Tiamat
                                                                                                     The Scarred People    Napalm Records  

This is the Swedish Dark Metaller’s first release in four years and is a Gothic symphony of epic proportions, the successor to the highly successful and commended 'Amanethes', 'The Scarred People' grabs your attention from the very start and takes you on a journey of melodic majesty.

 

The slow build-up of the title track 'The Scarred People' opens into melodic epicness, gothic infused metal absolutely mesmerizing stuff.  It’s hard to believe that twenty years ago, Tiamat were a Death Metal band!  Johan Edlund’s vocals are very reminiscent of Pete Steele’s, which in all fairness is not a bad thing at all.  'Winter Dawn' is dark, heavy and very atmospheric and gets under your skin.  There is a middle eastern vibe as the song concludes. 

 

'Radiant Star' is doom laden and has a heavy influence of darkness incarnate.  'The Sun Also Rises' gets into your senses with mesmerizing guitar work and a chilled out effect, that takes over your being as 'Before Another Wilbury Dies' takes you on one minute and 43 seconds of excellent guitarmanship, with a radio commentary in the background.  This really could be Pink Floyd. 

 

Talking Of Pink Floyd, the next two tracks could have been written by Pink Floyd, but Tiamat have added a little more oomph and deep rooted gothic melodrama thrown in 'Love Terrorists' and 'Messinian Letter' are the standout tracks on 'The Scarred People' for me.

 

'The Thunder & Lightning' is a kind of a more upbeat track and gets into your head, with a cracking mini solo, which stays in your head. 

Next we have sounds of the country side as 'Tiznit' soothes and relaxes you.

 

 If you have cats, they will enjoy the chirping birds too!  'The Red of The Morning Sun' is doom laden and sends shivers down your spine and is a majestic finish to an album, which is highly hypnotic and reminded me a lot of Type O Negative, The Mission, with a pinch of The Sisters of Mercy, all thrown together. 

 

Having never really listened to Tiamat I found myself pleasantly surprised and can imagine 'The Scarred People' will appeal to a wide audience of music lovers, as well as their huge number of fans worldwide.

 

Review by: Seb Di Gatto

 

Tracklisting:

1. The Scarred People
2. Winter Dawn
3. 384EKteis                                                                 
4.Radient Star
5. The Sun Also Dies
6. Before Another Wilbury Dies
7. Love Terrorists
8. Messinian Letter
9. Thunder & Lightning
10. Tiznit
11. The Red Of The Morning Sun