Tiamat (band)

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Tiamat
Tiamat on Hard Rock Laager, 2006
Tiamat on Hard Rock Laager, 2006
Background information
Origin Stockholm, Sweden
Genre(s) Black metal (Treblinka-era)
Death metal (first album)
Doom metal (mid)
Progressive metal (mid)
Gothic metal/Goth rock (recent)
Years active 1988 – present
Label(s) Century Media
Nuclear Blast Records
Associated acts Arch Enemy
Ayreon
Cemetary
Ceremonial Oath
Dismember
In Flames
Lake of Tears
Lucyfire
Opeth
Website churchoftiamat.com
Members
Johan Edlund
Thomas Petersson
Anders Iwers
Lars Sköld

Tiamat is a band that formed in Stockholm, Sweden in 1988. Their music has been the subject of debate, utilizing subgenres like black metal, progressive, doom/death and gothic, but more recently they have focused on what has been described as "atmospheric/gothic rock"[1] with ethnic, psychedelic and experimental elements.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Initially, the band played straightforward black metal under the name Treblinka.[2] After having recorded the album Sumerian Cry in 1989, vocalist/guitarist Johan Edlund and bassist Jörgen Thullberg parted ways with the other two founding members, and subsequently changed the name to Tiamat. The Sumerian Cry album, as recorded by Treblinka, was released as Tiamat's debut album in June 1990.

After the debut, Edlund's leadership would modify the band's style with influences ranging from Mercyful Fate, Candlemass, Pink Floyd[3] and King Crimson, with Sumerian lyrical themes. German guitarist Waldemar Sorychta would produce and contribute instrumentation to many of the band's albums, as well as those by Tiamat's own tour and labelmates, including Moonspell, Rotting Christ, Lacuna Coil and Samael.

1994's critically acclaimed Wildhoney mixed raw vocals, slow guitar riffs and synthesizer sounds which sounded different from other extreme metal bands active at that time. An almost continuous forty-minute piece of music, Wildhoney was considered to be a landmark release within the progressive/doom metal genres and would lead to the band's appearances at the Dynamo[4] and Wacken Open Air heavy metal festivals in 1995. The group would play a second gig at Dynamo two years later.

Upon the release of A Deeper Kind of Slumber (1997), Edlund relocated from Sweden to Germany and declared himself the only permanent member of the band; all albums that would follow would cement the band into a more gothic rock sound, quite different from the extreme music they did in the years before, with recent albums showing a Sisters of Mercy influence.[5]

The band signed to Nuclear Blast Records in June 2007. Tiamat released their new album Amanethes April 18th, 2008.

[edit] Line-up

[edit] Discography

[edit] Full length

[edit] Demos, singles, EP, Live and DVD

  • A Winter Shadow (Demo) (1990)
  • The Sleeping Beauty (Live in Israel) (Live) (1993)
  • Gaia (EP) (1994)
  • The Musical History of Tiamat (Live/Compilation(2 Disc)) (1995)
  • Cold Seed (single) (1997)
  • For Her Pleasure (EP) (1999)
  • Brighter than the Sun (single) (1999)
  • Vote For Love (single) (2002)
  • Cain (single) (2003)
  • The Church of Tiamat (DVD) (2006)
  • Commandments (Best of/Compilation) (2007)

[edit] Trivia

  • After the dissolution of Treblinka, Johan Edlund joined some former members in a doom/death metal band called Expulsion (disbanded 1996). [1]
  • Edlund also fronts Lucyfire, a side project with a similar direction to recent Tiamat.
  • Anders Iwers is the brother of current In Flames bassist Peter Iwers.
  • Toby Driver, former member of maudlin of the Well and Kayo Dot, spoke about Tiamat as one of his most important musical influences.
  • Moonspell singer Fernando Ribeiro mentioned Tiamat several times in interviews as one of their major influences.

[edit] References

[6]

  1. ^ Encyclopaedia Metallum - Tiamat
  2. ^ Encyclopaedia Metallum - Treblinka (Swe)
  3. ^ Tiamat’s Biography – Last.fm
  4. ^ TIAMAT | Unique, Detailed Biography | Rockdetector
  5. ^ allmusic ((( Tiamat > Biography )))
  6. ^ Tiamat have revealed the track listing for the bands upcoming album 'Amanethes' Feb 13. 2008

[edit] External links