CELTIC FROST Mainman Working On HELLHAMMER Book

CELTIC FROST mainman Tom Gabriel Fischer has issued the following update:

"I spent hours yesterday in the presence of HELLHAMMER's two iconic former bass players, Steve Warrior and Martin Eric Ain. We interviewed Steve Warrior in detail for the forthcoming HELLHAMMER book, 'Only Death Is Real', to be published sometime in 2008. Although I had spoken to Steve several times in recent months in the course of the research for the book, yesterday marked the first time I had seen him in many, many years. It was emotional and, I believe, a truly special experience for all of us.

"The book will be a veritable treasure trove. Between the archives of Martin, Steve, and myself, we are in possession of literally hundreds of photos, a great many of them never before published. There also exists an abundance of rare or never before seen original artwork, logos, sketches, and so on. Moreover, we have received remarkable material from collectors hailing from Japan, Germany, The Netherlands, Switzerland, England, and the USA. The book will be huge, both in content as well as in format. And it will be the first time Hellhammer's story will be recorded correctly, and in the words of the former members. The information available today on the internet is, without exception, riddled with inaccuracies and outright misinformation.

"I began this book project on a much smaller scale a number of years ago, and it has grown beyond all expectations. It will mark the conclusion of a frequently difficult path for me and, I believe, for Martin, as well. It is no secret that HELLHAMMER was often a truly ambiguous, even outright destructive topic in my life. Or, likely, in the lives of all of the band's former main members. It was, for a long time, difficult for most of us to come to terms with HELLHAMMER's often chaotic and radically varied legacy. HELLHAMMER was much maligned, both during its existence and for years afterwards. Moreover, it was frequently very challenging to come to terms with how others interpreted HELLHAMMER and how they referred to and expanded upon what we had once created.

"I am very proud today to have been part of HELLHAMMER, and to have been granted to play with those who constituted the band. It was hard for me to get here. There were times of utter personal denial, for which I was criticized, almost certainly rightfully so. And yet many of those who felt compelled and qualified to voice their denigration with their big fucking mouths were so far off from the reality of what took place, both within my emotions and around me. It was pathetic. They all professed to know me, know my innermost thoughts, even though they at best had pieced together a distorted, moronic version of the actual reasons for my protracted path.

"There was only one person to have been there from the very first day of HELLHAMMER to the very last. That person was me."

Check out a vintage photo of HELLHAMMER (taken at Birchwil, Switzerland, January 1, 1983. Left-to-right in photo: Bruce Day, Tom Gabriel Warrior, Steve Warrior. Photographed by Andreas Schwarber, previously unpublished).