In a new interview with Greg Prato for Guitar World, Tom Gabriel Warrior (Hellhammer, Celtic Frost) reveals what kindled his unending love of Ibanez, the benefits of writing bloodthirsty riffs on tiny practice amps, and the “absolutely crucial thing that people completely underestimate in achieving a guitar sound.” In the following excerpt, he reveals some of his early guitar influences.
“It’s not very original but I would be lying if I didn't credit Tony Iommi," says Tom. I actually learned playing guitar by literally sitting in front of my record player with the vinyl of [Black Sabbath's] Volume 4 in 1982 - always putting the needle at the same point and trying to figure out how to play these riffs.
“I couldn’t explain it at the time, but I heard that Black Sabbath music and it didn’t follow the harmonies that you would expect from any other band. It wasn’t all melodic and logical. They always found some dark twist in their riffs, and I wanted to know, ‘How does he do that?’
“So, I actually sat down as a complete nobody - not knowing anything - and tried to find how he plays this on my own guitar neck, and figure out ‘What is this style of Black Sabbath?’ That’s how I started playing guitar.
“Then later, there were people such as Kevin Heybourne from Angel Witch. To me, he was a huge inspiration, because he, too, took Black Sabbath to a different level - which I totally loved.
“Of course, I was also blown away like the rest of the world when Ozzy Osbourne brought out Randy Rhoads. I couldn’t believe what I heard.”
Read more at GuitarWorld.com.
Tom Gabriel Warrior's Triumph Of Death recently released a video for "Messiah", featured on the band's debut album, out now.
Hellhammer's "Messiah" marks the earliest collaboration between the band's founder, Tom Gabriel Warrior, and his then new friend (and future Hellhammer bassist) Martin Eric Ain, in late 1983. While Warrior wrote the music, Ain and Warrior co-wrote the lyrics. The song reflects a generation's perennial foreboding of an impending terminal nuclear escalation in West Europe during the Cold War. Which, remarkably, makes it as topical today as it was when it was first created.
Triumph Of Death's performance of "Messiah" is taken from the group's Resurrection Of The Flesh live album, and the accompanying video clip was filmed during the group's concert at Dark Easter Metal Meeting in Munich, Germany, in April of 2023.
Triumph Of Death’s debut live release, Resurrection Of The Flesh, is the culmination of three concerts. Recorded in the spring of 2023 at Hell’s Heroes Festival in Houston, Texas, Dark Easter Metal Meeting in Munich, Germany and SWR Barroselas Metal Fest in Portugal, the album was produced by Tom Gabriel Warrior and Triptykon's V. Santura. The record captures the band at their primeval finest; raw, foreboding and heavy. The songs may date back four decades but here they are revealed to be still just as vital today as when they were written in the band’s infamous rehearsal bunker in the rural village of Birchwil, Switzerland in the early 1980s. From the thunderous opening chords of "Third Of The Storms (Evoked Damnation)" to the malevolent, morbid feedback of set closer "Triumph Of Death", this album is a sixty minute document of the overwhelming power of the live performance of Triumph Of Death, and it captures the spirit and intensity of these historic songs that have transcended decades to become revered and timeless.
Warrior: "This album is, most importantly, testament to the unique connection that exists between the audience and this band. Hellhammer's music was an underground token in 1982 to 1984, often ridiculed and shunned, and we owe the fact that we are now able to perform it all across the globe entirely to grace, openness, and enthusiasm of those who make exactly these concerts possible. They give us as much as we given them, and my gratitude to them knows no limits."
For special orders and exclusive merch bundles, head here.
Tracklisting:
"The Third Of The Storms (Evoked Damnation)"
"Massacra"
"Maniac"
"Blood Insanity"
"Decapitator"
"Crucifixion"
"Reaper"
"Horus/Aggressor"
"Revelations Of Doom"
"Messiah"
"Visions Of Mortality"
"Triumph Of Death"
Bonus 7” song (Super deluxe edition only):
"Decapitator" (Live In Houston)
"Massacra" video:
Triumph Of Death lineup:
Tom Gabriel Warrior - voice/guitar
André Mathieu - guitar/vocals
Jamie Lee Cussigh - bass
Tim Iso Wey – drums
