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Tom Gabriel Fischer (Official)
@rumorbid

23,198 followers

In early 1981, around the time I acquired my first Rickenbacker bass and began the path towards becoming a musician, I discovered Cirith Ungol's first album, Frost And Fire, at what was then my favourite record store, Musicbox, in Winterthur, Switzerland. The album enthralled me completely, even before I heard the first song: the epic Michael Whelan cover art and the iconic band photo on the rear cover, replete with double bass drum, flying-V guitars, cult poses, and Rickenbacker basses. Even given the early 1980s era of transformation in the metal scene, when newly released albums frequently opened a completely uncharted musical world, Cirith Ungol stood on their own. They had their own style, a mixture of hard rock, proto-metal, prog, funk elements and extremity. With Tim Baker's radical vocal delivery on top of it all, the album was one of the harbingers of extreme metal to come. When I met Martin Eric Ain in 1983, I found out that he, too, was a fan of the band, having heard the song Death Of The Sun on the first Metal Massacre compilation. The Frost And Fire album was also physically present as one of the main examples of how bold our new band was going to be when we formed Celtic Frost together in Nurensdorf, Switzerland, on 31 May 1984. During the many years since, I often thought that I should tell the members of Cirith Ungol that their work was an important part of the foundations of Celtic Frost. This was finally possible a few years ago, when my dear friend Jarvis Leatherby, who was instrumental in their reunion in 2016, became the messenger between our two worlds. Jarvis has often kindly provided me with good music, but as the pinnacle of his generosity must rank the lavish 40 Years Of Chaos vinyl and CD artbook reissue of Frost And Fire he bestowed upon me in 2022 (see photo). Not only was it an honour to receive such a gift, but it also closes a symbolic circle without which my life would likely be very different. #CirithUngol #FrostAndFire #CelticFrost #Hellhammer #JarvisLeatherby #DeathOfTheSun #MartinEricAin #RickenbackerBass #TimBaker #RobertGarven #GregLindstrom #JimBarraza #MichaelWhelan #TomGabrielWarrior #rumorbid #AreYouMorbid