Triptykon - Eparistera Daimones (2010)^{Release ID: 6292}

Being an old Hellhammer/Celtic Frost fan, I was pretty excited to hear what this release was like & I haven't been disappointed. This CD is full of the crushing Sabbath-style riffs that I loved 30 years ago recorded with a greatly increased level of production. Tom sounds as angry as ever as he spits out his lyrics over an imposing wall of sound. Last track "The Prolonging" in particular is absolutely epic and is a clear highlight. Atmospheric interludes are used to break up the heavier moments and create a nice contrast. Unfortunately, most of the more up-tempo moments on the album are a bit of a let-down. "A Thousand Lies" sounds like a poor man's version of early Bathory & the outro to "Descendant" is a straight rip-off of the King/Hannemann solo section in Slayer's "Angel Of Death". However it is worth noting that this album is a bit of a grower with each listen opening up new surprises so I wouldn't be surprised if I end up bumping up my rating a little later on down the track.