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Rating: After the not so acclaimed "Prey" of 2003 and after having recently produced a breathtaking "best of" and their first live DVD "Church of Tiamat", the legendary Swedish band led by Johan Edlund, with this latest work, has decided to transport us once again into that dark-metal dimension that made us discover them starting from the 1997 masterpiece "A Deep Kind of Slumber", in which, for the first time in the band's history, they shifted from an almost medieval Caribbean doom-death metal to a more direct gothic rock that is not at all superficial. If I had to define the new work of Tiamat with a single adjective, I would simply say that it is an extremely romantic work, where melancholic and dreamy atmospheres converge, reminiscent largely of the infrequent, but not rare, summer storms.
As long as the last work may have taken to listen to as well, if we had the chance to hear it carefully and if we also had the opportunity to pay particular attention throughout its passage, we may realize that perhaps for the first time in history, Tiamat have kept those promises that the leader made while progressing with the making of his latest work: the band's main goal was to create an album where guitar riffs, almost oriental melodies, and irrational atmospheres were present to convey how unique, if not perfect, they have been in adapting songs that turn out to be more catchy, but rather soothing for all lovers of illusion/irrationality. That "intellectual" album they had already set as a primary objective to achieve by 2003 did not succeed, and this is more due to the fact that "Prey" was released not long after the not-so-brilliant "Judas Christ". Well, "Amanethes" smooths all those flaws left along the way by its predecessor, which still has the merit of having made us travel on shores of sincere emotionality, refined and elegant but still not divine. The beginning of the album cannot but be impressive for a gothic metaller who is used to, when inserting the CD into the player, the first track of any Tiamat album (apart from "A Deep Kind of Slumber") being either very slow and essentially doom or a very atmospheric, natural, and relaxing intro. Instead, in "Amanethes", with "The Temple of The Crescent Moon" and the subsequent imposing "Equinox of The Gods", Tiamat are aware of having been able to illuminate those ruins of the Sumerian people that once tantalized Johan's fantasies. Another aspect to emphasize is Edlund's "new" voice, which through a very expressive tone accompanied, at times, by a clean, deep, and narrative voice and a melancholic and whispered growl, makes it clear that the years, despite having flown by since the band's inception, have not led to a gradual (almost normal in many bands) degradation but to a new and stratospheric originality that no one could have imagined. After these two songs, the sound of the songs stiffens, but Tiamat do not give up on sensual atmospheres, the rediscovered dreamy melody. We then move on to "Will They Come?" and "Lucienne", where the shadows of Sister Of Mercy and Lucyfire themselves hover and on the rock/blues influences of the magnificent "Summertime Is Gone" and "Meliae", where Edlund and the band's acoustic soul take center stage. The angry and energetic "Raining Dead Angels" and "Via Dolorosa" and the fascinating track following "Raining Dead Angels", "Misantropolis", which I would almost dare to call moving, do nothing but conclude an exceptionally high-level work, melancholic enough and fruitful from all points of view.
We conclude that Tiamat, with a hypnotic progression, have managed to create 14 tracks of modern goth from which we will be easily devoured, like a wave of the sea that for millennia erodes the same rock. This is all due to their perfect and vast compositional immensity that we will hardly forget.
Tracklist and Lyrics
02 Equinox of the Gods (04:34)
Listen to the angel sing
I can hear her crying
I can see her burning wing
In a burning church of shame
A bloody Mary in flames
Spoken infernal names
Rise from the ashes and do it again
Yeah, we can make it happen
My Nemesis, my friend
Why don't you stop to pretend
It's the beginning not the bitter end, no
Through the Genesis flood
We were baptized in blood
A military coup of the new God's
Rise from the ashes and do it again
Yeah, we can make it happen
This is the Equinox of the Gods
This is the Equinox of the Gods
Set the altar on fire
See the embers go higher
See the burning oils glowing
Sacrificial blood's flowing
We never bow unto thee
We went to Gethsemane
To kill your self-pitying Nazarene
Now all the cherubs are deceased
Upon their corpses we feast
The only good priest is a dead priest!
Rise from the ashes and do it again
Yeah, we can make it happen
We can make it happen
This is the Equinox of the Gods
This is the Equinox of the Gods
(Crucify her upsidedown
Impale her with rusty nails
Dress her up in a blood red gown
And gory, beautifully painted veil
Let her bleed to death before our eyes
Oh ooh
May she be punished and sacrificed
Oh ooh, oh yeah!)
The dirty nuns are in chains
No monasteries remain
The time has come for our Master to reign
Again
Thy kingdom is gone
Satan's work is done
And A-Bomb over Babylon
Rise from the ashes and do it again
Yeah, we can make it happen
This is the Equinox of the Gods
This is the Equinox of the Gods
This is the Equinox of the Gods
This is the Equinox of the Gods
Set the altar on fire
See the embers go higher
See the burning oils glowing
Sacrificial blood's flowing
Listen to the angel sing
I can hear her crying
I can see her burning wing
I can hear her dying
07 Katarraktis apo aima (02:42)
One, two, three, four...
Sons and daughters
Troubled waters
A stench of burned gasoline
Silicon and Codeine
Flooded highlands in misty haza
Mudslides and suicides
Earthquakes and gamma rays
Devilish acts of God above
Carried to heaven by a dirty white dove
And in the corner there's a broken man
His fingers are on the trigger now
And as the smell of dying embers
And rusty strings on his bow
A sound explodes and fills the room
And echoes beyond these walls of doom
Until it vanishes up in the air
With nothing more to come
Yeah, we must aim for the stars and we are gonna get up high
We must build another tower and make it though the fires
We must sail the seven seas now the water abound
We shall cease the deceased until the angels come around
With noting more to come...
13 Circles (03:48)
And now that we're dead
We've learned how to live
Our failures taught us how to forgive
And now that we've rise from the ashes of me and you
All our dreams shall come true
Floating in circles
Stars shall light our way
To meadows and fields, green as the grass
Where we lay down
Forever...
And now that we're clean
Our souls can be free
Our love is the only drug we need
And now that we're one
We don't need any God
Divinity flows in our blood
Floating in circles
Stars shall light our way
To meadows and fields, green as the grass
Where we lay down
Forever...
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Other reviews
By ElectricOne
This new album, long-awaited and desired, is truly a disconcerting disappointment.
The impression from the first listen is that of witnessing the creation of a compendium of ideas randomly put together and recorded.
By Matt7
The decadent, depressive, and so damn successful album will never return. And I scream: unfortunately.
Amenethes represents a gothic mess that is not successful at all, a machine that has now jammed.
