Tiamat is a metal band that formed in Täby, Sweden in 1988. Their music has been the subject of debate, utilizing subgenres like death metal, doom metal, progressive and gothic, but more recently they have focused on what has been described as atmospheric gothic metal with ethnic, psychedelic and experimental elements.
Biography:
Initially, the band played straightforward black metal under the name Treblinka. After having recorded the album Sumerian Cry in 1989, vocalist/guitarist Johan Edlund and bassist Jörgen Thullberg parted ways with the other two founding members, and subsequently changed the name to Tiamat. The Sumerian Cry album, as recorded by Treblinka, was released as Tiamat's debut album in June 1990.
After the debut, Edlund's leadership would modify the band's style with influences ranging from Mercyful Fate, Candlemass, Pink Floyd and King Crimson, with Sumerian lyrical themes. German guitarist Waldemar Sorychta would produce and contribute instrumentation to many of the band's albums, as well as those by Tiamat's own tour and labelmates, including Moonspell, Rotting Christ, Lacuna Coil and Samael.
1994's critically acclaimed Wildhoney mixed raw vocals, slow guitar riffs and synthesizer sounds which sounded different from other extreme metal bands active at that time. An almost continuous forty-minute piece of music, Wildhoney was considered to be a landmark release within the progressive/doom metal genres and would lead to the band's appearances at the Dynamo and Wacken Open Air metal festivals in 1995. The group would play a second gig at Dynamo two years later.
Upon the release of A Deeper Kind of Slumber (1997), Edlund relocated from Sweden to Germany and declared himself the only permanent member of the band; all albums that would follow would cement the band into a more gothic rock sound, quite different from the extreme music they did in the years before, with recent albums showing a The Sisters of Mercy influence.
The band signed to Nuclear Blast Records in June 2007. Tiamat released their new album Amanethes April 18, 2008.
Lineup:
Johan Edlund - vocals, guitar (Treblinka, Expulsion, LucyFire, Dark Age, Ayreon)
Anders Iwers - bass (Desecrator, Ceremonial Oath, In Flames, Cemetary, Mercury Tide)
Lars Skjöld - drums (Jupiter Society)
Thomas Wyreson - guitar
Former members:
Andreas Holmberg - drums (Expulsion)
Stefan Lagergren - guitar (River's Edge, Expulsion, Mr Death, Treblinka, Judge And Jury, Tranquility)
Jörgen Thullberg - bass (Expulsion, Mr Death, Treblinka)
Niklas Ekstrand - drums (Face Down)
Kenneth Roos - keyboards
Johnny Hagel - bass (Sundown, Sorcerer)
Magnus Sahlgren - guitar (Celeborn, Dismember, Lake of Tears)
P.A. Danielsson - keyboards (Veni Domine)
Thomas Petersson - guitar
Fredrik Ĺkesson - guitar (Southpaw, Talisman, Krux, John Norum, Arch Enemy, Sabbtail, Opeth, Shock Tilt)
www.churchoftiamat.com
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