The new CD from one-time Penance drummer Mike Smail‘s band, Under the Sun, showed up in today’s mail, to be retrieved when I arrived (early!) back in the valley from the office, so I figured something off Penance‘s 1994 masterpiece Parallel Corners would be a good way to end the week. I’ll have that Under the Sun review up as promptly as possible, which I know isn’t saying much these days.

On that note, I’ve noticed lately that The Obelisk has gotten a lot of requests from people looking for reviews and such. That’s great, but here’s the thing: As much as I love helping people get the word out about their bands — and I do, really — I’m just about through pretending to dig stuff I don’t. So the On the Radar posts for bands who just email me and say “hey, cool site, write about my band,” are done. I like this site the best when I’m talking about stuff I legitimately dig and bands I want to help out. If I wanted more obligation in my life, I’d procreate.

And on that note, there’s a new podcast coming this weekend. The plan is to put it together tomorrow and have it posted by Sunday. Keep your eyes open.

Keep your eyes on the beer thread on the forum too to find out where the night’s drinking adventures lead. It’s been quite an evening already, if you couldn’t tell by the bold proclamations above.

Aside from being the resumption of the semester following this week’s “spring break,” next week I’ll have my long-overdue interview with Danny Nick of Suplecs posted, as well as reviews of Subrosa, The Osedax, and probably about three others if past is prologue.

I’ll also have a live writeup (hopefully with photos and maybe even video) of Clamfight‘s show tomorrow night at the Brighton Bar in Long Branch, NJ. If you missed the news, Clamfight will be forum040, the fourth release on The Maple Forum.

As to what the third is, it’s reportedly getting mastered this week, and I’ll have the announcement sometime soon about that as well. Stay tuned, and as ever, have a great and safe weekend.

And they killed it live. Both headlining Roadburn and when I saw them again in New York, Triptykon was a highlight of the year, no question. The only reason it’s not higher up my list is because there were other albums I listened to more. If this were a quality-only kind of tabulation (which, by being a tabulation, it couldn’t really be; discuss amongst yourselves), Eparistera Daimones would certainly be a top 10 record, but staying power counts.

I’ll say this for it: I may not have kept Eparistera Daimones in my player all year long, but every time I’ve gone back to it, I’ve found something new. Like Celtic Frost‘s last album, Monotheist, it’s a record best enjoyed over time. It got no shortage of hype over the course of this year, but I think the real beauty and complexity in Triptykon are going to take longer than a mere couple months to fully appreciate. I still get a shiver up my spine every time I listen to “A Thousand Lies.”

“Shatter” was directed by Philipp Hirsch of Film-M. Triptykon‘s Shatter EP is out Oct. 25.

This year, Warrior (Fischer by birth) was asked to oversee a day of the Roadburn festival in The Netherlands, which he did under the banner of Only Death is Real. Acts like as Pagan Altar, Witchfynde and Valborg made the day one of the most diverse the fest had ever seen, and with Triptykon‘s first live performance in the headlining slot, everyone had something to look forward to. Neither was anyone disappointed by the reality. Playing a two-hour set of half-Triptykon and half-Celtic Frost, Warrior, guitarist/vocalist V. Santura, bassist Vanja Slajh and drummer Norman Lonhard, gave due homage to the legacy of Celtic Frost while also showing how Warrior was moving forward into new and exciting territory. They finished with the massive, 20-minute Eparistera Daimones closer, “The Prolonging,” and I honestly think by the end of it the audience was more worn out than they were. Given that so much of his persona is wrapped in the dark, bleak and melancholic, it’s strange to think of Tom G. Warrior as excited, but as Nocturno Culto got on stage to guest on Celtic Frost‘s classic “Dethroned Emperor,” he clearly was.

And he remains excited now. When discussing his relationship to the other members of Triptykon, his voice tells of the passion he feels for making music with this lineup and being able to explore, unhindered, these fresh endeavors. On the eve of Triptykon‘s first North American tour, which kicks off Oct. 6 in Manhattan, and the release of the new Shatter EP later this month, the feeling I get is it’s a great time to be in the band, a great time to be inspired and a thrilling new beginning for a man who has helped define and redefine heavy metal for the better part of 30 years.

You’ll find the full Q&A, in ritualistic fashion, after the jump. Please enjoy.

How do you feel about the response the Triptykon record has gotten?

Quite frankly, I’m blown away by it. Leaving Celtic Frost was not only an extremely difficult decision, but it was a decision that I thought about in great, great detail. I didn’t do it in haste or in anger or anything like that. I knew I was going to give up a lot with Celtic Frost. Celtic Frost had quite a status and it was quite a comfortable situation to be in to be in Celtic Frost. So when I left Celtic Frost, I knew I would have to start from scratch, regardless of my name. I didn’t assign so much importance to my name. I knew I would have to start from scratch. I knew I was giving up a huge platform, and I was prepared for many years of work. I’m not afraid to work, I don’t shy away from work, even at my age. So I was blown away at how positively the album was received. It still is a huge path ahead of us, and it still is a lot of work, but it’s nice to be able to start with an album that’s largely well-received. It’s something I didn’t count on, and so it’s a very nice surprise.

How do you look at Celtic Frost at this point? Painful memories? Good times? Both?

It’s both. It’s very unfortunate that my memory of Celtic Frost is tainted right now, but of course it is tainted. There were things on the human level that have taken place that are just beyond any excuse, and it’s difficult to act like they didn’t exist. On the other hand, of course, I owe everything to Celtic Frost. Celtic Frost was the realization of my dreams and it has made me who I am in every way. It has given me an immense amount of experience and allowed me to meet an immense amount of amazing people, interesting people in this world. I’m the main songwriter of Celtic Frost. Everything I am is shaped by Celtic Frost, so of course there’s a lot of positivity in there as well.

How is it for you playing Celtic Frost songs with Triptykon?

It’s fantastic. It’s a release. It’s been overdue that these songs are played honestly again. During the last period of Celtic Frost, we went on stage and acted like a band and projected something that we weren’t anymore. I hated that situation. I hated it passionately. I’m not an actor, I’m a musician. And to be able to go on stage now with a band who loves music and is as passionate about these songs as I am is a huge difference, and it feels fantastic to play these songs honestly, and to feel the fire again in these songs and not have the feeling that somebody or several people in the band are faking it. We are also playing these songs probably closer to the album versions, as far as the tempo is concerned. That’s not a decision we made consciously, it simply happened, and maybe that has to do with what I just explained before. Maybe because we are much more neutral on a human level towards these songs than fighting a destroyed band was. Anyway, the mixture. We said from the beginning we were going to mix Celtic Frost material and Triptykon material 50/50, because all these songs are my songs anyway, songs I’ve written and songs that are important to me. This blend works perfectly. It has worked in all the concerts we’ve played so far.

I was fortunate enough to see Triptykon play at Roadburn. What was that experience like for you, curating the day and headlining?

It was intimidating and fantastic at the same time. It was intimidating because Triptykon had not played live on stage before, and we only did two very small-scale warm-up shows beforehand. It’s intimidating to take your new band out and go on a festival that has an outstanding reputation and know that the press from all over the world – including you – is there, and when you know the band is by necessity still cold and not as well-rehearsed as you are after a US tour, for example. Having said that, though, I think the show was quite alright from our point of view. There was a few things that later went much better at subsequent concerts, but for such an early show, I think it went alright. I certainly wish that you will have the chance to see us and what we sound like now, and you probably will be able to see the difference. Curating Roadburn was of course a gargantuan honor and something I never thought anyone would bestow on me. That Walter chose me blew my mind and I tried to do justice to the opportunity. It is amazing to be able to put together one day of a festival that is musically very close to my passion anyway. Walter, who organizes Roadburn, is an amazing person. Very easy to work with. Very passionate about music, just as I am. I only have the best things to say about that experience. As early as it was for Triptykon, it was also as huge an honor. You have to also know Walter booked us as a headliner before he heard a single note of music from Triptykon. He simply trusted me. He didn’t know if Triptykon could live up to Celtic Frost, he simply booked us as a headliner and bargained a little bit with his own reputation in doing so, which to me at the time, when I really found out who are my friends and who are not, meant a lot to me.

You said, “Living up to Celtic Frost.” Do you think of it on those terms? Is that a goal for you, or are you trying to move on from Celtic Frost to something new?

Again, I have to say it’s both. Of course, I was the main songwriter in Celtic Frost and I’m the main songwriter in Triptykon and I have certain demands regarding the quality of my own songs. And having been in Celtic Frost for seven albums, I don’t want to fall below that standard. I have my pride and my professional pride, and yes, I do want to live up to Celtic Frost. I know in certain ways it’s impossible, because Celtic Frost has become this legend – I mean what fans think of us – that has nothing really to do with the actual Celtic Frost. We were simply humans, but the media and the fans have made this legend, and you cannot possibly reach that level with a new band, but as far as musical quality’s concerned, as far as courage is concerned – musical courage – as far as attention to detail is concerned, as far as the bandwidth of musical influences is concerned, yes of course I want to live up to Celtic Frost’s standards, and more, I want to develop it further, like I would have done had Celtic Frost prevailed.

One thing I noticed seeing Triptykon live – and it was true in Celtic Frost too – you have this intense look on your face on stage. What do you feel when you’re playing these songs?

It’s a different world. I’m careful to word this, because it probably sounds like a huge cliché or some kind of act to a lot of fans, and I understand that, but in actual fact, for me at least, personally speaking, it is a different world once I enter the stage, and much more, once I touch my guitar and this vibration, this sound, fills my body. It’s not like anything else in my life, and it’s a different world. You’re in a different state of mind, most definitely. It’s a very extreme, very intense music, and if that’s your own songs that come from your own emotions and you’re performing them, you feel the vibrations in your fingers and in your body, that transcends everything and touches you deeply. Playing these songs is an intensely intimate and transcending experience. Several of these songs reflect certain periods in my life that were very significant for one reasons or another, and these feelings come back. Songs like “The Prolonging,” or “Synogoga Satanae” or “Procreation of the Wicked,” from all the periods of my work, they have certain personal significance, and that’s resurrected every time you play them.

It’s just interesting because you see people smile on stage, people who are clearly having fun, and it looks like a much more visceral experience when you’re playing.

It can have all of these effects. We occasionally smile too. Just because these songs touch you deeply doesn’t mean you have to look fierce all the time. They evoke a variety of emotions. We’ve played now many more shows since Roadburn and we’ve experienced a whole bandwidth. The fact of the matter is it’s extreme music. It’s not background music, and if you’re playing these songs honestly, not just as routine, yes, they do touch you deeply.

How did the Shatter EP come about?

We selected the material that we personally felt was good enough for the release before we went in the studio. We did a very professional pre-production with Triptykon, and we didn’t go to the studio and then say, “These songs are not fit for release.” All of these songs were recorded and we wanted them to be released, but of course the album already has a playing time that’s insane, so we didn’t want to cram any more on the album. The idea of an additional EP arose very early on, and of course what sealed it was we came away from Roadburn with some amazing live recordings, one of them with Nocturno Culto singing the lead vocals to Celtic Frost’s “Dethroned Emperor,” and in my opinion, his vocals far surpass anything I’ve ever done with that song. So when we received those recordings, we decided we would include them, and that’s when the EP became reality. I think it’s a very strong product. Even though it’s labeled and EP, it’s 30 minutes of playing time and it’s got detailed liner notes and so on. I think it’s a very valid product. An EP’s mostly geared toward the hardcore fans of the band, I think the hardcore fans of Triptykon will be well served. It’s a very dark and heavy EP.

Is there new Triptykon material you’re working on now?

We are focusing on touring, but I’ve been working on the new album since we left the studio after the last one, and I know V. Santura has done the same. My head right now is filled with ideas and inspiration much more so than it’s been in many years. It’s a fantastic feeling and a fantastic band to be in. The band is a circle of friends, which makes creating music much, much easier than it was in Celtic Frost. It’s a very fruitful ground for new songs to exist. I’m working on it constantly and I’m hoping after the US tour I’ll have a month or two of free time to sit down with these songs and also create new ones.

Are you conscious of balancing ideas from older Celtic Frost material with new songs?

I’m conscious, but I’m not hesitant. As long as they’re my ideas, I think it’s perfectly legitimate. I approach music as a long-term development. I don’t view the albums as separate entities. What I started when I resurrect Celtic Frost a few years ago, I’m still working on that, I’m still developing that. Okay, the band fell apart in the meantime, but my personal songwriting, my personal style, is a continuous development. Certain things I started during the many, many songwriting sessions for Monotheist, we simply didn’t have the time to finish. Some of the material was shot down by the other members, and some of that material is very dear to me, so I’m occasionally working on things that arose many years ago. A lot of stuff is also brand new. I think the two approaches merge perfectly. Where I would be hesitant would be taking anything that would have been Martin’s ideas or something. I think that’s not mine to use. I would definitely leave my fingers off of that, I don’t think that’s the way to go, but if it’s my stuff, my songwriting is my songwriting.

Are there goals for Triptykon you have that Celtic Frost either couldn’t do or are separate from what you tried to accomplish with Celtic Frost?

That’s almost an impossible question, and maybe it sounds pretentious, because I associate Celtic Frost with myself. And that’s not because I have a huge ego, but because about 90 percent of Celtic Frost’s music was written by me and more than 50 percent of the lyrics were written by me, and I had a huge share in every other decision – for example, artwork and concepts – in Celtic Frost, so Celtic Frost was predominantly my creativity, and as I said before, I view my creativity as a continuous development. I see the whole thing much more personally. I see it as my contributions to the band, and not Triptykon sounding like Celtic Frost. It was more like Celtic Frost sounds like Tom Warrior and so does Triptykon. Celtic Frost did not give birth to me, I gave birth to Celtic Frost, and I gave birth to Triptykon. What might arise in the future, who knows? Having said that, of course Triptykon also has different characters in it than Celtic Frost, and they are all very welcome to contribute music, and V. Santura already has done so, and all arrangements are done by the entire band, all decisions are taken by the entire band, so there might well be little elements that might have been atypical of Celtic Frost, but by and large I think Triptykon is very much a development of the path Celtic Frost had begun, and I think it’s good that way. Celtic Frost would have done a few very unusual things in the future and I think Triptykon will do so too.

You sound refreshed talking about the relationships in this band. If you’re doing most of the writing anyway, how important are the other players to what Triptykon is trying to accomplish?

First thing’s first, I do feel refreshed. I haven’t felt so happy in a band in many, many, many years. It is an immense pleasure to work in this lineup with Triptykon. It is like day and night to even the best of times in Celtic Frost, and that makes for a very creative [foundation]. The other members of Triptykon are very important to me, and I think vice versa the same applies. We actually talk about this quite often, because we’ve all had our share of negative experiences in other bands, and we all know how to appreciate when it’s different. We are very fortunate that in Triptykon, three of us have been close friends even before Triptykon, and Norman [Lonhard, drums], who was the last to join Triptykon, has also become a very close friend to all of us. We’re very fortunate that this is a circle of friends, and it makes for a very unusual feeling, very unusual atmosphere in the band. There’s a very close human tie between all of us, and you feel you can actually rely on these people and they don’t stab you in the back once you turn around for the sake of their own ego or so they have their own picture somewhere. Everything actually happens as a band right now and I’m very aware that sounds like a hippie cliché or something, but it’s simply a fact. Having experienced a different situation a few years ago, I’m very happy it’s like this. We all are working very hard to keep it that way for as long as possible. We all know things change on this planet. We all know nobody’s perfect, human beings aren’t perfect, but we will attempt to keep this as long as possible.

Will you do more touring behind this album, or is this US tour the last?

Yeah, there’s still a European tour scheduled to be played in early Spring 2011, and we’ve already received numerous offers for festivals next year, and most of them will probably take place before we begin recording the next album. But I think the prime focus once the European tour has been played is creating this new album. There’s a lot of pressure from the Celtic Frost legacy and there’s a lot of pressure because Eparistera Daimones was received quite well by the media and by the audiences. That increases the pressure for the second album, and we are very aware of that and we would like to uphold the quality standard. It will not be easy to record this album. It will be quite a lot of work, and we’re very eager to get some time next year to actually do that.

Triptykon’s website

Prowling Death Records

Century Media

Spiritual Beggars’ latest offering, Return to Zero (InsideOut/Century Media) is notable before you even hit play because of (Per Wiberg’s moustache, but also) the departure of vocalist JB Christoffersson, who left the band on good terms to focus on his main project, the mighty Grand Magus. Replacing Christoffersson is Apollo Papathanasio of Greek power metallers Firewind – you may have heard the name because guitarist Gus G. is now playing with Ozzy Osbourne – and though Christoffersson’s work on 2002’s On Fire and 2005’s Demons is not to be duplicated, Papathanasio does an admirable job, proving he’s a soulful, versatile singer in his own right, able to match Amott’s riff and solo magic with a bluesy throat and powerful delivery, and ultimately a worthy successor to Christoffersson and original vocalist Christian “Spice” Sjöstrand.

Amott is no stranger to melody, being a principal figure in melodic death metal as guitarist for the massively successful Arch Enemy. On Return to Zero, his songwriting formula is potent as ever across highlight tracks like post-intro opener “Lost in Yesterday,” metal-loving anthem “We are Free” (which makes good and honest use of the central riff of Black Sabbath’s “Hole in the Sky,” topping it with canned crowd noise) and “The Chaos of Rebirth,” in which the rhythm section of Sharlee D’Angelo (bass; Mercyful Fate, Arch Enemy, etc.) and Ludwig Witt (drums; Firebird) pull off stops and turns that would have lesser bands crashing and probably breaking up before they figured them out. Of course, the guitars lead the way the majority of the time, but if Amott meets his match anywhere in Spiritual Beggars, it’s with keyboardist Per Wiberg – who, for the remainder of this review, shall be referred to, with love, as “Per Wiberg and His Magical Mystery Moustache.”

If there is any single element in Spiritual Beggars that proves utterly essential in making the songs on Return to Zero, it’s the organ work of Per Wiberg and His Magical Mystery Moustache. He challenges Papathanasio on “Coming Home” and backs Amott in such a way as to turn what might otherwise seem like a filler track into a memorable listening experience. Between Spiritual Beggars and his work in Opeth, it’s high time Per Wiberg and His Magical Mystery Moustache started getting his name on the short list of great rock organists, alongside the likes of Deep Purple’s Jon Lord and Wicked Minds’ Paolo “Apollo” Negri. He is both that good and that integral to the Spiritual Beggars sound. Without him, the band would fall flat.

There’s plenty on Return to Zero that Spiritual Beggars fans will dig into, whether it’s the Scorpions-style rocker “Concrete Horizon” or the spacey ballad “Spirit of the Wind,” which has a commercial ‘80s drama to it, like something Kenny Loggins would have contributed to a movie soundtrack for the scene in which the protagonist (we can only assume pre-crazy Tom Cruise would fill the role) is emotionally lost and thinking about the great challenges that lie ahead. If these seem like odd avenues for a stoner rock band to explore, maybe they are, but Amott and company do an excellent job of integrating these influences into their established sound. Though Return to Zero is not without its Side B filler – “Dead Weight” feels aptly named, though I do like the shuffle of “Believe in Me” – Spiritual Beggars top the record with one last surprise: a James Gang or Cactus-style piano semi-ballad. After the previous few songs, it comes out of left field, but after a couple listens, the charm of the track reveals itself. It’s worth taking the time to hear it more than once.

For some, there’s simply no topping Spiritual Beggars’ early work, and that’s fine. For me, I’m just happy to find the band revitalized and coming up with fresh ideas after a five-year break between albums. Return to Zero, thoroughly modern in its production and classic in its inspiration, will probably not turn out to have been the most influential or landmark Spiritual Beggars album, but it does showcase a band comfortable in their sound willing themselves to try new things. If you’re at all a fan of straightforward rock songwriting, you probably don’t need me to recommend Amott’s work, but if you’ve yet to discover Spiritual Beggars for yourself, Return to Zero isn’t a bad place to start. The album isn’t perfect, there are some lulls, but the performances of Amott, Papathanasio, D’Angelo, Witt and Per Wiberg and His Magical Mystery Moustache are not to be missed.

Spiritual Beggars official-type website

InsideOut Music

As regards that (listening), Addicts is a curious case. While “High on Hate,” which follows a minute and a half of spell-it-out introduction, could easily fit into a black metal mold at least as established by the last album, much of Nachtmystium’s material on the second offering of their Century Media era finds itself pushing forcefully outside the lines of that genre. “Nightfall” begins with and maintains a spirit akin to Queens of the Stone Age’s “No One Knows,” and the insistent/incessant keyboard runs of “No Funeral” (provided by producer Sanford Parker) would also seem to place the track elsewhere categorically. Yet, throughout these songs and later genre-benders, the production maintained is thoroughly black metal, by which I mean lo-fi and almost purposefully underproduced. A headphone session reveals more psychedelic complexities of sound that regular speaker listening glosses over, and though I personally find it harder to listen to Addicts because of this, it can only be on purpose, since with the likes of Sanford Parker and Nachtmystium main man Blake Judd at the helm of the recording, it’s not as though either party doesn’t know what they’re doing.

Rather, I think it’s a case of Judd and whoever in the rotating cast of Nachtmystium players with whom he wrote these songs having simply outgrown the style in which they began – namely black metal. I’m sure if you were to ask Judd what he thinks of black metal, he’d say either that he doesn’t play it or that he doesn’t give a shit (and both may be true), but if genre concerns weren’t on his mind at least on some level, they wouldn’t be acknowledged in the album’s title at all, let alone in the fucking-with pun manner they are. So what we get is “black meddle,” reshaping a genre the band would probably be better off leaving behind altogether, at least in terms of production. Hell, if you want to compare labelmates, look at the Triptykon CD Century Media released earlier this year. Every nuance of that album was up front and clear, whereas with Addicts I feel like something’s trying to hide from me while I listen, as though Judd is embarrassed by his creativity and sans-box songwriting. Push that to the fore. I don’t give a shit if it’s kvlt. I want it to kick my ass, and if the corpsepaint needs to go for that to happen, so be it.

By way of a comparison point, I’ll liken it to Metallica’s Ride the Lightning, by which point the band had most definitely gone beyond their simple thrash starting point and was in the process of becoming something entirely different and unto themselves. Yet, if you listen to that album, it’s still produced like a thrash album and the songs ultimately suffer for it. Nachtmystium are in a similar position here. I won’t decry the work of Parker because he’s more than proven himself a capable producer over the course of the last decade, but it’s the overall mindset that opted for the black metal aesthetic that I think does the material a disservice. Even as the catchy “Addicts” plays out with its throttling, driven rhythms, I can’t help but feel there’s more going on dramatically with the track than the genre can hold. Go beyond, gentlemen.

That said, if we’re still going to classify it as such (and I think the overall feel of the album demands that we do), Addicts: Black Meddle Pt. 2 is hands down the best American black metal album you’re going to hear this year. With session drums from Leviathan’s Wrest, guest vocals from Yakuza’s Bruce Lamont, guitar work donated by Russ Strahan (ex-Pentagram) and Matt Johnson (Pharaoh), not to mention a live incarnation with members of Lord Mantis and Avichi, Nachtmystium is more than practically a supergroup, even if it’s still Judd steering the ship. It’s worth noting that the early drive noted in tracks like “Nightfall” and will to defy the standard procedure to which so many bands adhere does not dissipate in the album’s later material, whether it’s the extended guitar passage of “The End is Eternal’ (echoes of “Assassins” from the last album), the underlying sample work on “Blood Trance Fusion” or the explicitly doomed pacing of closer “Every Last Drop.” The cohesive component of Addicts is Judd’s blatant musical rebellion, and though there are disparate sounds, what gives the album its strength is the confidence with which it’s executed and the consistency of theme and approach across the board.

Perhaps that’s the purpose of the production; to provide a common base and set up Addicts more as an album than a collection of individually conceived tracks. If that’s the case – and even if it’s not – Nachtmystium’s fifth full-length can’t be called anything but a success. It proves the outfit is growing, changing and becoming a unique beast, which is the goal of any band looking to make a difference. I’ll stop short of waxing hyperbolic on the future impact on American black metal or Nachtmystium’s import in the genre it seems to be struggling against, but suffice it to say Addicts: Black Meddle Pt. 2 continues and expands the mission laid out on its predecessor, and thus well earns any and all hype it may or may not be getting.

Nachtmystium on MySpace

Century Media

Century Media, to whom Monotheist was also licensed for release back in 2006 (time does fly), sent over some mp3s of Eparistera Daimones for review, but I knew that, as with Monotheist, if I wanted to really get a sense of what this album was about, I needed the real deal. So I bought it. Whether or not that makes me morally superior to anyone who by now has downloaded this blackened metallic beast is a debate for another time (but we all know it does); the point is that, with the expository liner notes, with H.R. Giger’s explicit cover art — covered in the CD packaging by a strategically placed promo sticker – with the production info, with the lyrics, I feel like it’s possible to get a more fully realized notion of what Eparistera Daimones is trying to accomplish. In a word, that is “iconoclasm.”

How else to explain the vicious turns, unexpected twists and occasionally unleashed, unhinged aggression of Triptykon’s debut? Clearly this is an album that, while knowing of the expectations pinned on it and the revitalized reputation it’s going to be responsible for upholding, doesn’t give a shit and is going to do what it’s going to do. Joining Warrior on the release are drummer Norman Lonhard, bassist Vanja Slajh, numerous guests, and former Celtic Frost live guitarist V. Santura, whose modern black metal vocals contrast with Warrior’s own to great effect on early cuts “Goetia,” “Abyess Within My Soul” and blistering centerpiece “A Thousand Lies.” If there’s one single factor that separates Triptykon from Celtic Frost (the absence of Martin Eric Ain being obvious to the point of not really needing to be said), it’s Santura’s contributions. Plus, as a co-producer with Warrior, his affect on the overall sound of Eparistera Daimones is even broader, and judging from the outcome, it’s much to the album’s benefit.

As previously alluded, much of Eparistera Daimones’ material draws directly from Celtic Frost. “Myopic Empire” might read lyrically like Warrior discussing the dissolution of his creative partnership with Ain late this past decade, but actually, the song is originally from 1993 — the last time Frost broke up. “Abyss Within My Soul” probably would have been a Celtic Frost song, the ambient near-love song “My Pain” was a rejected Monotheist demo and sprawling, glorious 22-minute closer “The Prolonging” was begun while they were still together and finished for Triptykon. The connections are there in terms of both timing and sonics, but there are also moves made — the extended grand piano sequence in “Myopic Empire,” or the whole of “My Pain,” for example — that reach beyond the bounds of what Celtic Frost as an entity accomplished.

Of course, with the stunning opening duo, the doomed atmosphere of the closer, the absolute landmark of its midsection and surprises like the instrumental mood piece “Shrine” and the sudden tempo switch near the end of “Descendant,” there can be little doubt Eparistera Daimones will be one of 2010’s metallic high points. Warrior has transcended his past while acknowledging it, moved beyond Celtic Frost in a way that fans longing for a sequel to Monotheist will be able to appreciate while also introducing previously unseen sides of his creativity that make the album a standout in an already legendary discography. Whatever the future holds for Triptykon, Celtic Frost and Warrior, Eparistera Daimones is proof that the guitarist/vocalist is one of underground metal’s most revered and respected figures for good reason. If this is the beginning of a new legacy, sign me up.

Triptykon on MySpace

Century Media

Faith Divides Us – Death Unites Us is not an album I’ve consistently gone back to, but for some reason, I recently clicked open the folder of promo mp3s from which the review was written and gave it another shot. It’s still formulaic, but as I stood with the copy of it in my hands and debated taking it to the register, I realized formulaic was exactly what I wanted. There’s no question there’s some filler toward the record’s back half — I know that now even more than the first time around — but that’s what I wanted. A metal album. Something I could put on and not think about. A couple catchy choruses, some decent guitar work, and done. Mind-boggling complexity is wonderful, but sometimes you just want to relax.

I felt way back in August and still feel “As Horizons End” is the strongest cut on the record. It’s the one that led me back to Faith Divides Us – Death Unites Us, and a good portion of motivation for any subsequent listens will be to hear that one song. But what follows it, at least for the next four songs until you get past the title track, isn’t half bad either. I doubt the purchase will instill in me a wholesale new affection for the album, but hey, at least I know it’s on the shelf should I decide to pay it another visit half a year from now.

Anyhoosier, Century Media via the PR wire has info on Assassins Part II. Looks to be a star-studded affair:

This vicious, uncompromising group, led by mastermind Blake Judd are currently recording with Sanford Parker (Minsk) at Volume Studios. They have also enlisted the talents of Wrest (Leviathan, Lurker of Chalice, Twilight) to record all drum tracks, as well as Will Lindsay (Wolves in the Throne Room, Middian) on bass for the much anticipated Assassins Part II, which was hailed by Decibel as “One of the 25 most anticipated albums of 2010.”

Nachtmystium kicks off their 2010 touring cycle by joining up with German thrash legends Kreator so head over to www.myspace.com/nachtmystium to view their complete touring itinerary.

Judd further describes his excitement over this upcoming album: “Our love for post rock and industrial (à la Ministry, Killing Joke, etc.) is even more present this time around. We’re hoping to make a record that will continue to push extreme music into uncharted territories. We hope to see you all soon.”

…And sometimes you stick your foot so far in your mouth that you actually bend over backwards from the force of it and shove your head right up your ass, where it seems to have been the whole time anyway.

My recent phone interview with Fu Manchu guitarist/vocalist Scott Hill was one of the latter. Everything was going fine, really good in fact, until I brought the conversation to a screeching halt by confusing Fu Manchu drummer Scott Reeder with the former Kyuss bassist of the same name. “Uh, I think you got the wrong Scott Reeder,” Hill said. What a fucking trainwreck.

I’ve cut it out of the Q&A after the jump, mostly out of embarrassment, but I felt it would be dishonest (though infinitely more professional) not to bring it up, since it has stained the interview in my mind and I’m unable to think of the one without the other. Obviously Scott Hill will survive, and I have plenty of experience being a god damned idiot, so I will as well, but man, that sure did suck. The worst part was I knew it wasn’t the same dude.

Fu Manchu‘s latest album, Signs of Infinite Power is available now on Century Media. Please enjoy the interview. I wish I could.

You?re in Texas today?

We are in Houston, Texas, yes.

How are the shows going?

Good, good. Everything?s going well.

Is this just a warm-up for bigger touring?

We?ve been on the road for about three weeks. We?re just doing like a three and a half week tour, come home for Thanksgiving, then we were gonna hit the east coast for a couple weeks in December before Christmas, but I think we?re gonna push that back until January or February of next year. We were just gonna fly out to the east coast and rent a van and trailer, but this way we?ll have a little more time to drive out and play a few more shows and stuff.

December always sucks on the east coast anyway.

Yeah, we were kind of worried about the weather and stuff anyway. We were in that huge storm in Denver a week ago. It was the biggest storm in 12 years and we were right in the middle of it. Couldn?t leave, had to cancel Minnesota and the Denver show. We were kind of like, ?Maybe we shouldn?t go in December to the east coast. Might not be the best time.? We?re gonna go beginning of next year. Seriously, you couldn?t have gotten more in the middle of it than we were. It sucked.

January/February isn?t much better.

Yeah, I know, I know, I know. We might have to take a chance though.

It?s hard to listen to Fu Manchu, especially being in Jersey, and think of anything but the summer sun.

(Laughs) Yeah. Well, there you go. You?ve got four guys from Orange County by the beach stuck in the middle of the biggest snow storm in 12 years. We did not have the proper clothing either, believe me.

It?s hard to separate this album from the fact that you guys are on the precipice of 20 years as a band. Do you think about that? Do you have any reflections on the time you?ve been doing this?

I didn?t really think about it until management were bringing it up and the record label and stuff. I can?t believe we?ve been around for — next year will be 20 years. We?re still around and we?re enjoying it as much as we did when we started. That?s the main thing to me. If I didn?t like it as much, I definitely wouldn?t be doing it. I don?t really think about it too much. If I think about it too much, I might be like, ?What the hell have I been doing all these years.? We just enjoy playing live, that?s about it.

How have your feelings on it changed? Touring now can?t be the same as 20 years ago.

We started touring, a lot of heavy touring, in ?94. We were opening for Monster Magnet on their Dopes to Infinity tour. It?s easier now because we?ve got a bigger fanbase and we can get a little higher guarantees to help the tour keep going, whereas before, if you don?t make any money, it?s hard to get from city to city. It?s not easy to do, but it?s running smoother now that we?ve been doing it for so long.

You?ve been everywhere at this point. Is there a certain charm to it that?s dulled over the years? You hit the same venues, the same towns.

You know, we?re going to Austin today, playing Austin, and every time we go there, we know we?re gonna eat barbecue food before the gig. We look forward to stuff like that or going to New York or Boston or up to Seattle. We hit the same places, but we enjoy going there. We?ll play different clubs, switch it up a little bit, but we definitely have our favorite things we like to see when we?re out on tour.

What?s good in Nebraska?

Good in Nebraska? I don?t know if we?ve ever played in Nebraska.

Book it!

Yeah, maybe. I?m trying to think. We probably have at some point, but I can?t remember.

Fair enough. Is it safe to say Signs of Infinite Power is a continuation of the sound of We Must Obey?

Um, a little. I think with this record we wanted to get more of a live sound, like how we are on stage and not get everything so big and boomy. With this record we all sat in the same room with the drums. Reeder would count us off with the drumsticks and there we go. We?d do maybe two or three takes and that was it. Even if there?d be some screwups, we?d keep it, just because we wanted more of a live sound, more of a raw sound. I think We Must Obey was a little more aggressive, whereas this one has more mid-tempo stuff. It still has the weird breaks and shit, but yeah, it?s not too much of a departure from the last record, but sound-wise, I think this is, at least for me, what I like a lot more.

It?s interesting to hear you say that, because I was listening to the two to compare, and they are similar tonally, but there?s a different intensity to each one. I guess it is that live sound that makes the difference there.

Yeah. With We Must Obey, Reeder was in a different room, we were in a different room playing. We?re so used to practice where we?re all right in each other?s faces in the same room. With this record, that?s how we did it, and I think that showed in the recording. That?s how we write the songs, all together in one small room, and that?s how we did this record.

Was that something specifically you wanted to do differently this time?

Yeah, definitely. For us, playing in the same room as the drummer, it just seems easier to me that way, because we cue a lot off Reeder, going into the next part or stalling, we look at him when we stop and go into the next part. That?s a big deal to me, because that?s how we do it live; we always cue off Reeder for different parts. This record, being in the same room recording as him, it?s just a lot easier.

Was doing it the other way an Andrew Alekel thing?

That?s just the way the studio was. We could have sat in the same room and stuff, but with this record, we worked with a different engineer and a different studio. We just had Andrew mix it because we really liked the job he did on the last one. Plus, the studio that we went to was close to home and we?ve never been able to record and then go home for the night. Always had to stay in a hotel or whatever. We could surf in the morning and then go into the studio. To me, that made a big difference. Way more relaxed.

You always hear people trying to get away from home to record. I guess after doing it the other way for so long?

I swear this is the first record in 11 or 12 records that we?ve done that we?ve been able to be at home. I definitely don?t want to go out in the mountains or in the desert or the woods or wherever the hell. I just want to be at home and like I said, go surfing in the morning like we normally do, then go home and relax, then go to the studio. I think we?ll record close to home from now on. I?ve always wanted to do it and we finally did it.

You?ve had the same lineup for a while, but have all the personnel changes over the years had an effect on the band?s sound in your mind?

This lineup we?ve had the longest of any lineup. We went through two other drummers, so that was a big thing. Each guy brings his own thing and I?ve liked everything about every drummer we?ve had. Luckily every drummer we?ve had has been good and had good ideas and has added their own deals to the sound. It?s pretty easy. Usually we get people we know. We never get someone we don?t know in the band. We?ve been lucky to do that. Whoever we get knows about the band and is not gonna want to come in and, ?Hey, let?s try and play a ska beat!? you know? It?s easy because we?ve all known each other, so no one?s gonna try and come in and drastically change what we?re doing.

How did releasing the Virulence demos come about?

There?s a band called It?s Casual out of L.A., and the guitar player/singer works at Southern Lord, and Greg Anderson owns Southern Lord. We started Virulence in ?85 and he was in a hardcore band around the same time. He ordered our demo way back then and he knew about the band and liked the band and sometime last year, was like, ?Hey man, you guys ever wanna re-release that record?? We?d never really thought about it because we didn?t like the sound of it, but we had so much demo stuff and live stuff that we never put out, we were like, ?Hey, shit, that?d be cool.? We tried to remaster everything, remix a few things, and there?s about 20 songs that?s gonna come out maybe Christmas or January on Southern Lord. You can see where we got our start.

How do you feel about that material now?

I listened to it. It?s cool. It?s very basic hardcore/punk rock stuff. It goes in reverse order from the last live show we played in ?89 to our first demo in ?85, so you can see how it mutated along the way.

It?s gotta be kind of weird for you to think about that stuff now.

Not really, because, for me, that?s all I listen to is all my old hardcore stuff. And I still hang out with the guys I was in the band with. I surf with them all the time. It wasn?t too weird. It was cool we got a chance to put it all out. People always ask me about it, so this is a good opportunity to have it out and have people check it out.

Any other plans for the big anniversary, other than touring? Anything special you guys are doing?

We might try and work out playing entire records straight through for a live show, like In Search Of or Action is Go. I know we?re gonna work on a DVD release last year that has everything from when we very first started up until now, we?ll record a live show. We?re gonna re-release a bunch of old stuff that hasn?t been available for years. So you know, I?m sure we?ll figure more stuff out.

Fu Manchu on MySpace

Century Media