UMUR "Eparistera Daimones" is the debut full-length studio album by Swiss extreme metal act Triptykon. The album was released through Prowling Death Records Ltd. in March 2010. Triptykon was formed by former Celtic Frost vocalist/guitarist Thomas Gabriel Fischer, after the Swiss extreme metal pioneers folded in 2008 for the second time in their career. Fischer teamed up with V. Santura (guitars, vocals), Vanja Slajh (bass), and Norman Lonhard (drums, percussion) who complete the four-piece lineup.

The music on "Eparistera Daimones" pretty much takes off where Celtic Frost´s "Monotheist (2006)" left off, new bandname and lineup or not. That means an eclectic style of extreme metal which features elements from death, thrash, black, doom, and gothic metal, but ultimately aren´t any of those. The atmosphere is dark, bitter, and at times quite aggressive. The riffs and beats are predominantly brick heavy yet rhythmic, which means that a doom metal tag it only occassionally valid, and there are faster paced parts on the album too.

The material is generally very well written, and the at times repetitive song structures don´t become tedious, because they are implemented to create a dark ritualistic effect. Something which works wonders for the band. From the first notes of the 11:00 minutes long opener "Goetia" to the last notes of 19:00 minutes long closer "The Prolonging", "Eparistera Daimones" is a very entertaining and relatively diverse album, which screams high quality and not the least passion, skill, and conviction behind the delivery. The vocals are predominantly raw yet fully intelligible, but there are both male and female clean vocals featured on the album too (although in smaller doses).

The sound production, which was handled by Thomas Gabriel Fischer and V. Santura, is also a great asset. "Eparistera Daimones" is simply an incredibly well produced album with a powerful, dark, and heavy sound. Especially the guitar sound is menacing, but the bass is also given a lot of room in the mix, which provides the sound with a lot of heavy bottom. So all in all it´s hard to find any flaws to mention and that´s almost always a sign of high quality, and a 4.5 star (90%) rating is fully deserved.

Warthur Triptykon is Tom Warrior's furious vengeance for the end of Celtic Frost - an affair over which he still held some bitterness at the time this album came out, if interviews of the time were anything to go by. Still, it hasn't put good old Tom off his musical vision any - if anything, this album continues the work begun on Monotheist in weaving together the three major traditions of extreme metal (death, black and doom) into a cohesive whole, an aim which the opening track Goetia accomplishes perfectly. Then, somehow, even though it shouldn't be possiblem, the subsequent tracks go even further than that.

Hellhammer was derided as a joke at the time and is still an acquired taste now; Celtic Frost baffled critics but redefined extreme metal. Triptykon, finally, sees Tom Warrior getting some respect - and it might just blow the world apart with its raw evil.

Wilytank (Originally posted to Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives)

When Hellhammer ended, Tom Gabriel Fisher went on to form Celtic Frost. Now the cycle has started again with Triptykon, nearly four years after Celtic Frost ended. Without any hindrance from the former Celtic Frost member, The Warrior has brough forth a grand piece of blackened doom metal mastery that actually may be superior to 'Monotheist'. Ladies and gentlemen, this is 'Eparistara Daimones'.

This album is full of memorable riff sequences and lyric passages. All the lyrics are simple in structure, but cryptic in content and meaning and effective enough to have you sing along to most if not all of the songs. The body that goes with the blackened lyrical soul consists not only of the heaviest doom riffs this far south of Candlemass, but also well spaced out higher tempo sections.

For example, let's look at the opener "Goetia". It starts with the slow intro, collects speed, and all of a sudden kicks your ass with the first main riff. If somehow you didn't have your ass kicked by the end of the verse, the song enters the pre-chorus and after that, BOOM!!! "LORD HAVE MERCY UPON ME!!!" This may as well go down as one of the most memorable doom metal refrains in my experience.

Actually, the memorable lyrics popped up a lot from "Rise! Abyss within my soul!" to "Pain! Pain!-Myopic Empire..." Even the 19 minute closer "The Prolonging" has lyrics that have me hooked: "As you [experience something undesirable], I shall [experience the opposite]." Seems cheesy from a glance, but partnered with the music, it just works wonders.

Musically, the album fluctuates its styles. "Abyss Within My Soul" is straight up doom metal, but "In Shrouds Decayed" takes a dark gothic approach which works really well with the lyrics sang with clean, but deep and foreboding vocals. "A Thousand Lies" is fast paced all around, but may actually be inferior to the other songs in comparison. The solos aren't particularly important, but the really memorable ones are in "Descendant" and "Myopic Empire". "Descendant" stays with the doom riffs for the entirety of the lyrical passage and speeds up at the end to fit with the guitar solo. "Myopic Empire" mixes clean and harsh vocals well and even adds a grand piano during the break for a cool experience.

Finally, there's "The Prolonging". It features colossally heavy riffs to go with its colossal length. It speeds up only briefly and doesn't get very fast at all. What I think is the best part though is the chain of power chords in the outro. All this is assisted with the lyrics wihich I've talked about before. This was the best way to end this album.

This album is amazing. Every song is great. None of this is skippable, not even the interludes "Shrine" and "My Pain". Tom Warrior thankfully isn't done yet and hopefully will continue to do great things under the Triptykon moniker. 'Eparistara Daimones' is totally necessary and essential to fans of doom metal, Celtic Frost, Hellhammer, and overall, Tom Gabriel Fisher's whole legacy.

bonnek Hoofed Lord of Metal, you have not forsaken us! I am a huge fan of all sorts of progressive rock music, progressive metal hybrids included, but damn, have I been missing some straight, real, true, undiluted and vintage Metal lately. It's not that such albums weren't released but I found that so few had anything to say that hadn't been said more convincingly earlier. Luckily there's Tom G Warrior and his gang of mutants to remind us of the ominous epic power that metal can have.

"Eparistera Daimones" is a perfect continuation of Warrior's previous album "Monotheist", then still under the banner of Celtic Frost but given the minimal differences with this release it can't be doubted who the creative brain was behind that album. It's no straight copy though; in fact I would say that the Avant elements have been toned down a bit in favor for the Gothic Doom-Death power. There's not a trace of Black Metal here at all, but still it doesn't get any blacker then this. Essentially, this album reaches down straight to the filthiest pits of human existence, only to come back triumphantly with a menacing slab of rancid rotten doom. I think the end-result is even an improvement over "Monotheist". (Yes, an improvement over another monolithic metal album).

Celtic Frost was a ground-breaking band in the 80's, but after the badly received "Cold Lake", they faded from the radar. After almost 15 years of silence, only interrupted by the sub-par "Apollyon Sub" project, I had given up on Tom G Warrior. I'm so glad to be proven wrong again for the second time in a row. My best metal album for 2010, not a single doubt about that.