Question No 1
How often is the case when one can connect with a work of art, to the point of feeling one with its creator or feeling that this piece of art was made especially for him? The way I see things this is an extremely rare case. I know there are plenty of people that believe they have felt like this, but I happen to know that this is just a misconception. They just THINK they feel the connection with a work of art, regardless the field of art. In reality though, the average person is much too shallow to be able to establish a true spiritual bond with a work created by someone else.
Me, I always felt a strong attraction, a strange familiarity with Celtic Frosts music, be it the raw first recordings or the more sophisticated and abstract records like 'To Mega Therion' or 'Into the Pandemonium'. I don't know if I'm mistaken but I always viewed CF as Tom Gabriel's band and work, as the incarnation of his dreams, pains and desires. I used to feel that my growing up had certain parallels with C.F.'s path to maturity. From the brutal, clumsy or even naive first steps of 'Morbid Tales' and 'Emperor's Return', to the adulthood and the thoughtfulness of 'Mega Therion' and 'Pandemonium', from the occasional mistakes and failures that life forces you into (Cold Lake) to the attempt to get back on your knees (Vanity/Nemesis). All these are the stages one has to go through in order to rich the ultimate stage of absolute triumph, that in CF's case came with the monstrous 'Monotheist'.
'Monotheist' marked the end of an era, the completion of the circle. It was also the best record of the past decade (to say the least). 'Eparistera Daimones' starts a new era, a new circle. It is also possible that it will be the present decade's best record...that is except Triptykon's next works are going to surpass it. Which is not going to be an easy task. It is more than obvious that Triptykon is not just the continuation of Celtic Frost. It is more like a new incarnation. In that context I wouldn't view 'Eparistera Daimones' as a band's first album but rather as the next logical step after 'Monotheist'.
Question No 2
How common is a case of an artist that created monumental works of art in mid 80's, to surpass his own works 25 years later? I can't really think of no other except Tom Gabriel, at least when talking about music.
I wouldn't like to expand so much on the new record. I'm more interested in expressing the feelings it provokes to me. As was always the case with Celtic Frost, 'Eparistera Daimones' is also a work that I feel it to be extremely close to my soul. A colossal creation that I feel totally connected with. I feel that I am related with every single note, every guitar chord, every beating of the skins, every scream and whisper, every word that is spoken. I can hardly describe the painful experience that is 'Eparistera Daimones'. It feels like a vast amount of dark mud that drowns me. There is no way out, no escape. From time to time, the band offers me a glimpse of hope, they throw me a rope to grab just to cut it off seconds later and drown me deeper in the mud. A painful journey that reaches its climax with the way most proper, the unbelievable 'The Prolonging' which is like the whole album condensed into 19 minutes. It would be pointless to relate the record with 'Monotheist'. It would be pointless to relate with anything else at all. 'Eparistera Daimones' is a holistic work of total art, it is the whole cosmos, it is all that matters. It is a work I don't want to share with nobody, that makes me wish I owned the only copy and bury it deep in the earth so that no unworthy and filthy hands and ears would ruin it. This is TOTAL DARKNESS.
Damn you Tom Fischer...how much more pain will you cause me...
PS. Respect and regards from the most dark corners of my soul to Joe and his record shop that provided me with a promotional copy of the cd. The time would not come soon enough.
