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Rating: Tiamat is a group that is difficult to categorize for any fan of extreme music: born in the late '80s in the cold Swedish lands, they began their artistic journey, like many other bands from their homeland, with death metal, experimenting with different sounds in each album. The best work in this sense is undoubtedly "Wildhoney", released in 1994, and regarded by many as the band's best work.
In this work, the group offers a very varied gothic metal, sometimes sunny, sometimes dark and claustrophobic, always and nevertheless very evocative. It's curious how they chose to connect each track with the next: we can see the work as a single majestic suite, in which every "movement" becomes indispensable for the overall structure of the work. The only flaw might be the high number of instrumental tracks (4 out of 10 songs), which makes the work a bit too short in the end.
The album opens with the title track, a 53-second mini-instrumental, which introduces us, amidst chirping birds and cricket sounds, to the beautiful "Whatever That Hurts", a majestic gothic/doom piece, where the growled chorus dominated by guitars is contrasted by verses with whispered vocals in a psychedelic and dark atmosphere (it reminds me a lot of Pink Floyd's "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun"). The lyrics (like all the others) are both hermetic and poetic: "Cobweb sticks to molten years/ Cockroaches served with cream/ I wipe the silver bullet tears/ And with every tear a dream". "The AR" develops along the same lines as the previous song, adding female choirs and an extra dose of despair. The central break, played only by guitar over a background of electronic noises, is beautiful. "25th Floor" is a very unsettling instrumental that leads into "Gaia", another gem of the album: over a pompous background dominated by keyboards and choirs, the singer and guitarist Johan Edlund (author of almost all the songs and lyrics) recites a poem dedicated to Nature, in all its beauty. The piano solo, followed by the guitar solo, only serves to make the atmosphere of the piece more solemn. "Visionaire" is another excellent piece, but it is a less inspired track than those preceding it. Another brief instrumental, "Kaleidoscope", introduces us to "Do You Dream of Me?", a very heartfelt acoustic ballad that resolves in a long guitar solo. The longest instrumental is "Planets", almost an ambient music track, thanks to its relaxed and keyboard-rich atmosphere. It closes with the long (8-minute) and sunny "A Pocket Size Sun", featuring a duet between Johan Edlund and Birgit Zacher. Putting aside the desperate atmospheres of the earlier tracks, this piece cradles us with its soothing, almost lullaby-like melody. The last few minutes alternate between more relaxed and more lively moments, with the most significant contribution coming from the drums.
A beautiful and very peculiar album, despite the more than 10 years since its release.
SCORE = 8
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
02 Whatever That Hurts (05:48)
Decoction of Jimsonweed
Slimy trailing plants distil
Claustrophobia and blood mixed seed
Cursed downstairs against my will
Cobweb sticks to molten years
Cockroaches served with cream
I wipe the silver bullet tears
And with every tear a dream
With every tear a dream..
Honey tea, psilocybe larvae
Honeymoon, silver spoon
Psilocybe tea
Energy trickles with the tide
Masterminds and the suicide squad
Drink acid water by my side
Stake the saviour of thier daily fraud
Overfilled toothpaste tubes
Sleepless and timeless faces
Drippety drop on sugarcubes
The one eyed's eye twinkles and gazes
Twinkles and gazes...
Honey tea, psilocybe larvae
Honeymoon, silver spoon
Psilocybe tea
03 The Ar (05:04)
Within the heart of every man
This symbol is its deep
A truly all-descending power
But unfortunately still asleep
You may put your hands before your eyes
But its gleam it's neverending
How much you turn it inside oout
It conceals just understanding
"The five pointed grey star carven
The sign of the Aryan Race
The five pointed grey star carven
On the forehand of an evil face"
04 25th Floor (01:50)
A new serum eradicates the illness
An old man rises from his wheelchair
When suffering unknown attacks the painless
And common animals are becoming rare
As water spins in circles twice
Spiders, snakes and the little mice
Get twisted around and tumble down
When Nature calls we all shall drown
If the earth is dying of a growing thirst
Rain shall fall on dried out soil
And every kind of bud shall burst
A sough of relief to insects - turmoil
As water spins in circles twice
Spiders, snakes and the little mice
Get twisted around and tumble down
05 Gaia (06:27)
A new serum eradicates the illness
An old man rises from his wheelchair
When suffering unknown attacks the painless
And common animal's are becoming rare
As water spins in circles twice
Spiders, snakes und the little mice
Get twisted around and tumble down
When Nature calls we all shall drown
If the earth is dying of the growing thirst
Rain shall fall on dried out soil
And every kind of bud shall burst
A sough of relief to insects - turmoil
As water spins in circles twice
Spiders, snakes und the little mice
Get twisted around and tumble down
When Nature calls we all shall drown
06 Visionaire (04:19)
With a solar knife I split the sky
And walk right in between
To search the answers to every "why?"
Where I have seen the unseen
I stole the colour of the night
To get out of your sight
I am the Visionaire
Follow me if you dare...
I count the stars in my hands
And dream myself strong
To watch them twinkle on my command
As once a year in midwinter songs
I stole the colour of the night
To get out of your sight
I am the Visionaire
Follow me if you dare...
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Other reviews
By Gale
The notes of Wildhoney... unexpectedly cradled me... an atmosphere that brought to mind epic landscapes, made of castles and moors.
Johan Edlund’s voice is torn, sometimes morbid, but never excessive, managing to alternate parts with more 'angelic' singing to others that are hoarse and raw.
By OzzyRotten
If Gothic has ever had a meaning, this album represents the pinnacle and the unreachable summit.
This album certainly deserves the fame and prestige it has built over the past years and in the present ones.
