Samael’s Vorphalack Shares His Ten Most Prized Metal T-Shirts

A metalhead’s t-shirt collection contains some of their most prized possessions. Sweaty, stained and torn, our shirts are chronicles of our lives, physical markers of a past time and place that we pridefully put on our bodies every day. They have a clear pecking order: there are those shirts you wear only when all the best ones are in the laundry, there are the absolute favorites you wear once every couple of weeks, and there are all the shirts in between, each with their own clear rank. To a metalhead, T-shirts are EVERYTHING.

Vorphalack of Swiss black/death metallers Samael is the latest to share his favorites for our new series My Metal T-Shirt Collection. Samael just released their brand new album Hegemony this past Friday, October 13 via Napalm Records; order your copy here and listen to the track “Red Planet” below. 

 1. Iron Maiden

My first concert, I was 14. My father drove brother and I to Lausanne and he actually came to the show. Michael Schenker Group were the opening act. A cornerstone in our life.

2. AC/DC

First t-shirt I bought with my own money. I saw the band for the first time even though my musical taste had already shifted toward heavier and darker stuff, but I still enjoyed the show.

3. Celtic Frost

I ordered this t-shirt through a mail order service. I had a few other Celtic Frost t-shirts but this is the only one that survived.

4. Coroner

I bought this one at their very first concert where they opened for Kreator and Celtic Frost.

5. Carcass

Back in the tape trading days we also used to trade t-shirts with other bands. I don’t remember what I traded away, but I got two t-shirts (including this one) and still have them both today.

6. Blasphemy

Also a trade against some merch or music. I’ve been in touch with Gerry for years… he always sent me the weirdest pics of his band.

7. Saint Vitus

I saw them live several times in Switzerland. I bought this shirt at one of their concerts but I don’t remember which one.

8. Cannibal Corpse

We toured a lot with them in ’94 in Europe and in the US. I got this shirt in exchange for a Ceremony of Opposites t-shirt with Chris Barnes at the end of the tour.

9. Neurosis

I saw them live for the first time in Germany while we were recording Blood Ritual. I saw them again a couple of years later in Switzerland were I bought this t-shirt.

10. Ministry

I bought this one at their concert in Lausanne on what was supposed to be their last tour… glad they’re still around though.