Gelap Pekat

Former CELTIC FROST and current TRIPTYKON frontman Tom Gabriel Fischer has posted the following message on his blog:

"The last week of May marked the release of 1349's new album, 'Revelations Of The Black Flame', during the gestation of which I was invited to play a contributing role. Love or hate this new album, contrary to information disseminated by a party currently still closely affiliated with 1349, my responsibility was not that of its producer. I was merely present, at times, in an advisory role. 1349 knew very well themselves what they wanted to do on this album, and they were very determined to attain their goals.

"The sole exception to my low key involvement is the cover version of PINK FLOYD's 'Set The Control For The Heart Of The Sun', where Ravn persuaded me, in his typical friendly/forceful manner, to play bass and guitar. This collaboration shall stand as yet another testimony of our friendship and, indeed, kinship.

"There are many reasons for the concept 'Revelations Of The Black Flame', some of which might truly be complex to understand for anyone outside of the group. It is not an easy album by any means, and certainly not a predictable one. Accordingly, it is quickly becoming a 'controversial' album, and it is bound to polarize opinions. But isn't that exactly what black metal should be all about? Or, in fact, what heavy metal itself was once about, when this form of music was originally created?

"Regardless of anybody's personal view of 1349's new album, it would be rather premature to typecast 1349 solely on the basis of their latest work. I know for a fact that the group's future releases will surprise their audiences yet again, and very powerfully so. And I am proud to be involved yet again, in a more prominent role, when that time comes.

"In the meantime, here in Zurich, I just submitted the final few photo captions to the layout of the HELLHAMMER book. All that is left to do now is to go through the final layout once again, in detail, before the book will be fully transferred to the publisher in New York. More details on that should follow soon."

TRIPTYKON's lineup also features V. Santura (DARK FORTRESS) and bassist Vanja Slajh. The first audio sample, a track called "Crucifixus", can be heard on TRIPTYKON's official MySpace page.

Commented Fischer: "TRIPTYKON will sound as close to CELTIC FROST as is humanly possible, and the album I am working on will feature all the material I envisioned for the successor to [CELTIC FROST's] 'Monotheist'. I desire the album to be a darker, heavier, and slightly more experimental development of 'Monotheist'.

"'Crucifixus' is but one of many compositions to that end. TRIPTYKON is not defined by just this one song, however, just like CELTIC FROST was not defined by 'Totengott' alone."

Fischer recently spent time in Norway as an invited guest of the Norwegian black metallers 1349 while they were recording their new album, "Revelations Of The Black Flame". He previously joined 1349 on stage during the band's appearance at the Inferno festival on March 22, 2008 in Oslo for a rendition of the CELTIC FROST classic "The Usurper".