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 Melana Chasmata continues the tradition Tom Warrior has maintained throughout the Triptykon project (and its precursor in the brief Celtic Frost revival that yielded Monotheist) of visiting a wide range of extreme metal styles over the course of an album without ever quite becoming entrapped in any one, blending them all together in a unique blend. This time around, the centre of gravity seems to be a bit more towards the doom and gothic metal side of the spectrum and less so towards the black and death metal that its predecessor incorporated - though all four styles appear this time just as they had their turn last. Black Snow is a fascinating epic, and the closing Waiting provides a melancholy and uncharacteristically gentle exit and one of the more gothic moments in the band's back catalogue.

UMUR "Melana Chasmata" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Swiss extreme metal act Triptykon. The album was released through Century Media Records in April 2014. "Melana Chasmata" features the same lineup, who recorded the band´s debut full-length studio album "Eparistera Daimones (2010)". There was always internal strife in bandleader Tom G. Warrior´s longtime act Celtic Frost (which was also what triggered their demise), so I´m sure it´s a great relief to him, that Triptykon (at least from the outside looking in) feels like a more tight nit unit.

Stylistically the music on "Melana Chasmata" more or less continues down the same extreme metal style that the band initiated on "Eparistera Daimones (2010)". It´s a combination of elements from doom, thrash, black, death, and goth metal, that you can´t really label neither. Therefore the "extreme metal" tag is probably the most valid here.

The music on the album is crushingly heavy, featuring meaty riffs, dark lead themes, rumbling distorted bass, heavy beats and a varity of vocal styles, ranging from aggressive death/thrash vocals, to sneering black metal type vocals, to goth spoken vocals, to female singing. It´s also very dark and atmospheric music, so all in all there is a good level of diversity on the album. The sound production is powerful, raw and organic. A very impressive sound production, which suits the music perfectly. I´m especially fond of the thick and menacing guitar tone and the ultra heavy bass, but the organic sounding drums and the well sounding vocal production are also great assets.

The material are generally very well written, effective and delivered with great passion and conviction by a cast of skilled performers. However one of the greatest strengths of "Melana Chasmata" is the diversity of the material. The thrashy and aggressive "Tree of Suffocation Souls" and "Breathing", The ultra heavy "Altar of Deceit" and "Black Snow" and the atmospheric and goth tinged "Boleskine House", "Aurorae" and "Waiting" are good examples of how varied the album is.

It´s not always a combination of so many stylistic elements works wonders, but Triptykon make it sound natural and as if they are completely at ease with what they do. And don´t misunderstand that as if they´ve lost bite or aggression as a consequence of how sure of themselves they sound. They deliver their music with fierce conviction. A 4.5 star (90%) rating is 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.