22.05.2025 Triptykon

Graspop Metal Meeting

Dessel (Belgium)

Somehow, this really seemed to be the day of poorly attended shows. Just like the veteran acts Krokus and Savatage, who both faced large gaps in the crowd, Celtic Frost successor Triptykon suffered the same fate. Unfortunately, the large Marquee tent was only half full when Thomas Gabriel Fischer and his bandmates, V. Santura on guitar, Vanja Slajh on bass, and Hannes Grossmann on drums, took the stage shortly after 20:30.
Black metal is, by nature, not the most accessible subgenre for everyone, but compared to Nergal’s mass with Behemoth two days earlier, Triptykon would have deserved a much larger turnout. Fischer explored similarly dark themes in his songs, religious fanaticism, occultism, and everything that circles around that realm. Since the band hasn’t produced a large amount of original material yet, the setlist began with “Goetia” from their 2010 debut "Eparistera Daimones", before moving on to several classics from the Celtic Frost repertoire. The crowd that had gathered listened intently as Fischer slowly delivered his words over them. No one expected much action on or in front of the stage, and indeed the visuals consisted mostly of fog and shifting lights, all kept in dark tones, matching the atmosphere of the songs. After a brief detour into the band’s second album Melana Chasmata (2014) with “Aurorae,” the circle was closed with “The Prolonging.”
It was impressive to watch this black‑metal icon perform and to listen to his sermon delivered to his followers in the audience. Even though the set consisted almost entirely of older material, it cut straight to the bone. At just 50 minutes, the show wasn’t particularly long, but it still left you satisfied in the end. Sadly, Triptykon shared the same fate as the other genre giants that day: only a small number of spectators took notice of them. And they truly didn’t deserve that. The only band that managed to draw a fully packed field that evening was Judas Priest, who would take the stage shortly afterward.