Sweden’s Tiamat started during the second part of the eighties as a unique Death Metal formation (originally as Treblinka; despite the badly-chosen name, I did love this act a lot!), combining the typifying Swedish school (i.e. the Sunlight-sound!) with some own-faced elements. The experimentation became more and more important throughout the years, and as from Wildhoney (Century Media, 1994) they did indeed develop a sound that was both original and unusual.
Unfortunately the evolution into mainstream and poppy safety seemed to be a logical reverse. The band was in a continuous evolution, which finally leads us to the newest effort, The Scarred People, more distant from the roots than ever before. The past fifteen – twenty years were slightly disappointing from time to time, with inclusion of a couple of (mini-) albums that had nothing to do with the original band that was Tiamat before.
The Scarred People brings catchy and emotive melodies with a mid-tempo speed and sophisticated details; the latter characterizes Tiamat as from the early years, of course. The album is less Metal-oriented than ever before, and mainly dwells within the spheres of Goth-Rock (rather than Gothic Metal). But for sure this record is more muscular than most of the material done during the past decade(s). Personally, and many will agree, I think this album is one of the best things Tiamat did in two decades, yet again the band’s fans from the Old School might have a specific problem with the mediocrity Tiamat evolved into. Please don’t define mediocrity too literally; I’d rather direct to the catchier approach.
Anyway, it’s a growth-album with lots of nice parts and hidden beauties, getting better after each listen. …worth giving a try…