Tiamat - Amanethes

\r\nWhen Tiamat decide to come out with a new album, then you know that you have to listen to it even if it’s characterized as not so great or even cold. Of course I’m referring to open minded people, concerning their music tastes. You see, Johan Edlund never quenches his thirst and always wants to extend his ideas in new directions, combining various sounds.\r\n

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\r\nSince the release of Prey in 2003 we had nothing new from the band, except one compilation under the name ‘’Commandments’’. Fortunately their 5 years’ absence (the ‘’Temple of the Crescent moon’’ could be characterized as autobiographical and as a summary of all these years) were not in vain, since ‘’Amanethes’’ comes as a big surprise! It’s really amazing how elements of black, gothic, doom, and mid tempo rock (for a moment I wondered if I was listening to Pink Floyd) combined with clear and aggressive vocals can produce such a great result! Not many people can do this, but Edlund and his band, can. You just need to have the potential to manage gather sounds from all your albums in one, and come out with such a result. \r\n

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\r\nGreat example of all the above is this album that will come out from Nuclear Blast on May. While looking the artwork you can prepare yourself about what you are going to listen. A dark and gothic atmosphere prevails during the entire album. Some times it’s mixed with rock elements, some times with black metal elements, and some other times things calm down a lot. Johan’s vocals are either clear or aggressive, always creating a mystery and a feeling of melancholy. The production is good (but it could be better). Edlund did all the work by himself in Greek studios and the mixing took place in Woodhouse Studios in Germany by Siggi Bemm. Surely, Mr. Johan likes our country, since expect the production part, he used greek language for the name of one of the songs (‘’Katarraktis apo Aima’’) and for the final phrases of ‘’Raining Dead Angels’’ (a song that could have easily been a Rotting Christ one), phrases spoken by one of the two female voices of the album, which give something more to it. The instrumentation is well worked, and the oriental elements give a great feeling in the final result. In two words... a great and really inspired album! \r\n

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\r\nI do not know what else to say.. I do not know if you found all the above interesting.. For me one thing is sure.. I cannot wait to buy this album!! \r\n

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\r\nKaterina Zafeiraki \r\n

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\r\nTranslation:Panagiotis Agalopoulos \r\n

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\r\nMarketing is a pretty tricky “game” of the market.. Before you even buy, before you let yourself discover everything that music has to offer  you,  you have read so much about a new release that, possibly, either you will be so brain-washed that judgelessly   you agree, or you would like to stand for your opposite opinion, so even if you even agree with what you ’ve read,  you will try to support a different opinion, just to prove that you are not carried out by what others may say..Anyway, how all these have to do with the new Tiamat’s album, called “Amanethes”? \r\n

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\r\nI watch band’s activity almost since its first CD, time came and a forthcoming CD announced. Interviews, lots of talking, Johan lives in Thessaloniki, awaiting hit top! Whenever I listen to anything new that I was really looking forward to, I first satisfy my curiosity by listening the songs, the whole exploration of the artwork and stuff comes second..The only thing I had in mind, the only thing that left from everything I had read was a simple commercial phrase saying that this is the band’s best  work (what else could it be?) and that in case you are not familiar with the band’s sound yet, this is the record for you! Other bands of this genre have changed their sound in time, Tiamat were more preserved, without meaning that their sound wasn’t made according to their needs, I just think they came to this point in a much more “secure” way..By having published something like Deeper Kind of Slumber for example, is it appropriate to say that “Amanethes” is your best job? Let’s see.. \r\n

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\r\nShould I take it song by song? I believe this wouldn’t be fair for the final result.. Having music play, I think it was the third loop of the tracklist I somewhere understood greek!  I looked at the tracklist, saw song title, Katarraktis apo aima.. However that wasn’t the song that greek came from, I was already in the next one.. Even from the first listenings, I knew that the second half was much more beautiful than the first one..Even if I couldn’t find a discrete border for this split..Somewhere in the middle, everything turns to great, as if they did it on purpose! Maybe it’s because tempo is getting slower and the whole journey becomes much more “dreamy”.. I am pretty sure though that some may disagree.. The powerful intro will satisfy many older fans of the band, and this is the way it should be. But it’s when everything slows a bit when lame compositions get noticed.. In a CD containing 14 songs though this makes sense, and this is why I insist that the second half sounds more inspired! Meliae, taken from another era, the doom atmosphere of  Amanes, even if lyrically it’s above elementary level, Via Dolorosa and Raining Dead Angels, reminding of Johan’s angry side, the record’s intro, which’s main melody was stuck in my mind and kept singing it, I realized that once when simply walking, the medley of Misanthropolis and Amanitis, all these indicate that Tiamat are still here, and it wasn’t for wrong when they were considered to be one of the greatest names in the scene, belief I started to have when Judas Christ and Prey were published.. There’s just one negative thought in my mind.. Even in Judas Christ and Prey, it was clear every single moment that the band you were listening to was Tiamat, here there are several times that this unique identity of their sound isn’t present, this feeling I have.. \r\n

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\r\nPhilip Stavrogianopoulos \r\n

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