Music Banter - View Single Post - Bitesize: Trollheart's Daily Album Mini-Reviews

Trollheart · 08-19-2012, 08:33 AM

I prefer "Judas Christ", but not bad

(Would have got 4 cookies, but for the death growls on some of the songs...)

Artiste: Tiamat
Nationality: Swedish
Album: Amanethes
Year: 2008
Label: Nuclear Blast
Genre: Dark Metal
Tracks:
The Temple of the Crescent Moon
Equinox of the gods
Until the hellhounds sleep again
Will they come?
Lucienne
Summer is gone
Katarraktis apo aima
Raining dead angels
Misantropolis
Amanitis
Meliae
Via Dolorosa
Circles
Amanes
Chronological position: Ninth album
Familiarity: “Judas Christ”
Interesting factoid: I have absolutely no idea what the title means! Oh wait: on further research I find that Encyclopaedia Metallum has the answer: “Amanethes is a Greek-Turkish word, describing a kind of very slow Eastern-oriented song, which usually contains the word “Aman”. "Aman" can be translated as “show some understanding” or it declares “pain” and “sadness”. Cool!
Initial impression: Vocals grate, but nowhere as bad as I had feared.
Best track(s): Until the hellhounds sleep again, Will they come?, Summertime is gone, Katarraktis apo aima
Worst track(s): Lucienne, Amanes
Comments: This could be new ground for me. Tiamat began life as a doom/death metal band, but when I sampled them was in what would I guess be termed the middle of their metamorphosis into something a little more commercial, a little less heavy, a little more accessible, and I must say I did enjoy the album “Judas Christ”, but I'm reliably informed that this album sees them returning to their heavier, darker roots, so it may be something totally different. Whether the change worked or not I don't know, though this is to date their last album, so perhaps draw your own conclusions from that? Or not.

Well, from the off I hear a deeper, more gravelly and rough quality to vocalist --- and also guitarist/keyboardist --- Johan Edlund's voice, very black metal, verging towards those death vocals which I hate. The music itself though, at least from the first track, isn't that much different, if at all. The vocals are a little jarring though. I'd always sort of understood that I had, if you like, struck lucky with “Judas Christ”, catching Tiamat at what was basically recognised as their most mellow, and that the rest of the material, at least prior to that album, was a lot heavier and perhaps more off my radar.

Vocals aside though, I find I still like this. Good fast guitars and a certain sense of progressive rock/metal merging with what I assume is death or doom metal. Quite interesting. During Equinox of the gods Edlund reverts momentarily to the sort of vocal that characterised the “Judas Christ” album, and it just changes everything, but sadly he's soon back growling, so in fairness to Tiamat and this album I'm trying to not quite filter out his vocals, but not concentrate on them so much and try to listen to the music behind them. It's not easy, but it shows me that the band have more or less stayed in the same musical direction as they were. Some nice keyboard bits, the guitar is loud but not punishing, and to be honest I've heard heavier.

There's a good doomy cruncher in Until the hellhounds sleep again, where Edlund pulls off a very passable Nick Cave, and again on the slower, almost balladic Will they come?, both of which are actually quite melodic, as really all songs on this album so far have been. Well, I had to say that, didn't I? The very next one does nothing for me, and I'm very disappointed in Lucienne: very discordant after a decent piano opening, sort of goes from one extreme to the other, unsure where or what it wants to be. Pass. Luckily they quickly get back on track with Summertime is gone, which sounds like it has some lovely strings, and yet the guitar bites hard when needed. There's a brilliant sense of urgency, desperation, anger and frustration in the oddly-titled Katarraktis apo aima, which I'm assuming is maybe Swedish, though it sounds more like Greek, and since the album title seems to come from Greek or Turkish, who knows? As for what it means, don't know, but it's just become one of my favourite tracks on the album.

Back to the growly vocals after quite a break then, but happily back to more recognisable vox and then an instrumental for the next two tracks, followed by a really commercial laidback song in Meliae, and the good is definitely outweighing the bad here, and setting most of my fears to rest. There's a resurgence of that growl and howl on Via Dolorosa, but even that can't spoil this great song for me, and only the closing track, Amanes brings any real kind of disappointment: slow, plodding, boring and a perhaps tongue-in-cheek “prayer to Satan”, it sort of seems out of step with the rest of the album. Still, considering how worried I was about the change in direction “Amanethes” was to have taken from my only other experience of Tiamat, I'm pleasantly surprised.
Overall impression: I can live with the gruff vocals, as they're not constant, and I still think I'd be happy to listen to more Tiamat.
Intention: Now to listen to their earlier stuff!

08-19-2012, 08:33 AM	#59 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,971	I prefer "Judas Christ", but not bad *(Would have got 4 cookies, but for the death growls on some of the songs...)* Artiste: Tiamat Nationality: Swedish Album: Amanethes Year: 2008 Label: Nuclear Blast Genre: Dark Metal Tracks: The Temple of the Crescent Moon Equinox of the gods Until the hellhounds sleep again Will they come? Lucienne Summer is gone Katarraktis apo aima Raining dead angels Misantropolis Amanitis Meliae Via Dolorosa Circles Amanes Chronological position: Ninth album Familiarity: “Judas Christ” Interesting factoid: I have absolutely no idea what the title means! Oh wait: on further research I find that Encyclopaedia Metallum has the answer: “Amanethes is a Greek-Turkish word, describing a kind of very slow Eastern-oriented song, which usually contains the word “Aman”. "Aman" can be translated as “show some understanding” or it declares “pain” and “sadness”. Cool! Initial impression: Vocals grate, but nowhere as bad as I had feared. Best track(s): Until the hellhounds sleep again, Will they come?, Summertime is gone, Katarraktis apo aima Worst track(s): Lucienne, Amanes Comments: This could be new ground for me. Tiamat began life as a doom/death metal band, but when I sampled them was in what would I guess be termed the middle of their metamorphosis into something a little more commercial, a little less heavy, a little more accessible, and I must say I did enjoy the album “Judas Christ”, but I'm reliably informed that this album sees them returning to their heavier, darker roots, so it may be something totally different. Whether the change worked or not I don't know, though this is to date their last album, so perhaps draw your own conclusions from that? Or not. Well, from the off I hear a deeper, more gravelly and rough quality to vocalist --- and also guitarist/keyboardist --- Johan Edlund's voice, very black metal, verging towards those death vocals which I hate. The music itself though, at least from the first track, isn't that much different, if at all. The vocals are a little jarring though. I'd always sort of understood that I had, if you like, struck lucky with “Judas Christ”, catching Tiamat at what was basically recognised as their most mellow, and that the rest of the material, at least prior to that album, was a lot heavier and perhaps more off my radar. Vocals aside though, I find I still like this. Good fast guitars and a certain sense of progressive rock/metal merging with what I assume is death or doom metal. Quite interesting. During Equinox of the gods Edlund reverts momentarily to the sort of vocal that characterised the “Judas Christ” album, and it just changes everything, but sadly he's soon back growling, so in fairness to Tiamat and this album I'm trying to not quite filter out his vocals, but not concentrate on them so much and try to listen to the music behind them. It's not easy, but it shows me that the band have more or less stayed in the same musical direction as they were. Some nice keyboard bits, the guitar is loud but not punishing, and to be honest I've heard heavier. There's a good doomy cruncher in Until the hellhounds sleep again, where Edlund pulls off a very passable Nick Cave, and again on the slower, almost balladic Will they come?, both of which are actually quite melodic, as really all songs on this album so far have been. Well, I had to say that, didn't I? The very next one does nothing for me, and I'm very disappointed in Lucienne: very discordant after a decent piano opening, sort of goes from one extreme to the other, unsure where or what it wants to be. Pass. Luckily they quickly get back on track with Summertime is gone, which sounds like it has some lovely strings, and yet the guitar bites hard when needed. There's a brilliant sense of urgency, desperation, anger and frustration in the oddly-titled Katarraktis apo aima, which I'm assuming is maybe Swedish, though it sounds more like Greek, and since the album title seems to come from Greek or Turkish, who knows? As for what it means, don't know, but it's just become one of my favourite tracks on the album. Back to the growly vocals after quite a break then, but happily back to more recognisable vox and then an instrumental for the next two tracks, followed by a really commercial laidback song in Meliae, and the good is definitely outweighing the bad here, and setting most of my fears to rest. There's a resurgence of that growl and howl on Via Dolorosa, but even that can't spoil this great song for me, and only the closing track, Amanes brings any real kind of disappointment: slow, plodding, boring and a perhaps tongue-in-cheek “prayer to Satan”, it sort of seems out of step with the rest of the album. Still, considering how worried I was about the change in direction “Amanethes” was to have taken from my only other experience of Tiamat, I'm pleasantly surprised. Overall impression: I can live with the gruff vocals, as they're not constant, and I still think I'd be happy to listen to more Tiamat. Intention: Now to listen to their earlier stuff! __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018 Last edited by Trollheart; 01-13-2015 at 05:41 AM.