Tiamat - Amanethes

Published May 10 2008

*=Staff's pick	The Temple Of The Crescent Moon* Equinox Of The Gods* Until The Hellhounds Sleep Again* Will They Come? Lucienne Summertime Is Gone Katarraktis Apo Aima Raining Dead Angels* Misantropolis Amanitis Meliae* Via Dolorosa Circles* Amanes Thirst Snake (bonus track)

Genre	Gothic Metal	Johan Edlund	Vocals
Tracks	15	Johan Edlund	Guitar
Runningtime	67 Min.	Thomas Wyreson	Guitar
Label	Nuclear Blast	Anders Iwers	Bass
Release	02 May 2008	Lars Sköld	Drums
Country	Sweden	Johan Edlund	Keyboard
Similar artists	Moonspell

"It's been a long time but we are here again. It's been five long years of thunder, lightning and rain."

The Temple Of The Crescent Moon contains just about everything I have loved about Tiamat over the years. It starts out with an amazing guitar line, which is followed by a melancholic piano melody during the verses, with Johan Edlund's haunting vocals along with it. Not only that, we also get beautiful female vocals, Edlund's typically otherworldly lyrics and also a tribe chanting (!) towards the end. Just when you believe that things can't get any better, the next track Equinox Of The Gods (which flirts a bit with the band's sound during the early years of The Astral Sleep and Clouds) turns out to be even better. These are arguably the two strongest Tiamat-offerings so far, and the rest of Amanethes is certainly not far behind.

Just as the opening track states, five years is a very long time in the music industry, and that's how long the time has been since we last heard from Tiamat. This period has obviously been tough on the band, with their record deal with Century Media expired, for all they know they might have made their final album with the 2003-release Prey. Luckily though, Nuclear Blast knew about the potential, signed the band and gave them the opportunity to release their ninth studio album. Band leader Johan Edlund really makes the angst from the bad years felt in both the music and most of all the lyrics.

This is indeed a diverse album, which picks the best bits and pieces from Tiamat's long and colourful career. The foundation is still gothic rock with electronic effects and gloomy vocals, but Edlund's singing voice is harsher than usual, and there is a feeling of death throughout all the songs. But he also displays his arguably best performance ever when it comes to singing beautifully, on the ballad Will They Come?.

All the songs here have a strong bond with each other, and as usual when it comes to Tiamat, some of them are tied together with slightly psychedelic instrumentals. When the Skeleton Skeletron-sounding Misantropolis has flowed into the instrumental Amanitis, Johan Edlund salutes his new homeland Greece by playing the bouzouki to a startling effect, for example. We also have a track called Summertime Is Gone (which probably will sound even better in a few months when the days are getting darker again) that segues beautifully into the song Katarraktis Apo Aima. The rather brutal Raining Dead Angels and the sweet Pink Floyd-homage Meliae are other highlights on this versatile disc.

Amanethes is definitely one of the strongest releases of the year so far, and I'm happy to say that the band didn't lose the opportunity to show the world who is still number one in the realm of gothic metal. It's been a long time, but Tiamat are here again, and it was definitely worth the wait.

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
9	8	8	7	9

Summary
9 chalices of 10 - Niklas