Tom G Warrior Discography               

Thomas Gabriel Fischer, known fondly in the metal community as "Tom G Warrior", is an influential Swiss singer, guitarist, songwriter and author. Known mainly for his role as the singer, guitarist and principal songwriter for Celtic Frost, and Hellhammer before that; Fischer also performed on an early demo from Coroner, and released four albums with Apollyon Sun and Tryptikon, bands he formed later in his caeer. Over the years, Fischer has also appeared on albums from numerous metal acts, including the 2004 Probot project released by Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters and Nirvana. His influence is far-reaching, as numerous bands from all over the world have cited Celtic Frost as inspiration ever since 1984, when the band's classic debut Morbid Tales hit stores and took the metal world by storm. Fischer was born in Switzerland on July 19, 1963. His career in music began at the age of 18, when he formed Hammerhead with bassist Urs Sprenger (aka "Steve Warrior") and drummer Pete Stratton. The name was soon changed to Hellhammer, and the band scraped together enough money for a rehearsal room and set about practicing and writing material. Hellhammer recorded their first demo, Triumph of Death, on portable recording gear in their rehearsal room. The demo was well received by critics, but was rejected by a number of labels before catching the attention of a new German label called Noise Records. It was shortly after signing with Noise that Fischer brought in Martin Eric Ain to replace bassist Steve Warrior. Shortly after Ain joined, the band released its second demo, Satanic Rites. Ain, who was just 15 at the time, was credited on the Satanic Rites demo, but did not actually play on it.

Despite his youth, Fischer began to rely on Martin Ain, already an accomplished songwriter in his own rite, and the pair co-produced and co-wrote Hellhammer's first and only commercial release, the Apocalyptic Raid EP. The two made a decision in May 1984 that they needed to move on from Hellhammer, which they disbanded, and Celtic Frost was born. Fischer's new project hit the ground running, thanks to material written and recorded for Hellhammer, and released a mini-LP called Morbid Tales less than a month after the name change. Two more songs were added to Morbid Tales for the US release, turning the EP into an LP. Shortly after the release of Morbid Tales, drummer Reed St. Mark joined the band, and the classic Celtic Frost lineup was in place. With Ain and St. Mark on board, Fischer took Celtic Frost out on the road to promote Morbid Tales. While on tour, Fischer discovered that two members of his road crew had formed their own band called Coroner. The two musicians asked him to take part in their first demo, to which he agreed. The group released Death Cult in 1985, with Fischer co-producing, writing all the lyrics and singing. Interestingly, the two men that recruited Fischer for the Coroner demo remained members of Celtic Frost's road crew until 1986. Fischer then compiled five more songs of revamped Hellhammer material and released a second Celtic Frost EP, Emperor's Return, which was released in August 1985. Less than three months later, the band's first full-length effort, To Mega Therion, hit stores.

To Mega Therion is often included on a short list of albums that helped define the then-emerging death and black metal genres. Unfortunately, Ain was unable to take part in the first Celtic Frost LP, but returned to the band after it was recorded. Fischer was disappointed in the bass lines of Ain's stand-in, Dominic Steiner, so the band went in with Ain to re-record a pair of To Mega Therion tunes and an Ain original that would later be included on a reissue. The result of these sessions was Tragic Serenades, a 3-track EP released in early 1986. The band toured for several months, then set about writing their next album. Recorded in Hannover, Germany between January and April 1987, Into the Pandemonium arrived in stores in November of that year. The effort received great response from critics, many of whom began referring to Celtic Frost's sound as avant-garde metal. After a tour supporting Into the Pandemonium, Fischer decided to break up Celtic Frost, but was convinced to reform with new members by guitarist Oliver Amberg. The band went in to record a new Celtic Frost record, with far less input from Fischer than any previous Celtic Frost release. He would later say that he was dealing with personal matters and excited to have new members that wanted to help write and produce,a move he considered one of the worst mistakes in his career. Released in September 1988, Cold Lake was a disappointment to Fischer, critics and the band's loyal fan base. When the Celtic Frost back catalog was reissued in 1999, Cold Lake was intentionally left out. The album did help the band release a new audience, through the airplay of the single "Cherry Orchards," but the set's softer, almost Glam sound alienated hardcore fans of the group.

The disappointment of Cold Lake prompted Fischer to fire Amberg, who was most responsible for the disappointing effort. After taking about a year off, Fischer regrouped and hit the studio to record Vanity/Nemesis, which was released in April 1990. While the album was well received by critics, it failed to repair the damage to Celtic Frost's reputation done by Cold Lake. Fans rejected the album, which would be the band's last full-length effort for 16 years. After a brief tour, Fischer decided to shut down Celtic Frost for good, though a compilation entitled Parched with Thirst I Am and Dying was released in early 1992. Fischer would take nearly three years off from music before setting out to form another band. Early in 1995, Tom Fischer met guitarist Erol Unala and the pair formed Apollyon Sun, named after the never-realized final Celtic Frost album, "Under the Apollyon Sun." The band released an EP titled God Leaves (And Dies) in the summer of '98, followed two years later with the release of Sub, the band's only full length album. Apollyon Sun's sound was generally well received, with fans enjoying the industrial metal sound laced with elements of Celtic Frost's black metal legacy. It was also around this time that Fischer's autobiographical novel, Are You Morbid?: Into the Pandemonium of Celtic Frost, was published. The majority of the novel was written during Fisher's hiatus from music, and finally published in 2000 by London-based Sanctuary Publishing. The following year Fischer and Unala began working on material for a studio album from Apollyon Sun with the tentative title Flesh. The album was never completed, however, and Fischer reunited with Martin Ain to reform Celtic Frost in 2001, inviting Unala to join, as well. With Ain and Unala involved, Tom Fischer set out to evolve the Celtic Frost sound into a darker, heavier group. These efforts proved difficult, however, as an album would not be released for almost five years. In the meantime, Fisher was invited to take part in Probot, a project founded by Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl to pay tribute to his heavy metal influences. An album resulted, released in 2004, with Fischer singing on one of the tracks. Grohl had recorded the instrumentation for all the tracks several years earlier, and wanted legendary metal singers to finish the project. Besides Fisher, the Probot album also featured vocal contributions from Cronos (Venom), Lemmy Kilmister (Motorhead), King Diamond and Snake from VoiVod. In May 2006, Celtic Frost released its sixth and final studio album, Monotheist. Critics and fans alike welcomed the first new Celtic Frost material in over a decade, and the album has been consistently included among the top 10 albums of the 2000s by various metal publications. The album was released on Fischer's own label, Prowling Death Records, and distributed through a licensing deal with CenturyMedia. Monotheist restored the loyalty of longtime Celtic Frost fans and spawned its longest and highest-grossing tour. The band stayed on the road for over a year, wrapping up in Mexico City on October 13, 2007. The band has consistently declined requests to reunite for shows ever since. With his career as Celtic Frost's frontman in the books, Fischer has been focusing on his third band, Triptykon, since September 2008. The band has released two studio albums to date, with a third scheduled for release on April 14, 2014. While Tryptikon is a new band, Fischer has often stated his goal for the project to be a continuation of the Celtic Frost legacy. He has often described his work in Triptykon as a continuation of Celtic Frost.

Discography Morbid Tales, 1984 Emperor's Return, 1985 To Mega Therion, 1985 *Thomas Fischer's discography is rather large, with a total of six releases with Hellhammer and an impressive eleven releases with Celtic Frost. He also appeared on the first demo from Coroner, took part in Dave Grohl's Probot project, and has released a pair of albums with each of his other two bands, Apollyon Sun and Triptykon. Click Here to check out all of Fischer's work in our Tom G Warrior discography Gear Not alot out there in Internet-land about Tom's gear for some reason, so I had to piece it together myself. After scanning thousands of images of Tom through various eras, I've discovered that his favorite guitar is an Ibanez Iceman, since he's playing it in at least 95 percent of the photos I've come across. There are also some Celtic Frost-era photos, however, where Tom is holding a Flying V-style guitar, though I haven't been able to make out the brand. There's also some photos out there of Tom with a red stratocaster-style guitar, but again, I can't read the headstock. As for amplification, it looks like Tom has always used Marshall heads and cabinets, though I was unable to discover what series he prefers despite reading through dozens of blog entries discussing Tom's sound. Tom G Warrior & His Ibanez Iceman           New Releases Interviews Features Fibits Cd Store Music NEWS FORUM Directory HOME MP3's   www.fullinbloom.com