Hellhammer

Hundreds of young Europeans who would later establish their own black metal outfits regarded Celtic Frost’s opening trilogy of albums as their musical counterpart to The Lord of the Rings, yet the earliest project fronted by the group’s central figure, Tom Warrior, took the far more rudimentary form of Hellhammer—the sonic equivalent of The Hobbit. With Warrior handling vocals and guitar, Steve Warrior (unrelated) on bass, and Bruce Day behind the drums, the trio operated sporadically for roughly one year between 1983 and 1984. Their Apocalyptic Raids demo nevertheless circulated widely through Europe’s underground tape-trading circuits long after the band dissolved, ultimately giving rise to the far more ambitious Celtic Frost. Even though the recordings suffered from a raw sound and uneven execution, Noise Records eventually issued them under the title Apocalyptic Raids 1990 A.D.