel Warrior and guitarist V. Santura and recorded and mixed at V. Santura's own Woodshed Studio in southern Germany as well as at TRIPTYKON's rehearsal facilities in Zurich, Switzerland, in 2013 and 2014. Those who have already heard "Melana Chasmata" have described it as "atmospheric, dark, diabolical, and dramatic", "diverse, epic, and doomy, but on an entirely different level", "a fierce boulder of abhorrence", or "very heavy and yet very aesthetic at the same time". "Melana Chasmata" will feature the following nine songs, at a playing time of around 67 minutes: 01. Tree Of Suffocating Souls 02. Boleskine House 03. Altar Of Deceit 04. Breathing 05. Aurorae 06. Demon Pact 07. In The Sleep Of Death 08. Black Snow 09. Waiting Further new TRIPTYKON music has been recorded, to be released as an EP or mini album later in 2014 or early in 2015. Among other formats, the album will be released as a 32-page mediabook (with lyrics and liner notes to every song, and with a special fold out poster), as a gatefold vinyl double album (with posters and large-format booklet), and for digital download. Additionally, Century Media is scheduled to issue a special box set, limited to 2000 copies. The box set will include the album, a TRIPTYKON silver pendant, a poster, postcards, a TRIPTYKON tote bag, and a cap. To commemorate the unveiling of "Melana Chasmata", Century Media will release a collector's gatefold seven-inch vinyl single, featuring the songs "Breathing" and "Boleskine House". The single will be available on March 17, 2014, and be limited to a pressing 1000 (of which 200 will be in red vinyl). "Breathing" and "Boleskine House" will also be available as a digital single (including the option for a digital booklet), and they will be streamed on YouTube and SoundCloud. "Melana Chasmata" will be further distinguished by featuring, for the second time for TRIPTYKON, the extraordinary art of legendary Swiss surrealist HR Giger. Following "Eparistera Daimones", the group began to make arrangements for an entirely different cover for the second album. Completely unexpectedly, HR Giger approached Tom Gabriel Warrior in October of 2011 to express his appreciation of how TRIPTYKON had used his art on the first album and to propose a continuation of the artistic collaboration. This development thus marks the first time any musical artist has worked with HR Giger on three albums (CELTIC FROST's "To Mega Therion", and TRIPTYKON's "Eparistera Daimones" and "Melana Chasmata"), and it commemorates a collaboration that has now lasted for 30 years. "Melana Chasmata" features Giger's dramatically mysterious "Mordor VII" (work no. 283, 100 x 70 cm, acrylic on wood, 1975) as a front cover and Giger's "Landschaft XVI" ["Landscape XVI"] (work no. 209, 100 x 70 cm, acrylic on paper on wood, 1972) as gatefold art. After a lengthy hiatus, TRIPTYKON will return to the stage this year to promote "Melana Chasmata". Among the concerts so far scheduled are appearances at the celebrated Roadburn festival, at Rock Hard festival, and, pending the issuance of the proper visas by U.S. authorities, TRIPTYKON's return to the United States for an exclusive appearance at Maryland Deathfest. TRIPTYKON consists of V. Santura (guitar, vocals), Norman Lonhard (drums, percussion), Vanja Slajh (bass, vocals), and Tom Gabriel Warrior (voice, guitars). triptykoncd2014
04 min read