I love the Bill Murray movie Groundhog Day. Being stuck on repeat, so to speak, is an entertaining premise. The film really works, however, because within that framework of repetition, the main character finds a way to vary the program. So, each day, much as it’s similar to the one before, is different enough to […]

Tom Gabriel Warrior has much to celebrate. It’s been a busy and productive few years since the return of Celtic Frost ended in a storm of animosity and a lack of shared vision. But Warrior has before seen one band dissolve only to give way to something greater, and as he graciously gave a good, long block of his time from the road (after I’d been lucky enough to see Triptykon’s New York debut), he spoke—as he often has—about the dissolution of Frost… but he also made it clear, both in stated terms and in the tone of satisfaction he’s experiencing at the moment, that Triptykon, while rooted in his past, is a band of the here and now—and of the future.

The read on this EP is pretty simple, actually: if you enjoyed Triptykon’s earlier-this-year debut, Eparistera Daimones—and you should have!—you’re going to devour this compact but powerful collection. Tom Gabriel Warrior, along with bandmates V Santura, Vanja Slajh, and Norman Lonhart, offers two never-before-released tracks from the debut album sessions, a fully realized version of […]

Keep of Kalessin’s last album, 2008’s Kolossus, blended the typical heavy, harsh elements of blackened death metal with tasteful acoustic passages that had a jazz-meets-prog flavor to them. Make no mistake: the brutal was brutal, from second track “A New Empire’s Birth” and onward. The mix of very dense, heavy passages/songs with lighter pieces/sections was, to […]

The Guessing Game, for all of its metal pedigree has (like the band Cathedral itself) roots equally as deep in early (read: Syd Barrett era) Pink Floyd as in doom progenitor Black Sabbath. In fact, an open-eared listener will hear (uh oh… sit down, metal people) references to ‘70s-‘80s Britpop bands like XTC and The […]

There’s a really dumb old riddle. Goes like this: Q: Where does an eight-hundred-pound gorilla sleep? A: Anywhere he wants. There’s a corollary: That may be, but it doesn’t mean I want that gorilla in my house! Okay, I’ll get to the point. Order of Ennead’s new album is a whole lot more satisfying and impressive than […]

Forget the history lesson on Tom Gabriel Fischer, Hellhammer, and Celtic Frost. Turn up the volume, push the play button, and settle in for a harrowing journey. This is one of the heaviest, angriest, gloomiest releases ever. And guess what? All of that heaviness, anger, and gloom add up to one of the most refreshing […]