Review Summary: This prolonging album will shatter an abyss within your soul, as your negative shrouds decay through this sonic experience.
Triptykon. WOW.
Easily one of the best, if not THE best, if not my favourite band to come out of recent times. This is a band that was an offspring of metal giant, Celtic Frost (who pretty much have a PERFECT discography, and YES I like Cold Lake), who disbanded shortly after the Monotheist album in 2006, which I wasn't THAT big of a fan of. These guys are two albums in, as of 2015, but this band has some SERIOUS chemistry.
The name itself, Triptykon, is a play on the word 'triptych', because it marks 3 bands that Tom G. Warrior has led. That being Hellhamer, Celtic Frost, and now Triptykon.
Triptykon released their debut, titled, Eparistera Daimones, in 2010 and was well recieved by fans and critics alike. The album title itself, Eparistera Daimones, is Greek for "To my left, the demons".
This is an album that Thomas Gabriel Fischer himself has said numerous times that this is as close as you can get to Monotheist. And oh, boy. Does it show.
This is a 9 track affair, clocking in at around 72 minutes in length, so the average song length on this album is around five and half to six minutes long, with two VERY long songs.
The production on this album is great for what it is, but there are times when the production seems a little unbalanced, but then again, it's Darkened Metal, so what do you expect? The guitars sometimes seem as if they were transmitted from Audacity; I have done this thing before when you play an acoustic guitar, and you turn the volume below the sound bar pretty much all the way up, and it distorts enough to sound like an electric guitar. That's what the guitar tone on this album sound like, to me as a listener. Not that that's necessarily a BAD thing, in fact, it just adds to the creepy atmosphere on this album, but it is something that needs to be mentioned.
Triptykon are also a very different band in a sense that they are one of the few bands out there today, that have a female bassist as opposed to a male bassist. And that is something that is very unique about this band. And, she does a spectacular job in this band.
The drumming is probably the best thing about this band (and this album), in my opinion. And that's not just because I am a drumming guy; I pay attention to the drums more than anything when it comes to music. The drumming is spectacular. It is very complex, progressive and just awe-inspiring, but dude, you look like Matt freaking Tuck.
The artwork is one of the strangest, weirdest, sick and twisted pieces of art I've ever seen in my life. But, it perfectly sets up the darkness of this album, and I think that a lot of it has to do with the colour scheme. Normally, you can tell a lot about an album, just by looking at the colours of the artwork and just the artwork itself; is it going to be dark? Is it going to be happy? Is it going to be brutal? Is it going to tell a story? Does it reference a piece of history? Is it going to tie in with the songwriting? etc.
As for the songs, this is a very dark album. You have fast and brutal songs such as the opening track Goetia, A Thousand Lies and My Pain. There are song VERY long, doomey, drone-like songs on this album, like the opener (11 mins) as well as the EPIC 19 and a half minute closer, The Prolonging. There are some really dynamic Avant-Garde songs such as Abyss Within My Soul, Descendant and Myopic Empire, and there is even an instrumental track on this album, Shrine, as well as a more radio-friendly song, Shatter.
However, for me, In Shrouds Decayed is the album's masterpiece. An almost 7 minute song, it is very droney and doomey. It's a very atmospheric song that does not rush itself. It's a song that builds and builds upon a simple beat and/or riff, and just gradually expands upon it, building and building it's way, until it's inevitable crescendo, and starts from square 1 all over again (Kind of like the evolution of Megadeth, in a way) and it is just one of those perfect songs that demands repeated and patient listens. This is a song that reminds me a lot of Falling Snow by Agalloch.
Overall, this is an album that is quite easily one of the best albums from ANY band, within recent times. I don't think I've heard an album this good since A Matter Of Life And Death by Iron Maiden, and that was in 2006.
Definitely a great debut and one that really showcases the true uniqueness and potential that this band has, which will be perfected on their next album.
SCORE:
4.5 stars (8.9/10)
BEST SONG/S:
In Shrouds Decayed
The Prolonging
Shatter (Japanese Edition Bonus Track)
MY REVIEW ON THIS ALBUM ON YOUTUBE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elGrZTSogJo
