Triptykon Continue Where Celtic Frost Left Off

If debut Triptykon's debut album, 'Eparistera Daimones' (To My Left, The Demons), sounds an awful lot like frontman Tom Gabriel Warrior's former band Celtic Frost, than the influential metal veteran has achieved his goal. "Musically, creatively, and artistically, I wanted this to be as little as possible [of a departure from Celtic Frost]," Warrior told Noisecreep. "On a human level, however, I wanted Triptykon to be entirely different."

That's because, after a 28-year-long on-again, off-again relationship with Celtic Frost bassist Martin Ain, the differences between he and Warrior had become irreconcilable. "The group had become utterly dysfunctional," Warrior said. "In the end, Celtic Frost were unable to fulfill the very purpose for which the group had been formed in the first place and then re-united in the early 2000s: to create and play music. Arguments, fights and discussions that turned in endless circles had become the main occupation behind the scenes."

Warrior didn't leave Frost without considering every other avenue, but in the end it made no sense to continue the band. In fact, considering the tension level during the tour for the Frost's last album, 2006's 'Monotheist,' it probably continued longer than it should have.

"It is near impossible to accurately describe how painful it felt to me to see the band degenerated to such a degree, and how sick I was to have to witness rampant egos running amok without any consideration whatsoever for the meaning of Celtic Frost in the eyes of the fans and the rest of us in the group," Warrior explained. "This situation had been building up for years, and I had attempted to alert Martin to its existence and the threat it posed to the group. He chose to ignore it and, at times, his own conduct even allowed for the situation to intensify. After enduring this for far too long and realizing I was incapable of reversing it, I had to face reality and leave the band."

To ensure that Triptykon would not face the same ego clashes that plagued Celtic Frost, Warrior chose the band members with great care. Even though he received "a large number of solicitations from metal musicians around the globe without asking for any," Warrior decided not to hold auditions and instead invited guitarist V. Santura and bassist Vanja Slajh to join.

"I had played some 60-plus concerts all over the globe with V. Santura when he was the live guitarist in Celtic Frost, and even back then we wanted to make him a permanent member of the group," Warrior said. "So that's what I now did in Triptykon. He is a truly gifted musician and producer, and he is absolutely professional and easy to get along with. Vanja Slajh has been a very close friend of mine for many years, and we had wanted to play together for just as long. I knew from the very beginning that I would ask her to join."

Triptykon launched their world tour on April 13 in Rostock, Germany. Dates are scheduled through Aug. 19 at the Summer Breeze Open Air Festival in Dinkelsbühl, Germany.