Tiamat - A Deeper Kind of Slumber

- Tiamat is a band that evolved a lot from their

death/ black metal roots as presented on albums like
Sumerian Cry. But there was always a distinct gothic sound sprinkled even on those
early records.
The first true change came in 1994, when "Wildhoney" was released. That album
marked the departure from death-doom style of their previous
albums and marked a new beginning for the band. "Wildhoney" is
not an underrated record, in fact it was received with praise on
release.
"Wildhoney" is a psychedelic doom metal in its finest.
But we are not talking about that album, to me, their peek
was their next effort, and In my opinion underrated record
"A Deeper Kind of Slumber" released in 1997
What they started on "Wildhoney" they finished on "A Deeper
Kind of Slumber" completely droping death metal vocals and adding
more layers to their overall sound. Plenty of electronic effects and sounds.

Apart from the opening track, "Cold Seed", with it's more
gothic vibe vaguely remenicging of a Sisters of Mercy song,
everything else feels unified. A dream-like journey drenched in
dark atmospshere. And that becomes apparent from the second
track, "Teonanacatl". Lot of these songs have a sense of
unease burried beneath sparse instrumentation and soothing keyboards.
The album's dreamy, hypnotic melodies coupled with Johan Edlund's
haunting vocals create an eerie and captivating atmopshere that really
transports you to a different plane.
And that's this albums biggest strenght, smart usage of sound effects
and synths elavate this record to a whole new level. This whole
project feels and sounds like an acid trip, a dive into subconcsious level
of the human mind. As the album progresses
we get more Pink Floyd inspired guitar passages and lush keyboards.
The production is almost flawless and really effective in drawing you
even more to that dream-like and meditative state Tiamat wanted to create.

3 tracks I would like to highlight are: "A Deeper Kind of SLumber", "Phantasma De
Luxe"
and "Cold Seed"

This album may not be for hardcore metal fans, who expected
maybe another "Wildhoney". To me, this is their magnum opus and to be honest
their last great record. Everything after it is just a mediocre gothic rock, not
even close to what "Wildhoney" and this album managed to achieve. An underrated
classic.