There were too many reasons to attend this gig and it would useless to point all of them here. For sure, TRIPTYKON have all the potentials to write a new chapter after the legendary CELTIC FROST since Tom Warrior is the band's leading force. So, having such an important persona playing live in your town is the first on the list featuring the aforementioned reasons.

So, the mighty METAL TEMPLE US team arrived at The Bottom Lounge in downtown Chicago right on the scheduled time for the most interesting interview with the Tom himself who proved to be a really down-to-earth person and extremely nice to talk with. I just have to say that my already-written questions went down the drain since the discussion we had, featured a will of its own…

A really delayed order at The Bottom Lounge (it was that delayed that our meal turned to be a treat from the manager) kept us in the bar missing the opening band of 1349. No worries, since I was happy trading their 30 minutes set with a couple of Guinness glasses.

After the adventurous but definitely enjoyable meal it was time for the second band to hit the stage. YAKUZA was the one and as Tom had told us we were prepared for something out of the ordinary. This Chicago based four piece band had many labels beside their music identity and on top of that two non-Metal instruments on stage; a clarinet and a saxophone… Now, I am not a bold guy when it comes to heavy experimentation on my Metal but, I had to trust Tom's suggestion to give them a shot. So, right on time the lights when out the trip to nowhere started with some saxophone melodies. The first thing I noticed was that YAKUZA were a really tight band that obviously had spent a lot of time in the studio rehearsing. The strange tempos and grooves led by the very good drummer were very hard to follow and from the listener's perspective even harder to comprehend. The tempos changes were taking the songs from doom/sludge patterns to fast breaks that also featured brutal vocals. The bass player's work was also impressive making YAKUZA look/sound solid as a rock. But, you had to be familiar to their music in order to get in the right mood and not spending most of the time trying to figure out what was going on… Anyway, it was a very good performance and a 100% bizarre experience for my untrained ears.

The stage was quickly prepared and few minutes before 22:00 the "Crucifixus" intro brought one by one the TRIPTYKON members leaving for last (surely not least) the dominating figure of Mr. Warrior. With a simple nod Warrior started playing the trademark riff of CELTIC FROST's "Procreation Of The Wicked" after the even more trademark short gasp: "Ough!". That was an excellent way to start the TRIPTYKON performance! The song was performed in slightly slower tempo in the ton heavy TRIPTYKON way that sounded totally wicked. Santura and Vanja dressed in black were following Tom's lead standing rigid in an attempt to breath the wicked cold air from the deepest holes of hell (yeah the deepest holes are frozen…) where CELTIC FROST's resides after the officially split up. That was not a concert for the singer to chit chat or trying to earn some attention by saying pompous words about "the best audience in this tour" or similar poser talks; that was all about the music and the blackness wrapped inside Warrior's mind where he tries to battle his inner demons. It was amazing watching him singing his lyrics with such a great passion. If you happen to read his "Only Death Is Real" book you will get to know a person that has been through a lot of things that he took advantage to fuel his musical passion.

The band's set moved to the 11 minutes of "Goetia" that was the perfect follower to the CELTIC FROST song walking straight into the hard of pure evil. The down tuned Giger-looking guitar hit us hard with the doom opening riff and time stood still. To my surprise the US crowd was active and totally into TRIPTYKON's music giving the band the acknowledgment for this brand new start. "Circle Of Tyrants" was next and was also performed in a slower tempo that enhance the song heaviness to the maximum. Band-wise Santura seemed to be the fitting companion in the side Warrior and did extremely well in the lead guitar parts and also revealed his singing abilities. Lonhard literally tormented his drum-kit and it was almost fun to watch him ruined the drumsticks one by one throwing sliver of wood all around. The weakest link of the band seemed to be Vanja; of course I do not have a problem of her genre but her onstage attitude seemed to my eyes over-rehearsed and for this she did not dived into TRIPTYKON archaic atmosphere. On the other hand, she is a new kid on the professionals' block and I believe she will get better with time.

"The Usurper" and "Synagoga Satanae" were the last CELTIC FROST stops leaving me a little disappointed for not having "Dethroned Emperor" my personal favorite from the legendary EP. The track from "Monotheist" was performed in a way that proved to everyone TRIPTYKON is nothing more than the logical continuation of CELTIC FROST and that Tom's songwriting is still strong and –of course– more mature and evil. Warrior addressed the crowd by simply and 100% honestly saying "thank you for your support" and gave us the final stroke with the 20 minutes of "The Prolonging" during which I totally enjoyed the guitar work and the killer effects during the solo part.

According to my standards, TRIPTYKON can continue in the path that initially HELLHAMMER and secondly CELTIC FROST carved some years ago. The music is on fast and raw like it was in the dawning of those bands but it is more evil and more personal than ever. Everyone can find shelter to Warrior's lyrics and maybe find a way to fight all the inner demons… or maybe sign a truce with them…

TRIPTYKON setlist:

1. "Crucifixus" (intro)
2. "Procreation Of The Wicked"
3. "Goetia"
4. "Circle Of The Tyrants"
5. "Abyss Within My Soul"
6. "The Usurper"
7. "Synagoga Satanae"
8. "The Prolonging"
9. "Winter" (outro)

(photos by the dark Emperor)