by Mark Kadzielawa

Triptykon is a new project lead by Thomas Gabriel Warrior. Warrior of course made his name in legendary Hellhammer and Celtic Frost. He wrote the blueprint for the underground scene in the early 80s, and his music (old and new) continues to be relevant and influential to this day. When Celtic Frost finally came to an end of their journey in 2008, Warrior unleashed the new project named Triptykon.
The band took their time to jell and develop, and completed their debut album, "Eparistera Daimones." Little was heard from the band during that time. Warrior simply stuck to his guns, wrote and recorded the music. The record of course created a big buzz in the metal scene, and rightfully so. Triptykon takes over from Celtic Frost, and carries that legacy with great pride. Tom Warrior couldn't have done it better, he put the past behind him and assembled a great new band, and recorded a fantastic record.
Thomas Gabriel Warrior talks about the sad split with Celtic Frost, and the spectacular rise of Triptykon.

At what point did you realize something was wrong in the Celtic Frost camp?
Thomas Gabriel Warrior: In the fall of 2002. When we first worked with the drummer, Franco Sesa, and when we attempted to record the first demo for the song “Ground.” In our rehearsal room, with our then brand new drummer, Franco Sesa, the recording session didn’t work because he couldn’t play the song, and he subsequently exploded in a fit of rage. I told Martin (Ain) that we will have a problem with this drummer, and Martin of course chose to ignore it, and it turned out that I was right. Years later the problem had become so big that I had to leave my own band.
When I spoke to you back in April, 2007, everything appeared fine. You were in good spirits, the break up came as a real surprise. How bad were the relations between the band members at that time?
Behind the scenes, the band was gone at that time. There were huge amounts of tension. What was fantastic was to be on the road with our friends Type O Negative. It was great to have that opportunity to play with them. The tour as such was fantastic, but the situation within Celtic Frost deteriorated completely. We went on stage every night at that point being the band that we no longer were. Behind the scenes hardly anybody talked to each other anymore. It was completely lost. The rest of 2007 was spent talking in circles, just trying to rescue the band. There were endless band meetings that would not go anywhere.
When you left Celtic Frost, was there any pressure on you from the label or the management to get back with them since the group was already well established and respected?
There was no pressure. Certain people from the music industry of course told me I should continue as Celtic Frost. They told me I should take the name, which I understand. We had worked for 25 years to make the name Celtic Frost really big, and we toured a lot. We were part of really big shows, and headlined Wacken Festival in front of 75 thousand people, and I gave up all of that. Of course everyone around me who made money from Celtic Frost also had to give that up. On the other hand, I have a manager who is not into it for the money. I have a manager I trust blindly, and when I called her to tell her I had just left Celtic Frost, she knew why I had done it, and she decided to follow me no matter what happens. She never put any pressure on me, and when I made a choice to give this band a new name she accepted it right away. There was no problem. I have surrounded myself with very good people, and I’m no longer under any pressure from the record companies. I’ve formed my own record company, my own music publishing company, and I don’t really give a shit what the recording industry is telling me to do.
Now that some time had passed, would you have done anything differently?
No, I would not. I would do exactly what I did back then. Leaving Celtic Frost was the right thing to do. I should’ve done it much earlier now that I think about it. It wasn’t a pleasure to be in that band. It was all backstabbing and intrigues, and penis problems. I wanna create music, and I’m sick and tired of all that immaturity we had to face. I’m interested in creating music. I have my faults too of course. I’m a human being just like everybody else, but I got into this industry to create music. That’s my life’s dream to create music, not to play intrigues on my band mates, lie to them, and stab them in the back......and just anything you can imagine. That to me is not a band.
Did you at least maintain a friendship with Martin Ain? After all, the two of you played together since you were kids.
No, but that doesn’t mean I’m fighting with him. Martin and I have no disagreements, but our connection was Celtic Frost, and with the demise of the band our friendship has cooled tremendously to the point of exchanging maybe one text message a year. Of course the reel to reel conflict is with the drummer. With Martin I don't really have a conflict, but there is just nothing left to say. He decided not to help me to keep Celtic Frost going. I had to take note of that decision, I had to accept it. And with his decision to let Celtic Frost disappear our paths have separated.
How soon after the demise of Celtic Frost did the concept of Triptykon originate in your head?
It actually originated a lot earlier. As I said earlier, the rest of 2007 was spent just discussing things and trying to solve the problems, and I grew increasingly frustrated. We had finished the Celtic Frost comeback album in late 2005, and it was late 2007, and we hadn't started working on a new album. I was full of ideas, and I wanted to record a new album. I wanted to work on new music, and not spend my time fighting or discussing in circles. I wanted to write music. I saw that this was impossible with Celtic Frost, so I began forming a side project. At that point I still thought maybe Celtic Frost could be rescued, so I formed a side project to record music while Celtic Frost was in limbo. When I realized Celtic Frost couldn't be rescued, and the band fell apart, the side project provided me with the roots for Triptykon.
Is Tryptikon a concept the way Celtic Frost was planned, or do you create it as you go along?
Triptykon is a concept. Every little detail is planned. I have very distinct plans for the next few albums. I don't do things half-assed, I don't do things by chance. When I do something I do it in great detail. I have mapped out the path for Triptykon, but of course it also depends on people accepting what I am doing with it. I'm just one half, the other half is the audience.
How did you go about recruiting the people for Triptykon?
The bassist, Vanja Slajh, is one of my best friends in Switzerland. And when I formed the side project while still in Celtic Frost, I asked her to be the bassist. We both wanted to work together for a long time, and this was our chance. V. Santura is the guitar player, and he was the live guitar player in Celtic Frost for 60 shows. He was the only one not involved in all the fighting in Celtic Frost. He was always professional, and always friendly, and a fantastic guitar player, fantastic engineer, producer. It was absolutely clear to me when Celtic Frost fell apart that I would ask him to continue to work with me. And I'm very proud that he said "yes." The only person I didn't know at the time was the drummer. His name is Norman Lonhard, and he was recommended to me by my manager. My manager knows me very well, and she knew exactly what kind of person I was looking for. I just wanted to make sure the band would have very good personalities. I didn't want to form yet another band with ego trips. I wanted to have a band that wants to be friends. I wanted to have a band that's completely different in their approach than Celtic Frost.

And when you do look for musicians for any projects, what human qualities are you after?
I look for courage, loyalty, and intelligence.
Early on, there were reports of former Celtic Frost drummer, Reed St. Mark, being involved in Triptykon. Reed however never made in onto the record stage, what was his involvement?
I approached him. He wanted to be in the band, and I wanted him to be in the band. We tried it out, and it didn't work. It's a simple as that, unfortunately. I very much wanted him to be the drummer of that band, but we've found ourselves at different stages of our lives musically. It was simply not possible to happen. We've played together four times. He came to Switzerland, we've had four practices, and it just didn't click.
Throughout the time you were putting Triptykon together, how supportive was Century Media?
They were very supportive. The deal I have with them now was newly signed, but they gave me the same conditions that I've had with Celtic Frost. It's a licensing deal. I have my own record company, and I'm in partnership with them, but they gave me the same deal we've had when I partnered with Celtic Frost. Century Media are an extremely important part of Triptykon. Without Century Media, I couldn't have done this. Their support is extremely important to me. It's actually the first time in my entire career that I am having a very fruitful and professional relationship with a record label. At this point I have only good things to say about Century Media.
With the Celtic Frost cloud over you, was there a lot of pressure to deliver a quality record?
There was gigantic pressure! Both from myself, and the outside. Of course people wanted to see whether I could pull it off and carry on Celtic Frost's work without Celtic Frost. I wanted to see that too. What gave me a lot of courage was that one of the most important Celtic Frost's albums, "To Mega Therion," was written almost entirely on my own. I knew I could do it, but that was in 1985, so of course I had to prove to myself that I could still do it in 2009. The pressure was immense, but I actually tried not to think about it when we were working on the album. The pressure that I put on myself was probably the biggest.
The album is finally out, and you've had a chance to distance yourself a little bit from the recording process., but when you get back into it, what is Triptykon to you now?
Triptykon is my life, Triptykon are my emotions as much as Celtic Frost was. The music of Celtic Frost, and the lyrics were like my existence, and it's the same with Triptykon. This band reflects who I am.
In many ways, this might as well be your finest musical hour. Do you feel that way?
It's not up to me to judge. I cannot create the music, and then rate it as well. It's not up to me to judge. I've very blessed to be involved with a lot of significant albums, significant for me, so it would be very difficult for me to judge even if I wanted to.

You were also the producer, did everything turn out the way you planned?
Absolutely. I've produced many Celtic Frost albums, and I produced "Monotheist." When we brought Celtic Frost back, we've decided to take full control, and not leave the studio until the album sounds exactly as we wanted. Whether it takes two months or ten years it was irrelevant. For "Monotheist" it took five and a half years, but it was exactly to the last detail the album we wanted to make. With Triptykon it took ten months, and it's exactly the album we wanted to make, otherwise we wouldn't have released it. We have full control, and there is no label telling us the album has to come out tomorrow. We decide when the albums come out, and we will release the albums only if we are 100% happy with it. Even if somebody rips the album apart in the review, I'm sorry, but it is still the album we wanted to make. And that's just the end of the story.
The essays you wrote about each track on the album are very enjoyable and informative. It's great to see your take on every song written and recorded.
Thank you.
When listening to Triptykon, one cannot escape the incredible balance between the heaviness and melody, was that the aim?
Yeah, that was the aim. I've always liked to play with the interaction between the brutality and fragility. I mean the incorporation of female vocals back in 1980s on the basis of thrash metal, or extreme metal. Yeah, I like drastic counterpoints in my music, very much so.
As a writer, did you notice the progression between the last two records you've made?
Triptykon is probably slightly more primitive, but I like it that way. It reflects my musical tastes probably. To me Triptykon is very much a development of what "Monotheist" was, the last Celtic Frost album. And that's exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to continue that path. I liked "Monotheist" very much musically and creatively. The problems in Celtic Frost were entirely on the personal level.
So, Triptykon can be considered as a band realizing ideas Celtic Frost never got to.
Absolutely, that 's the very purpose why I formed this band.

During the downtime between the demise of Celtic Frost and launching of Triptykon, there were two significant releases pertaining to your even more distant history. I'm referring to the "Only Death Is Real" book, and the Hellhammer demo box set. Both document Hellhammer, early Celtic Frost years, and come across as a labor of love on your part.
They are, there is many years of work in there. I've worked on these two projects for five years, especially the book. It was the right time to do this. I needed to close that circle in my life. For very personal reasons I've had a hard time coming to terms with a lot of Hellhammer's history. Incidentally some of the other members of Hellhammer felt the same way too, and for us all, it was a very important to have this book written. Just on a very personal level, and it was almost like a psychological cleansing to research all this material, work on this book for five years. To go through the whole history again, and my very difficult youth, my private life at the time which is the reason why I had such problems looking back. To finally look at this, and deal with it in certain way was... (pauses.) I mean there is still a lot of things about my youth that nobody will ever know because I will never tell anybody. But at least the things that are in the book, it was like a cleansing to me to write about it, and finally deal with it.
Also, you do have a significant relationship with H.R. Giger, a very influential and provocative Swiss artist. It's no surprise one of Giger's painting is on the cover of your new album.
Giger and his wife are some of my closest friends. I admire Giger as a genius, as an artist, and I love him as a friend. He is one of the most big hearted and kindest persons I've met in my life. So is his wife. They are extremely important people in my world. I discuss all kinds of things with them. They were both very instrumental in helping me form Triptykon. And I'm not talking just about the artwork, but on the human level. They gave me such amazing support. I don't think without them I could've formed Triptykon.

Links:
http://www.triptykon.net/triptykon/index.html