Apocalyptic Raids 1990 A.D. - Liner Notes

Liner Notes

Below are the liner notes of Apocalyptic Raids A.D., written on February 1990 by Thomas Gabriel Warrior. They're titled "The Macabre Existence of Hellhammer".

Way back in 1984 and 85, when Martin Eric Ain and I recorded Celtic Frost's first two albums Morbid Tales and To Mega Therion, Hellhammer lasted on us almost like a curse. Even though Hellhammer was the very reason we had thought over our goals and conceived the Frost, HH's left-overs kept being mighty rocks in our way. Many voices saw Frost as the same band with just a name-change. The lack of musical quality in HH made it almost impossible for us to get an unbiased reaction for Frost. To make a long story short, it almost killed all our work and dreams.

Yet it was Hellhammer that got me together for the first time with Martin and Stephen Priestly. Around the time when we in Hellhammer were about to record our first demos (Death Fiend and Triumph of Death, in summer 1983), there were those two guys who had just picked up playing instruments (just like us in HH to...) and came for almost every HH rehearsal to headbang!

When Hellhammer's unstable line-up collapsed once again, it didn't take much imagination to ask Martin Ain to be the bass player. Little did I know how much he would expand HH's frame of mind. Recording Apocalyptic Raids and tracks for the Death Metal compilation in early 1984 brought us to the culmination. The sheer brutality and extremity of the band was combined for the first time with a more sophisticated approach in the lyrics. The material was even darker and more radical than on the final demo Satanic Rites. But this extremity made us feel trapped. We were only starting, yet Hellhammer's "music" and concept touched limits already. Where would we go after "Triumph Of Death" (the song)? So, despite our love for the absolute brutal heaviness of HH, three weeks after the recording sessions, Martin and me left the band.

Strangely enough, the longer the more Hellhammer's work became cult material. We started to feel many aspects of its influence. By the end of the 80s, the circle was closed and we felt as proud about Hellhammer as back in the days when we played there. All those years, we got confronted so positively and so often with Hellhammer's that we finally decided to lay hands on it again and make it accessible again. Apocalyptic Raids is combined here with "Messiah" and "Revelations Of Doom" from the rare Death Metal compilation - something we always wanted to do, even back in '84. Those two tracks capture perfectly the darkest of dark groove the band possessed. Martin's work with the CD cover is intended to expand the frame and accessibility of the new collection of songs for the nineties. Yet, in no way can anything ever replace the original.