The Metal Files

Tiamat first caught my attention with their debut album Astral Sleep.  It was raw, simple, dark…almost run of the mill death metal.  Typically mid-paced but it didn’t suck by any means.  Daniel and I went tape shopping (yes, I was still buying them in 1991!).  He picked up Solitude Aeturnus’ debut and I picked up the Tiamat.  Great picks by both of us.

I certainly picked up Clouds in 1992 and I believe it was in one of the first 100 CDs I ever owned.  I liked it a lot even though they slowed down a bit more.  It was a little more atmospheric.  Cool album for sure.

But then came 1994.

Wildhoney.

WILDHONEY.

I remember the first time I popped it in.  I was doing some stuff in the house…probably playing TecmoSuperBowl or something.  I just remember that the album felt like it was over soon after it began.  It’s 42 minutes long but it flows.  The way they tied all of the songs in together was simply brilliant.  Wildhoney got even more mellow than Clouds.  They added a certain sense of Pink Floyd to their sound…imagine the song Fearless by Pink Floyd with distortion and better production.  It was awesome.  It still is.  There is not a bad song on it and I think it should be in every metalhead’s collection.

This album gets regular play, at least once a month.  It’s a great one to drive to.  Very smooth.  They use death metal vocals, but not in a cookie monster sort of way.  You can understand everything that Johan sings.

Even though it is very much still in print, I think it needs to be shared.  So here ya go. Listen to it in order.  Many times.

I don’t get high but sometimes I have thought about what it would be like to listen to this one on mushrooms.  Let me know, ok?