Triptykon‘s second album, Melana Chasmata (rough translation: “black, deep depressions/valleys”) will be released on April 14 (Europe) and April 15 (North America), 2014, through Century Media Records/Prowling Death Records Ltd.

Like its predecessor Eparistera Daimones, the album was produced by Triptykon’s singer/guitarist Tom Gabriel Warrior and guitarist V. Santura and recorded and mixed at V. Santura’s own Woodshed Studio in southern Germany as well as at Triptykon’s rehearsal facilities in Zurich, Switzerland, in 2013 and 2014. Those who have already heard Melana Chasmata have described it as “atmospheric, dark, diabolical, and dramatic”, “diverse, epic, and doomy, but on an entirely different level”, “a fierce boulder of abhorrence”, or “very heavy and yet very aesthetic at the same time”.

Melana Chasmata will feature the following nine songs, at a playing time of around 67 minutes:

1. Tree Of Suffocating Souls
2. Boleskine House
3. Altar Of Deceit
4. Breathing
5. Aurorae
6. Demon Pact
7. In The Sleep Of Death
8. Black Snow
9. Waiting

Further new Triptykon music has been recorded, to be released as an EP or mini album later in 2014 or early in 2015.

Among other formats, the album will be released as a 32-page Mediabook (with lyrics and liner notes to every song, and with a special fold out poster), as a gatefold vinyl double album (with posters and large-format booklet), and for digital download. Additionally, Century Media is scheduled to issue a special box set, limited to 2000 copies. The box set will include the album, a Triptykon silver pendant, a poster, postcards, a Triptykon tote bag, and a cap.

To commemorate the unveiling of Melana Chasmata, Century Media will release a collector’s gatefold 7″ vinyl single, featuring the songs Breathing and Boleskine House. The single will be available on March 17, 2014, and be limited to a pressing 1000 (of which 200 will be in red vinyl). Breathing and Boleskine House will also be available as a digital single (including the option for a digital booklet), and they will be streamed on YouTube and Soundcloud.

Melana Chasmata will be further distinguished by featuring, for the second time for Triptykon, the extraordinary art of legendary Swiss surrealist HR Giger. Following Eparistera Daimones, the group began to make arrangements for an entirely different cover for the second album. Completely unexpectedly, HR Giger approached Tom Gabriel Warrior in October of 2011 to express his appreciation of how Triptykon had used his art on the first album and to propose a continuation of the artistic collaboration. This development thus marks the first time any musical artist has worked with HR Giger on three albums (Celtic Frost‘s To Mega Therion, and Triptykon’s Eparistera Daimones and Melana Chasmata), and it commemorates a collaboration that has now lasted for 30 years.

Melana Chasmata features Giger’s dramatically mysterious Mordor VII (work no. 283, 100 x 70 cm, acrylic on wood, 1975) as a front cover and Giger’s Landschaft XVI [Landscape XVI] (work no. 209, 100 x 70 cm, acrylic on paper on wood, 1972) as gatefold art.

After a lengthy hiatus, Triptykon will return to the stage this year to promote Melana Chasmata. Among the concerts so far scheduled are appearances at the celebrated Roadburn Festival, at Rock Hard Festival, and, pending the issuance of the proper visas by US authorities, Triptykon’s return to the United States for an exclusive appearance at Maryland Death Fest.

Triptykon consists of V. Santura (guitar, vocals), Norman Lonhard (drums, percussion), Vanja Slajh (bass, vocals), and Tom Gabriel Warrior (voice, guitars).

Triptykon Live:

Bandsintown

www.triptykon.net
www.facebook.com/triptykonofficial

www.hrgiger.com
www.hrgigermuseum.com

Century Media online:

www.centurymedia.com
http://www.youtube.com/centurymedia
http://www.twitter.com/centurymediaeu
www.facebook.com/centurymedia

R.I.P. Oliver Withöft, co-owner of Century Media Records; long-time collaborator with Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, and Triptykon; and licensing partner to Prowling Death Records.

The following piece was originally posted today in Tom Gabriel Warrior‘s “Delineation II” blog, entitled “Consumed“.

“Even the stars in the night sky appear faint, a year after my demise.”

“We transferred to V. Santura’s Woodshed Studio near Landshut in southern Germany, a few days ago. It was a protracted and sometimes challenging drive through yet another freezing night obscured by often impenetrable fog, begun in Zurich after midnight and ending at Woodshed at 5:30 in the morning. A journey still rendered immensely pleasant due to the fact that it was Ascension’s Ar who drove, and the two of us shared both serious moments and inane humour during this nocturnal excursion.”

“We are far into the tracking of guitars for Melana Chasmata by now, and one can sense the music for the album as it increasingly begins to breathe. Ar’s assistance in this production is indispensable, not least due to his expertise, intellect, and understanding.”

“All that, and my Ibanez Tom Gabriel Warrior custom Iceman guitar has been retrieved from the claws of hell.”

The following piece was originally posted today in Tom Gabriel Warrior‘s “Visions of Mortality“:

“I had been alerted some time ago that the building housing this bunker was scheduled to be demolished, but I did not know when this was supposed to take place. It was therefore utter coincidence that I arrived at the site exactly at the time it all was happening, during one of my regular mountain biking tours through the area where I grew up and subsequently attempted my earliest musical endeavours. It was difficult to come to terms with this scene, in spite of the advance warning. So many things had taken place here, many of which would much later reveal their significance with regard to the lives of all involved.”

“I moved into this bunker in early 1982, with my first, utterly deficient band, Grave Hill. From the remnants of Grave Hill, Steve Warrior and I formed what would become Hellhammer, in May 1982. From its very first day to its very last, the new band was based in this putrid, mildewed bunker. Many of the earliest photos of Hellhammer were taken in it, and in June of 1983, we recorded the Death Fiend and Triumph Of Death demos there.”

“As Hellhammer never played a concert, the only live performances ever witnessed of the band took place at this location, when our small circle of friends would attend some of our many rehearsal sessions and, particularly, when we honoured the arrival of the new year with a full set during the night of December 31, 1982, to January 1, 1983.”

“We rehearsed and arranged Celtic Frost’s To Mega Therion and Into The Pandemonium albums there and practiced our music for our first extended tours in numerous endless sessions. Always accompanied by the bunker’s distinctive odour, and with instruments that would literally begin to rot if left there too long.”

“The bunker also witnessed the band’s miserable dissolution and infinitely disgraceful subsequent downfall as 1988 dawned. But this was also the year Celtic Frost was asked to vacate the location, as the village’s civil defence organization was seeking to refurbish and repurpose the bunker. It couldn’t have been more symbolic.”

“I visited this landmark of my personal path many times in later years, not least to take images when working on the Only Death Is Real book. I am glad now that I did. As I arrived there this August to be confronted with the scene depicted in the photos shown here, there was nothing left of the aura. Not a trace. The fact alone that all the trees around it had been cut down served to rob the place of any magic, even if one managed to disregard the debris-filled hole in the ground.”

“The warning signs couldn’t detract me, of course. I climbed across the chunks of concrete and descended down to the damaged bunker. Parts of it had filled with water, but the former rehearsal room itself still remained largely untouched. It was deeply peculiar to see it like that. I stood at the same spot I always used to stand when looking back in to check if everything was in order before locking the door and leaving for home, so many years ago. After taking a few pictures, I gathered a few fragments from the debris to serve as personal reminders and then left.”

“And every breath I take leaves a black void in my heart.”