Happy Birthday Tom G. Warrior! (Part 2)

Welcome back to our loving tribute to Thomas Gabriel “Warrior” Fischer, a man who’s written more riffs than you’ve had hot dinners. Tom G. Warrior turns 50 today, and is still creating forward thinking, boundary pushing metal of the highest degree with Triptykon, a good 30 years after Hellhammer’s first demo flipped the world of extreme music on its head. In Part 1 we took a look at Tom’s recent musical output, but now it’s time to cast our minds back to his not-so-humble origins in two of metal’s most legendary bands – Celtic Frost and Hellhammer. Before we start though, just one question… are you morbid?

Celtic Frost

Disillusioned with the negative reaction Hellhammer had recieved during their relatively short time as a band, Tom G. Warrior, alongside bassist Martin Eric Ain and drummer Stephen Priestley, regrouped as Celtic Frost. Their first EP, ‘Morbid Tales’, was released in 1984, and still stands as one of the most perfectly realised metal releases of all time. The eerie opening wall of disembodied voices never fails to send a chill down the spine, and furious opener ‘Into Crypts Of Rays’ thrashed harder and faster than pretty much anything else at the time. It wasn’t all blistering speed however; sinister chugger ‘Procreation (Of The Wicked)’ rolls slowly over the listener with a truly malicious intent. Don’t let anyone ever tell you lightning doesn’t strike twice, as Celtic Frost put out the equally awesome ‘Emperor’s Tales’ EP less than a year later, unleashing such undisputed classics as ‘Circle Of The Ty-UGH!’ – ahem, sorry, ‘Circle Of The Tyrants’, and the punishing ‘Dethroned Emperor’. Tom’s riffing had become even more distinct, with a very unique style of phrasing that many have tried to imitate, but none have truly captured (although Fenriz came close on Darkthrone‘s Celtic Frost worship record, ‘Panzerfaust’)!

This was followed by the almighty ‘To Mega Therion’ in 1985, a razor sharp and disgustingly heavy statement of intent that sent shock waves throughout the metal community upon its release (it was judged to be the 26th Most Important Thrash Metal album of all time in Terrorizer’s Secret History of Thrash Metal). Tracks like ‘The Usurper’ acted as a stunningly intense refinement of Tom G. Warrior’s entire musical output thus far, whilst slower, creepier songs like the enormous ‘Necromantical Screams’ (itself a re-imagining of Hellhammer’s ‘Buried And Forgotten’) would prove massively influential to the whole death/doom crossover, as defined by bands like Winter, Autopsy and Paradise Lost a few years later.

For better or for worse, Celtic Frost refused to make the same record twice, which led to 1987’s surreal masterpiece ‘Into The Pandemonium’, a fearless concoction of the classic Frost sound and all manner of bizarre aural treats, including a myriad of industrial, classical and goth influences. Unfortunately, this open minded attitude to composition also lead to 1988’s widely panned ‘Cold Lake’, an uncomfortable distillation of Tom’s unique riffs with an overt glam rock approach. ‘Vanity / Nemesis’ maintained this experimental streak, but was somewhat of a return to the band’s thrashier roots. Songs like ‘Wings of Solitude’ would fuse the trademark Frost chug with bombastic R’n’B style vocals; an odd mixture for sure, but marginally more successful than ‘Cold Lake’s poodle haired strut-a-thon. By this point, however, Celtic Frost seemed to be on it’s last legs, and they would call it a day shortly after.

Hellhammer

Tom G. Warrior’s first forays into the world of metal came in the form of the truly revolutionary Hellhammer. Taking the hard, fast and loud ethos of Venom and Motörhead and skewering it into something far darker and uglier, metal’s most infamous garage band created an unholy sound that continues to stand on its own even today.

Hellhammer put out a trio of demos in 1983 that were somewhat reviled at the time, but have gone on to be considered epochal releases amongst extreme metal fans of all persuasions. Perhaps most obviously, these demos continued to refine and define the fledgling black metal aesthetic that Venom had accidentally helped to birth a couple of years prior, but they’re also credited with creating the death metal genre (albeit in an embryonic stage), predating the initial Death and Possessed demos by a solid year. Not many individuals can claim that the music they made in their early 20s has gone on to define entire genres of music, but that’s just one of the many reasons why Tom G. Warrior is such a revered figure. If any renegade time travelers were to head back to the start of the ’80s and remove these rough recordings from history, you could wave goodbye to half of your record collection!

The first two demos, ‘Death Fiend’ and ‘Triumph Of Death’, would parade a similar style; namely, a bass heavy, incredibly lo-fi filth explosion. There’s a strong punk influence at play, but also something altogther grimmer lurking amidst these primitive recordings. These demos were rawer and nastier than pretty much anything that had pre-dated them, but it wasn’t until ‘Satanic Rites’ that the band would truly find their voice – and what a voice it was! Their third demo is still widely considered to be one of the most evil metal releases of all time, an oppressively dark collection of furious, no-holds-barred sonic grot. Every song on this beauty could be considered an all-time classic, and a metal collection that’s missing this vital piece of history is like a boat without a sail (ie, a thorough embarrassment)! Finally, the band would release their only widely available recording, the ‘Apocalyptic Raids’ EP through German label Noise Records in 1984. The EP boasted a much clearer production, but didn’t sacrifice any of the disgusting atmosphere that made Hellhammer such a force to be reckoned with. This release would be their last however, as on March 31, 1984, Hellhammer would be laid to rest, before the phoenix rose once again on June 1st under the new moniker of Celtic Frost. The rest, as they say, is history…

So, here’s to you, Tom G. Warrior, and many more years of fantastic music. Extreme metal would be pretty much dead in the water without you!

WORDS: Kez Whelan

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