Thomas Gabriel Fischer (Tom G. Warrior), former frontman for the bands Celtic Frost and Hellhammer and current frontman of Triptykon, has announced that he has formed a new “dark music” project.
During an interview with MetalWani published Tuesday (26) about the recent release of Triptykon’s live album Requiem (Live At Roadburn 2019), Fischer spoke about the as-yet unnamed project, saying that it’s an offshoot of another of his bands, Niryth and a way to release music written before that project dissolved. As transcribed by Blabbermouth,
“I used to be in a project called Niryth, but me and the drummer, for the same reason that we had to dismiss one person from Triumph of Death — and those are very, very important reasons, crucial reasons, that there was no way around it — and for the same reasons me and the drummer, Pidi Leuenberger, left Niryth. But, of course, we have worked for one and a half years on that material. We have recorded it, and we recorded with my own label — we financed that — so I own that material, and it’s very strong material, I believe; it’s some of the best material I’ve ever written. Actually, today we had a major conference call with Nuclear Blast, and we’re gonna change the material slightly and add three new songs and then release it as an album later this year. I feel very strong about this.”
Fischer sees the new project as a clean start for him and Leuenberger. “It’s gonna be a different name. We left Niryth, and we left it to that person for what it’s worth. We wanted to have a clean start; we didn’t wanna have any bad feelings attached to it. So we formed a new band, and all the details will be made public very soon.”
According to Fischer, the project was supposed to have begun recording sessions for the album more than a month ago, but the pandemic delayed their plans. “We would have done this already and we would have been in the studio already if there hadn’t been a lockdown. We were supposed to have a major recording session in Germany one and a half months ago, and also a photo session. So everything had to be canceled, because everything is international and there was no traveling. So that’s the impact of COVID-19. But we have rescheduled everything, so let’s see.”
Asked about what kind of sound listeners can expect from the new music, Fischer said, “It’s very dark music, but it’s not heavy metal. It’s not doom metal or something like that. It’s difficult to describe. It is heavy at times, it’s very groovy, it’s very psychedelic. Sometimes it’s floating almost, like Pink Floyd. But it is very dark, very melodic, very mesmerizing and hypnotic.”
He says a name for the project has been chosen and will be revealed in due time.
Triptykon released the live album Requiem: Live at Roadburn 2019 on May 15. The album, which captures the first complete performance of the composition with assistance from the Dutch Metropole Orkest, had been more than three decades in the making. Triptykon is now setting their sights on a new studio album, which Fischer hopes to have finished some time this year, which he said to us in a recent interview.
