TOM GABRIEL FISCHER: 'Success Breeds Arrogance And, In Some Cases, Boundless Self-Importance'

Former CELTIC FROST and current TRIPTYKON frontman Tom Gabriel Fischer has issued the following update via his blog:

"Success breeds arrogance and, in some cases, boundless self-importance. A mechanism which appears even more preposterous if the attention in question predates a particular person's presence to a major extent and is thus largely borrowed in lieu of being proprietary.

"Such conceit. Such ignorance. Such lack of composure and self-restraint.

"As I discover almost daily when faced with the aftermath of what has been destroyed and what has been said and done subsequently, I will find it exceptionally difficult to ever exonerate the one I hold largely responsible for what happened and for what transpired after it happened. Even now, thinking of CELTIC FROST and the group's final months leaves me feeling physically sick, when it should really be a sense of joy, accomplishment, and pride.

"Yes, my sentiments about this might be described as 'intense.' In the face of what so often was severe adversity, especially during the early years, if it hadn't been for such intensity there would have never been a HELLHAMMER nor a CELTIC FROST in the first place. No surprise, no apologies. I am intense. And so was my attachment to this utterly unique group named CELTIC FROST and to what it stood for."

TRIPTYKON's lineup also features Reed St. Mark (ex-CELTIC FROST),V. Santura (DARK FORTRESS) and Vanja Slay. The first audio sample, a track called "Cucifixus", can be heard on TRIPTYKON's official MySpace page.

Commented Fischer: "TRIPTYKON will sound as close to CELTIC FROST as is humanly possible, and the album I am working on will feature all the material I envisioned for the successor to [CELTIC FROST's] 'Monotheist'. I desire the album to be a darker, heavier, and slightly more experimental development of 'Monotheist'.

"'Cucifixus' is but one of many compositions to that end. TRIPTYKON is not defined by just this one song, however, just like CELTIC FROST was not defined by 'Totengott' alone."

Fischer announced his departure from CELTIC FROST in April, citing "the irresolvable, severe erosion of the personal basis so urgently required to collaborate within a band so unique, volatile, and ambitious."

It was reported earlier in the year that CELTIC FROST was putting together an album tentatively titled "Monotheist Companion" that will feature unreleased songs from 2006's "Monotheist" sessions and rearrangements of tracks from the album.