Band:	Triptykon
Album:	Melana Chasmata
Style:	Doom metal, Gothic metal
Release date:	April 14, 2014
A review by:	Auntie Sahar

01. Tree Of Suffocating Souls
02. Boleskine House
03. Altar Of Deceit
04. Breathing
05. Into Despair [Japanese bonus]
06. Aurorae
07. Demon Pact
08. In The Sleep Of Death
09. Black Snow
10. Waiting

We all know the story by now. Following the disbanding of Celtic Frost after the widely-hailed Monotheist, metal torchbearer Thomas Fischer announced the formation of Triptykon, a new project that would be dedicated towards continuing on in the vein of the final Celtic Frost album. The band's Eparistera Daimones debut showed a glimpse of Fischer's remaining committment to writing ominous, crushing music. Now, in 2014, Melana Chasmata cements it.

With Triptykon's sophomore album, Fischer and company offer up a worthy concoction of variety, that once again refuses to be pigeonholed into any one definite style, and is quite comfortable with exploring the possibilities that lie within the "deep chasms" of its title. Opener "Tree Of Suffocating Souls" harks back to the aggressive, thrashy style of "Goetia" from the debut, while other tracks like "Altar Of Deceit" lay smothered in the chugging, doomy crunch that's also come to be a signature of Fischer's style. The gothic elements, though not prevalent, are also retained from the band's debut, creeping in at just the right moments to show yet another facet of the music's dark, harrowing personality.

Coming with the diversity of sound is a likewise alternation in vocal delivery, that completes the whole of the album and helps greatly to reduce the staleness factor. Whether it's Fischer's trademark snarls, his more relaxed, sorrowful style like on "Aurorae," or even the beautiful backups from bassist Vanja Slajh, the vocals always seem to fit the music, with an excellent pacing of technique that doesn't really keep you waiting too long for either method to appear.

If Thomas Fischer still has anything to prove of himself as a musician, Melana Chasmata appears to do it, and clears up many doubts about his new project. Though it can get a bit monotonous towards the end, with "Black Snow" feeling like an attempt at re-creating "The Prolonging," and closer "Waiting" striking me as though it should've been combined somehow with "Aurorae," for the most part Triptykon's sophomore effort secures the position of the band as potent and commendable within the current scene. And, at least in the case of Fischer, is shows us that once again, just because you're older, it doesn't mean you can't still be a badass.