V. Santura: Celtic Frost really liked Dark Fortress. When they signed with Century Media, they got lots of promo CDs to get a picture of the artist roster of the label. And it seems they liked Séance (our first album for CM) more than the rest. So they invited us to support them on their first comeback shows, which was a huge honor for us. Well, the personal contact was very good right away and it was great to see that both bands had lots of respect for each other.
A few months later, they where in need of a new guitar player and we got an email. First it struck me with total surprise, but getting the offer to join a band like Celtic Frost, even if it is just as a “session member” is a once-in-a-lifetime chance and it was clear for me that I would be stupid to let this chance pass away. When we toured the U.S. as direct support for Type O, it was strange and almost embarrassing to realize, that there are musicians that are one hundred times more successful and famous than me that actually really envied me.
Were you surprised when Celtic Frost disbanded and Fischer decided to form Triptykon?
I was mainly sad and disappointed that it was not possible anymore to save the band. With Celtic Frost a truly unique and outstanding band was dying. But I was not totally surprised, and if I'm honest I could have foreseen it a couple of months before, but I probably didn't want to see it. As drastic as it seemed, I now have say that it was the only right decision. I am extremely pleased how things have developed with Triptykon and I believe that this band will have a future.
Give us a preview of Eparistera Daimones.
The album is completely finished and is waiting to be released on March 22. I am extremely curious how people will anticipate this album, especially all those who were following Celtic Frost. But I am confident. Stylistically the music and the sound of Eparistera Daimones is very close to Celtic Frost and a worthy successor to Monotheist.
You will definitely hear that Tom Gabriel Warrior was and is the main creative force of Celtic Frost and now Triptykon. But Triptykon is also a new band with new members, that have substantially contributed to Eparistera Daimones as well. Tom has never done the same album twice anyhow, so it almost would be a surprise not to hear any surprises. Generally I think that the songs are a bit more complex than on Monotheist, less minimalist and the average song length is longer. I think it's a very unusual and somehow quite noncommercial album, very heavy, dark and emotional.
What other bands/projects are you currently involved with?
Besides Dark Fortress and Triptykon I play in Noneuclid, also together with Morean and Seraph. Noneuclid is a very ambitious and extreme band and hard to pigeonhole into a certain style. We have a new album ready, but haven't started to search for potential business partners yet. Since all our other musical projects consume all of our time already, there is almost no space left for Noneuclid. But we will perform at the famous Roadburn Festival in The Netherlands in April.
How did you get started in music?
Pretty late actually. I always had music in my head as a child. I was always inventing and imagining my own songs, but for some reason it took a very long time until I really started to do something with it. But since then I never stopped. I started to play guitar at age fifteen. It was the fourteenth birthday of one of my best friends, who is actually the drummer of Dark Fortress now. He was playing drums for about one and a half years and was also able to play some very basic things on a guitar.
I couldn't play anything, but nevertheless we decided to make some noise and jam. So I was sitting behind the drums and he played guitar and of course it sounded horrible. He couldn't really play guitar and I couldn't play drums at all, so after about half an hour we decided to switch instruments in order that at least one of us could play his instrument. So I started to play on this guitar and an hour later we had our first song. It wasn't art, but at least it was music somehow and that's how it got started. From that moment on we played almost every day and both of us really decided to practice and become good at what we do.
What was the first concert you attended as a fan?
I was thirteen and the band was called Messenger, the local metal heroes of my hometown. I admired the guitar player and singer of this band, he was amazing. Thirteen years later this guy joined Dark Fortress as the new vocalist..
What was your first band?
The Shroud. But we never managed to get a working lineup. I believe that the music of this band had lots of potential, probably more then Dark Fortress, at least back in that time. I considered it as thrash metal, heavily influenced by bands like Slayer, At the Gates, Grip Inc., Darkane. But somehow it was something new. But when three of four people who where in The Shroud joined Dark Fortress as a members, the band just withered away, because of the fact that we never found a second guitar player and the resultant frustration.
Two or three years later a friend of mine, the actual singer of The Shroud discovered a band that in his words sounded exactly like The Shroud. They were called Killswitch Engage. I hated the imagination that somebody else went through walls with this kind of music and that we could have been the first ones. But honestly I'm tired and sick of this kind of style, so it was better that it happened.
What is your all time favorite album?
Well, since this is an interview for a black metal band, I will pick out a black metal album:
Emperor - Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk, even though it is impossible to choose one album...
