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Tiamat - Skeleton Skeletron review



Reviewer:
7.8

219 users:
7.42
Band: Tiamat
Album: Skeleton Skeletron
Release date: 1999


01. Church Of Tiamat
02. Brighter Than The Sun
03. Dust Is Our Fare
04. To Have And Have Not
05. For Her Pleasure
06. Diyala
07. Sympathy For The Devil [The Rolling Stones cover]
08. Best Friend Money Can Buy
09. As Long As You Are Mine
10. Lucy
11. Children Of The Underworld [Japanese bonus]

In this album Johan Edlund and Co. have taken the best bits of the Sisters Of Mercy and added some heavily distorted guitars, occasional eastern melodies, ambient electronica, a varied vocal approach and pop sensibility to create a brilliantly atmospheric and entrancing expanse of musical escapism. It is best listened to from beginning to end as it has a far greater impact when listened to as a whole. As their name suggests Tiamat have always surrounded themselves with a certain mysticism and although they touch on everyday issues on this album, that sense of mysticism is still ever present and this adds an interesting flavour to the music.

The first three songs are probably the strongest tracks on the album. They all have memorable choruses sung with heartfelt emotion and yet give you the sense of both nostalgic depression and a mood of general indifference to any realities other than that involved in the immediate subject matter. The opener "Church Of Tiamat" has some clever lyrics which are wide open to interpretation and acts as an introduction to the dark world of Tiamat. The next couple of songs get a little heavier and "Dust Is Our Fare" is probably the best song on the album as it plays the bleakness of the vocals and keyboards against the stop-start riffing to perfection.

The early tracks seduce you into the music, so much so, that the ever so slightly weaker compositions that follow come across equally as strong as the album plods along in it's melancholic fashion. There is a rather interesting cover of the Rolling Stones' "Sympathy For The Devil", which is thoroughly enjoyable and even though it is immediately recognizable, it has got that unique Tiamat sound and compliments the album very well. The final few songs are almost up there with the opening tracks as we get the bluesy "Best Friend Money Can Buy" and then "Lucy" rounds up the album in a very solemn manner. It contains virtually no guitars, and is comprised mostly of keyboards, effects and a simple beat which is quite alluring in it's repetition.

This is one of the most truly beautiful and well-crafted Goth Rock albums you are ever likely to hear and although it is unlikely to inspire you into any dramatic fits of over-zealous action, it is the sort of album you will enjoy on a slightly hung-over, lazy Sunday afternoon or with a bottle of expensive red wine on a candlelit evening.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 8
Songwriting: 8
Originality: 7
Production: 8

Written by Stuart | 07.07.2008




Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.


Comments

Comments: 8   Visited by: 60 users
14.07.2008 - 18:18
Spyroid
Rosetta Stoned
Very good review, although the rating seems a bit to low according to what you wrote. I've heard it's their worst, but I want to hear this album now
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17.07.2008 - 11:19
THE_BLACK_GOD
Account deleted
Written by Spyroid on 14.07.2008 at 18:18

Very good review, although the rating seems a bit to low according to what you wrote. I've heard it's their worst, but I want to hear this album now

buy it man. it deserves at least 9.5 and IMO the song "Brighter Than The Sun" is one song that it doesnt match with the whole album.
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17.07.2008 - 13:39
Spyroid
Rosetta Stoned
Written by Guest on 17.07.2008 at 11:19

Written by Spyroid on 14.07.2008 at 18:18

Very good review, although the rating seems a bit to low according to what you wrote. I've heard it's their worst, but I want to hear this album now

buy it man. it deserves at least 9.5 and IMO the song "Brighter Than The Sun" is one song that it doesnt match with the whole album.


And that's the only song I've heard ^^ I'll look for it!
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25.07.2008 - 22:24
Rating: 8
Stuart
MiseryKing
Written by Spyroid on 14.07.2008 at 18:18

Very good review, although the rating seems a bit to low according to what you wrote. I've heard it's their worst, but I want to hear this album now

Let us know what you think of it once you've heard it.
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28.08.2008 - 22:39
MrSpaceman

This Rolling Stones cover is really great. They knew how to join things and play this song in their way but without corrupting it. It's a Sympathy for the Devil for the 90's!
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MrSpaceman_
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21.12.2009 - 14:15
Uirapuru
Liver Failure
Great goth-rock album... =X ''Brighter than the sun'' is very cool.
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member of the true crusade against old school heavy metal, early 80s thrash, NWOBHM, traditional doom, first and second wave black metal, old school death metal, US power metal, 70s prog rock and atmospheric doomsludgestoner. o/
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25.12.2010 - 01:37
Luneth
Account deleted
Really thought 'For Her Pleasure' was strongest on this album, great review
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09.11.2016 - 17:41
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Problem whit this is this was suppose be some gothic but band somehow manage to fail
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Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
apos;'
[image]
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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