A Hammer Onto It's Tomb.
Triptykon is the incarnation/super-group under the control of Celtic Frost's front-man, Thomas "Warrior" Gabriel Fischer. As he has stated in the past, Triptykon is what the next Celtic Frost record would have sounded like, if he had not quit the band back in 2008. This is one of the most anticipated metal record for 2010, it is up to you whether it is worthy or not.
This is a super-group of sorts, as just stated above; this group features people hand picked by Thomas to accompany him in making this project a reality. As Thomas plays guitar and lead vocals, lead guitars are performed by V. Santura from Dark Fortress, who played with Celtic Frost during their reunion, bass is by one of Thomas' close friends Vanja Slajh, and drums are performed by Fear My Thoughts drummer Norman Lonhard, who was suggested to Thomas by his manager. These four create one of the heaviest sounding records in recent years.
The overall sound on this record could be described as oppressive. This record would be best categorized within the doom genre, but features all the elements that Thomas has help to found over his career, including death and black metal. But the heaviness of the record has more in common with the last Celtic Frost record, "Monotheist," more than anything else in his past; though Thomas did say that Triptykon would sound as close to that as possible.
The guitars simply hammer down upon the listener as the bass and drums create a wider spectrum of sound. Thomas' vocals are rough and throaty sounding, but are perfect for the mood that this album creates. As the record has many ups and downs, through melodic and atmospheric risings to declining storms of heaviness.
Most of this record focuses on heavy and doomy riffs, that build on top of each other into monolithic sounding metal pieces; this basically describes the opening and closing track, Goetia and The Prolonging, respectively, both being over 10 minutes in length. Some of the shorter tracks like A Thousand Lies and the last minute of Descendant features more of a blackened thrash sound to it, but those are just some of the few faster pieces. One thing that must be said, is that the overall vibe of this record is dark, but clear; every instrument can be heard.
Even though this record is very much metal, you have the inclusion of some more electronics. In the latter half of the album, especially on My Pain. This track in particular utilizes dark ambient music with female vocals that perfectly sets the mood for the final track.
The final track, The Prolonging, combines everything on this album together into a dark and solid riffs. Moving from doom into thrash into sludge and everywhere else seamlessly and fluidly. This track lives up to it's almost 20 minute length.
Overall, this is an extremely powerful and ruthless sounding record filled with hate and mercilessness, but also beauty and tranquility. Fans of extreme music will find this record irresistible, and it may take a while to get into, but it is worth it. This is one of the year's best records.
Overall Score: 10 - Classic
Highlights: Every Song Is A Highlight
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