Tiamat – Amanethes
Posted on May 27, 2008 at 8:00 am by admin
The name Tiamat has been one I’ve heard for awhile, but I’ve never had a chance to actually hear. I know a little bit about the history of the band, that they used to be a death metal band that morphed into the gothic/metal band they are now, but not much beyond that. Such is the standard for a good portion of European death metal bands, to morph into something else that’s not death metal
I’m not into gothic metal too much, as I find many of the female fronted bands to be generic imitations of one another, so my measuring stick for the genre is Type O Negative, and they don’t play by the standard, they set it by doing whatever comes naturally, which tends to become the next step in gothic metal. As it stands, “Amanethes” stands out by being heavier and quicker gothic metal album, with boot-stomp drums running all over you or smacking you like a wet piece of bamboo, and crunchy guitars biting you like steel traps. Slows songs like “Until The Hellhounds Sleep Again” conjure up newer Celtic Frost with the almost talk-like singing and orchestrated backing. Most of the time though, vocalist/guitarist prefers to make his voice a bit more sandy and rough.
There’s a generalized air of 80’s and 90’s gothic metal mixed together with those of synth touches and industrial hints, and it’s this atmosphere the band needs to rely on, as I didn’t find any one songs to be incredibly catchy or inviting. Even though I’ve never heard Tiamat before, this album does feel a little like the band are going through some motions, especially as the album gets close to the end. Still, I would imagine that Tiamat in general shakes up the general standards from those other bands who are only manufactured for consumption.
Released May 27th, 2008
Tiamat at MySpace
Nuclear Blast Records at MySpace
Buy this album at Amazon.com and Amazon.ca
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Copyright © 2007, Xtremely Media, All Rights Reserved
