Black metal may have got its name in Newcastle, England in 1982, borrowing the title of Geordie diabolists Venom’s second album, but it was in Nürensdorf, a small village in Switzerland, where metal found its rebellious spirit and a very real sense of darkness. Inspired by the energy of NWOBHM and punk, in tandem with the artistry of The Beatles and Pink Floyd, it was here that the young Thomas Gabriel Fischer found his calling – initially with Hellhammer, then in Celtic Frost, two bands whose names have become cornerstones in metal. As an outlet for the frustrations of a childhood in which he was neglected in his own home and an outcast in the wider world, the former were unlike anything else on Earth, with a sinister thread running through songs like the truly morbid Triumph Of Deat...
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