Triptykon

Melana Chasmata (Century Media)

When Tom Gabriel Warrior rebooted Celtic Frost in 2006, he became one of those rare auteurs to refresh an old project while playing to its strengths. The reunion ended poorly, but Warrior (né Fischer) picked right up with Triptykon and has been blasting away ever since. Melana Chasmata continues in the vein of latter-day Frost: doom-soaked art metal that’s both staid and strange, ponderous and graceful. The forcefully grunting Warrior leads his melancholy band through blazing thrash (“Breathing”) and mournful thunder (“Boleskine House,” “In the Sleep of Death”) with equal amounts anthemic power and brooding fury. If this record isn’t as compelling as Frosties past, it at least signals a veteran innovator still engaged in his craft.

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This article appears in June 27 • 2014.

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Michael Toland started writing about music in 1988 on the Gulf Coast, moved to Austin in early 1991, and has inflicted bylines upon the corporeal and digital pages of Pop Culture Press, The Big Takeover, Blurt, Amplifier, Austin.citysearch, the Austin American Statesman, Goldmine, Sleazegrinder, Rock & Roll Globe, High Bias, FHT Music Notes, and, since 2011, The Austin Chronicle.