Clouds

...than to sound musically confused.

Clouds seems to be a major game changer in the metal world, and I noticed a lot of Russian bands really taking inspiration from this album. And half of Clouds is worthy of both praise and emulation. I had shied away from their post-Wildhoney stuff because the album covers and image of the band looked like a poor man's Marilyn Manson, but at least A Deeper Kind of Slumber is way more consistent and musically enjoyable than Clouds. I had really fond memories of this, namely working my first job and pining for some girl's big Armenian butt, but nostalgia can't hide the fact that Clouds is a hot, jumbled mess. Apparently the rest of the band were listening to Dokken or hardcore (I read that in a magazine somewhere), which would explain the random shit on here, and gives credence to the old adage of "too many cooks in the kitchen".

At least half of the songs on here sound just awkward as all all hell, and by that I mean the first three and "Scapegoat". They all have their fair share of riffs that scream "I don't know what the fuck I'm doing", in the way that Celtic Frost sometimes did, just way less cool. It's like these guys had just learned how to play guitar and patched together weak riffs without any sense of purpose. "Smell of Incense" has some almost surf rock riffs that manage to sound happy and weak in a way that out-wusses the first two songs on A Deeper Kind of Slumber. "In a Dream" has a collage of weak riffs and a downright embarrassing chorus. I guess it's a retro thing, because they had this same problem with Sumerian Cry, so maybe they were trying to get back to their roots.

Tiamat always manages to add in a little something, be it some keyboard or acoustic atmosphere, a bitchin' guitar solo, or a bass groove to try without success to save one of these songs. And that ending of "Smell of Incense" with the "way up high where eagles fly" line is quite possibly the stupidest fucking way to end a song--Johan says it like a kindergartner reciting a nursery rhyme. The patchwork nature of these songs is the only harbinger of the psychedelia that was to come on its successor, which is the musical equivalent of taking a monster dose of magic mushrooms to just end up with explosive diarrhea and a splitting headache. FUCKING LAME!

Johan's death vocals are atrocious. Granted, he was never that good of a death metal vocalist, but on Clouds he sounds like a morbidly obese man who smokes way too much trying to take a shit to no avail. When he sticks to his sickly whispering/talking stuff he sounds all right, albeit emasculated, in a Tom Warrior "Sorrows of the Moon" way. There are some often equally as ridiculous, quasi-hardcore shouting passages and on the aforementioned "In a Dream" chorus they sound like some Club Rectum version of a mid-90's Eurodance song played by a doom metal band, especially with Johan saying "in a dream" alongside them.

None of this is, however, without a golden lining. The other half of the songs are goddamn good, "A Caress of Stars" and "Undressed" perfectly bridging the gap between the darkness and romanticism of The Astral Sleep and the melodic tendencies of Wildhoney. As I've mentioned before Thomas Petersson's lead work is tasteful and the little keyboard flourishes that Kenneth Roos provides establish a dreamlike atmosphere. There's little use in mentioning "Sleeping Beauty", because that's the hit tune from here, and rightfully so with it's hooks.

Waldemar Sorychta's Woodhouse production is clear as a bell and gives Clouds a much cleaner sound than its predecessor, although the Astral Sleep benefited from the rougher feel. The loud drum sound, normally something I love, sometimes drowns out the rest of the music, and emphasizes the fact that these guys were a failed death metal band. And speaking of Waldemar, he should have used his executive privileges to veto the majority of those clumsy sections--better song writing would have easily brought the score into the mid 80's.

And that cover art perfectly encapsulates the good material on here.

I have a friend who is a brilliant, if a tad eccentric, writer but has this giant, mouthbreathing umberhulk of a younger brother that might be useful to the military if they still used people to just walk across minefields to clear them. Clouds is that younger, dumber brother, although not quite deserving of becoming cannon fodder.

Tiamat was a band that I discovered while looking for more bands with a slow and heavy style with riffs full of mysticism. And I must say that the first time I heard his work Clouds I was fascinated. The music is exactly that, slow, mystical and at times epic.

At the beginning with "In a Dream" it displaces an easy-to-listen prelude, but the epic riffs break that lethargic feeling. Jonah's voice isn't particularly brutal, but rather has a stoic character, without reaching full fury. The drums maintain a slightly forceful rhythm, there is not such an ambitious technique, but for the musical style of the album it is perfect to maintain a certain consistency, even if it sounds simple. The album's homonymous song shows a more aggressive facet of the band, both musically and vocally, but without reaching extreme limits.

Tiamat at this point in her career turned her music into a kind of "caress" since it is difficult to appreciate, on an instrumental level it is not ambitious but very forceful. Sometimes, less is more. However, I think this time of "transition" for Tiamat is not aging well. I have already noticed that this album with the passing of recent years has gained certain deserters, opinions that allege a certain mediocrity in music. I don't agree with that, the group simply opted for a less chaotic and aggressive sound, to become more melodic, slow and mysterious. The same thing happens with his next work Wildhoney, which, unlike Clouds, has received even more hate from several listeners.

I'm not going to deny that Clouds falls short compared to Tiamat's previous works such as The Astral Sleep, which in addition to being a longer album, is more ambitious and explores many musical and lyrical fields, even more than Clouds. "A Caress of Stars" is the song that perfectly defines the sound of this album and as the title of the song says, the album is a caress of soft melodies and rhythms, without being too brutal. Lyrically Tiamat became even more poetic and at times pretentious and in this song you can already see a preview of that, where later that resource would be fully exploited in Wildhoney.

Then with "The Sleeping Beauty" they decide to display the best riffs and atmospheres they can create, turning the classic story into one even more epic, without leaving the dramatic side in the lyrics. It is a song that certainly stands out from the rest, instrumentally it has similar characteristics but it is something different from the rest. And near the end is "The Scapegoat" and "Undressed" where the first evokes an epic and mysterious sound, however it is not as surprising as the previous songs I mentioned and "Undressed" is a song too long although gives a good closure to the album, since it offers a more strange than melancholic sound where the guitar has a less conventional and more exotic sound that inspires a trip, as well as a female choir that gives it an even more peculiar touch.

Clouds is clearly Tiamat's last album with a heavy sound, where they expressed somewhat melodramatic and mysterious emotions. However, the quintessential "mysterious formula" would go to Wildhoney. It is curious how Tiamat radically changed her sound not once but twice since after Wildhoney, the classic and transitional sound that characterized them at that time disappeared and never came back.

Tiamat are certainly no favorite band of mine, but I can’t deny that there was something unique about their early records...for better or worse. Even the occult flavored Sumerian Cry marked the start of a band with a certain vision that definitely differentiated from that from that of Carnage and Nihilist, yet as with plenty of other bands such as Therion and Cemetary, it wouldn’t take long before Tiamat would abandon their death metal roots for something different.

There's the obvious elephant in the room that should be addressed right away; Johan Edlund’s bizarre vocals. On The Astral Sleep he sounded ghastly in the best way possible, here he sounds like a drugged fellow with a hoarse and dry voice. Ironically, Johan Edlund sounds actually once he’s not shouting too much, but by the time that he introduces the first hilarious line that goes ‘’IN A DREAM!’’ in the song with the same title, you know you’re in for a unique experience at least. Personally it took me a long time to get used to Johan Edlund’s vocals and I won’t blame you if you’d have a hard time getting used to his as well, but it’s certainly worth it.

Otherwise, Clouds introduces you to an otherworldly dimension that could only be accessed with the help of drugs and even ended up more influential than you might think (just ask Tiamat’s country mates Lake of Tears and Cemetary, for instance). It may not be on the same level as The Astral Sleep which features cooler guitar solos, more enjoyable vocals and overall better songs, but Clouds sounds like a decent successor either way. Songs like ‘’The Sleeping Beauty’’ and ‘’Undressed’’ remind me of Johan Edlund’s stories that involve women, yet unlike ‘’A Pocked Sized Sun’’ from Wildhoney, these songs actually end up sounding exciting. Tasteful, yet doom metal riffs create a sense of Swedish heaviness – already pointed out by the time that ‘’In a Dream’’ gets past that cute introduction of ethereal acoustics and mood-setting keys. The latter become most notable during the break of ‘’Smell of Incense’’ - bringing to mind the same ominous mood of Asphyx’s ‘’The Rack’’ - only before that final death metal section ravages onward and you return to that drum crashing chorus where punishing guitars hammer onward with malice.

Clouds is also filler free, but I can't be the only one who thinks that the record has its goofy moments. The aforementioned ‘’In a Dream’’ is a fine song on its own, where ominous leads and well-paced doom ’n death riffs collide, but from the silly verses to that unoriginal chorus that recalls someone reading a line from a piece of paper, Johan Edlund sounds absolutely ridiculous on it; so much that that even that even the trilling death metal riff won’t convince me to revisit the track. ‘’The Scapegoat’’ doesn’t get interrupted by Johan Edlund’s vocals as much, yet it’s a strange track with weird contrasts. Heavy stomping riffs in the vein of Celtic Frost lead to a chilling verse before that amusing chorus resurrects itself with comical effects and if you can refrain from laughing by the time Johan Edlund belts ‘’I WORSHIP LUCIFER!’’’ over those upbeat keys, you’re one strange fellow - let me tell you!

So, rather consistent, Clouds obviously features some favorite tracks that make it the album as fun that it is. The title track gets driven by driven by engaging drums and melodic, yet weighty riffs - with even a tasteful guitar solo to boot (Thomas Petersson also did a fantastic job on The Astral Sleep, in case you haven’t heard that album). ‘’Smell of Incense’’ recaptures the same doom/death metal essence of ‘’In a Dream’’, minus the annoying vocals, even if it’s unusual to hear Johan Edlund’s powerless vocals follow up with a kicking death metal riff. Finishing off, ‘’Undressed’’ isn’t as seductive as the song title promises, yet it manages to take one on a journey towards the unknown. Walking through the fog of the verses, meeting with the peculiar woman during the chorus and stumbling upon that exotic guitar passage as well as that trippy guitar solo certainly makes it a worthy album closer.

Since Clouds would be the band’s last heavy record, I’d personally argue that this marks the end of a once interesting band. Anyone who’d be only familiar with the band’s gothic phase might not recognize this younger Tiamat - but of course you could always do something about that.

This review was originally written for antichristmagazine.com

Tiamat are probably one of those bands you either love or hate. Their music either immediately connects with the listener or it makes little sense. 'Clouds' would be one of their more tolerable albums to the traditional metal fan, as the band would later venture definitively into non-metal areas of their sound. So this album is very much Tiamat in their metal incarnation, although the external influences are already beginning to show. At its core, this could be considered and labeled doom metal as the music consists of a lot of suspended power chords, a slower dirgy groove even in the case of articulated riffs, and vocals closer to being a particularly heavy rock voice, lamenting in tone instead of violent growls or shrieks.

Structurally the music is between traditional metal with its somewhat progressive approach, and mainstream with how there's a big chorus at the center of the tracks. Those choruses are nowhere near poppy however, as they're often in fact the heavier part of the song. A good example here would be the title-track with its grim chorus that starts at the back of an imposing tom roll: pure doom and a nice organic quality to it with that mid-heavy rock guitar tone and its natural-sounding drums. The cymbals particularly sound clear and alive on this album. The bass is audible, although it is used in a more rock than metal sort of way as it doesn't add any percussive dynamic or attack but rather helps the songs sit on a solid, smooth foundation. It also uses rock patterns, as can best be heard on the verse to 'Forever Burning Flames', with a stop between each note.

Although again this is considered a metal album, there are fairly obvious gothic rock elements present throughout the record. That influence is in the backing synths and their darkly romantic melody, the dramatic choirs used on many tracks, some of the acoustic guitars have that atmospheric/sorrowful weight to them (particularly the intro to the opener 'In a dream'). The most evident example of this might be 'A Caress of Stars' that ticks all the boxes of subtle darkness, slow mournful heavy rock with a deeply sad melody over suspended chords, the whispering... and otherwise, just a quick glance at the album cover (!). The gothic element is certainly there.

Edlund was apparently already a substance enthusiast as the lyrical subject matter touches on psychedelic topics (I mean: "the smell of incense makes me high, way up high where eagles fly") and the theme of the album is somewhere between deep tormented romanticism and that more shallow psychedelic component. The album title alone, 'Clouds', is quite self-explanatory in that way in what the album might be about.

A particularity about this album is the aforementioned slightly progressive aspect in the songs, which takes form in a format that'll seem conventional with a verse and chorus, until a surprising uptempo rock n roll faster part comes on. An acoustic guitar break, or a heavy riff might appear unexpectedly as well and break up the conventional structure. Some of the guitar work is really quite beautiful and surpasses the bare minimum for this sort of deliberately plain music: that lead-riff over the power chords on the opener, or the ending to 'A Caress of Stars'. The instrumental chorus to 'The Scapegoat' is also very fresh and quite intricate melodic work for this sort of music.

'The Sleeping Beauty' is arguably the most iconic and recognizable track on the album. It summarizes the album quite well in basically every single facet. It's got the big heavy chorus, the random fast uptempo part, the slow ponderous verse, that slightly exotic harmonic minor feel, the acoustic guitar break - although it lacks a deeply sorrowful part but the rest of the album is sure to supply that.

For criticism, Edlund's vocals are mixed. During the shouts on the choruses, they sound great, but most of the time as on the verses they sound like they lack identity and can sometimes be a bit funny-sounding. He would develop into a much more accomplished vocalist who uses his voice register well later, but on this record he might make some of the songs sound a tad caricature-like occasionally. This is arguably one of the best albums of its kind however, somewhere between gothic rock and doom metal with a typical Swedish melodic/sorrowful sensitivity and that early 90's organic/nostalgic feel, and makes for a very pleasant and smooth listen, with each song bringing its own flavor and recognizable moments to the whole. It's one of these albums that's got its own signature strongly subjective feel, during a time when influences were mixing and musicians took a chance at being (very) different.

What is this? A cocktail of doom and black metal, of pop and gothic? The kitschy artwork is a first warning, but due to whatever reason, the pretty questionable mixture works. Tiamat's unsteady discography does not only consist of highlights, to say the least. But despite its somewhat sticky appearance, "Clouds" has a lot of charisma.

The first thing that becomes obvious is the very simple and mostly surpassingly catchy configuration of the eight tracks. On the one hand, already the opener is almost painfully simple, on the other hand, nobody who has listened to the album will ever forget again the concise chorus of "In a Dream". Of course, it is a little bit annoying that the titles are filled with keywords that indicate a somewhat romantic or even saccharine approach. Dream, clouds, caress, stars, beauty, flames... Anyway, inter alia the more or less rough voice prevents an overly sweet impression. An emotional track like "A Caress of Stars" feeds the hunger of the costumed gothic clowns and belongs to the rather mediocre numbers, but all in all, Tiamat avoid embarrassing details and even the aforementioned track holds a more or less metallic guitar melody line at the end. By the way, a pretty decent melody. Yet it cannot compete with the totally simple and catchy "The Sleeping Beauty". Both its verses and its chorus shine with glorious simplicity. Moreover, the drum performance with the prominent snare is almost ridiculous, but - it is almost a mystery - the song works very well. The phenomenon of "In a Dream" reappears: once you have heard this chorus, it will stick in your mind eternally. Even if you hate it, you will not get rid of it.

Yes, the Swedes have written some great tunes, inter alia "Smell of Incest" and the title track, but they run out of ideas after "The Sleeping Beauty". I admit that the combination of soft background choirs, playful sections, short speed parts and meaningful harmonies still results in solid or almost good pieces ("The Scapegoat"), even though the back vocals of a legion of celestial creatures in "Forever Under Flames" is nearly unbearable. One thing is for sure, the quality of the previous highlights remains untouched. Doubtlessly, Johan Edlund still delivers passionate vocals and the well-dosed heaviness does not disappear. Although the pop elements of the record cannot be ignored, this is no pop album. Nevertheless, it seems as if it is not easy to compose songs that score mostly with musical primitiveness.

One does not need many words to describe this well produced album, because its advantages and disadvantages are really obvious. Nobody needs to invest much time in order to find out whether she or he likes the album or not. Its essence is not hidden under many layers, the opposite is true. You will enjoy the cocktail or spit it out immediately.

Caught somewhere between The Astral Sleep's lucid, dreamlike brilliance and Wildhoney's not-very-good-ness one finds Clouds betwixt stars and shite. By the time this album came around, Tiamat had lessened their riff quota per song and slowed down somewhat but there's still plenty for a metalhead to revel in here. Most of the black metal and speedier touches had been dropped by this point, but a lot of the winning formula remains intact.

What strikes me first of all about Clouds is that it's not quite as strident and powerful as its predecessor; the production, keyboards and vocals all seem a touch weaker. But this is not really much of a criticism as it only goes to reinforce just how strong The Astral Sleep was. The production is a bit more typically early 1990s; the drums are a bit more elastic sounding (especially the kicks) and the keyboards sound cheaper (strangely so, as the budget was probably higher this time around). Perhaps the most distinctive and unsettling thing about the album are Edlund's vocals: he sounds deeper than the previous album and it's not such a good thing. I think they fit the mood of the album but it took me a long time to get used to these vocals. At first, I thought they sounded rather gormless quite like one of Monty Python's Gumbies singing in a death/doom fashion. Still, I managed to warm up to the vocals here and now I quite like them; it sounds like Johan's in some trance-like state as the smell of incense (not incest, careful) is taking him high.

Generally, the songs here are of a similar feel. There's a lot less variation when compared to the previous album. Most of the songs here occupy a solid mid-tempo; they're a little doomier in a sort of Paradise Lost-esque vein. The writing is largely of a similar high quality, though, and there are some of the band's most beloved songs here. 'A Caress of Stars' could be 'Mountain of Doom's spiritual successor and it features another one of those "I can't believe it's not Candlemass" riffs that served the band so well. Still, it demonstrates the slight flaws this album has - there are many great ideas, but they don't quite come together in the same magical way. It lacks the same momentum and grace, whilst still being very good in its own right. Still, you can't say that this album doesn't have its highlights and 'The Sleeping Beauty' is one of those with good reason. For me, it seems like the band had certainly lent an ear to Slayer's creepy, slower moments on South of Heaven and Seasons in the Abyss and it seems like they've borrowed a lot of Jeff Hanneman's ideas and distilled them into a strange, doomy number. Lyrically, too, it works well; the tale of despair, alcohol and longing for death could have been lifted straight from Poe (especially given the focus on those wonderful dead and dying women who are worshipped with a godlike fervour by those wild-eyed men). It's probably the most successful song on the album.

From this point on the album is probably less instant, but nonetheless there's a lot to enjoy. Take 'Forever Burning Flames' for example whose verses sound like Tony Martin era Black Sabbath (it must be the big drums and ethereal keys) and yet the chorus takes quite a different approach. It basically consists of a "NOOOOOO!!" moaned part with Johan answering it. It's quite funny for me, because the accent sounds quite a lot like a Geordie who happened to end up guesting on a Swedish album.

Still, despite my grumbling you can safely pick this one up. I've honestly not got much to complain about at all and the material here has certainly won over a lot of people. It's just that what they did before was brilliant were this is simply quite good. Well, if you loved The Astral Sleep you'll probably find a lot to like here. I certainly did. In fact, I hope my appreciation grows into adoration – it hasn't happened yet, mind – as we could all use another classic album for when we are inevitably marooned on some desert island.

Seriously though, I don't know what drugs were floating around in Stockholm in the early 90s, but clearly it was some of the best shit available anywhere. While at first glance this album may seem subpar - and, let's face it, we all know the reason is Edlund's vocal delivery, which sounds like a learning disabled troll with laryngitis - I feel once you get past that fact, it's really quite something, both innovative and masterful. Hell, I'll say it - I think it's Tiamat's best album, and there are quite a few good ones to choose from. While it's not as immediate as Prey or Amanethes, as unusual and drug-induced as Wildhoney, nor as unabashedly heavy and dirty as Sumerian Cry, it has its own unique charm that has kept me coming back to it over the years. The primitive, occult mystique of tunes like "In a Dream" and "A Caress of Stars," using synths rather liberally while still barraging the listener with simple yet crushing death/doom riffs, creates an interesting atmosphere that sounds pretty mediocre on paper but succeeds quite beautifully here do to musical genius Johan Edlund (and/or the drugs he was taking). Now, what possessed him to choose to make his delivery sound like a cross between a 95-year-old chain smoker and a retarded hippopotamus, as I'm sure all of you who've heard the album are wondering, I've no idea, but somehow it works in the context of the album, like Tim Baker in Cirith Ungol or Mark Shelton in Manilla Road (not that I think Shelton would necessarily be bad in another act, but many do think so and he is quite an esoteric vocalist). I would have thrown out some death/doom comparisons, but really I don't know any other bands or albums that fit that description.

Edlund's performance here leads to an even more unique atmosphere when you consider the juxtaposition among the bizarre vocals, mystical synths, and death/doom riffs. They may take awhile to fully reconcile, especially among those not as familiar with death/doom (as was the case for me when I first heard it); the switch from ethereal whispers to savage death metal riffs and Edlund's more "standard" vocals on the album in "A Caress of Stars," for example, may seem jarring to some. The songs that have fewer synths and mystical elements ("Smell of Incense" especially) may also make the album seem sort of pieced together - and I will be the first to say that those less-mystical tracks aren't among the best here, but they still don't detract from the experience much for me. After some number of listens, Edlund's vocals began to strike me more as ragged and desperate than as hoarse and retarded, even though I still recognize the quality is there. And that quality really works here, I think. Would the album be better with a vocal performance more along the lines of Wildhoney, or perhaps a more standard lower-pitched death growl? It's difficult to say, although I think the latter would take away some of the unique magic of the album. Whatever might be better though - even if it seems like Edlund is intentionally making himself sound worse here - I really think the performance works. Maybe not as well as it could, maybe not even as well as it should have, but still it does all the same.

The lyrics here, as they often do with the band, straddle the line between damn cool and goofy as fuck, but I think they usually manage to stay on the "damn cool" side. Even those that are undeniably goofy tend to make me grin like a schoolboy. For example, in the Scapegoat, the line "Then I turn to you and laugh, 'I worship Satan!'" (as well as the other slightly different choruses, although that one is my favorite) always makes me chuckle and grin for at least a few seconds at the simultaneous immaturity and audacity of it. I'm not sure whether Edlund took this stuff seriously or was trying to be somewhat farcical himself, but either way I still love it. There are some lyrics that speak to me on a pretty deep level as well, and they could definitely be construed as cheesy - perhaps I would even construe them that way if the album weren't so nostalgic for me - but the line "As a star to light your way, to where we are, not led astray..." still manages to bring chills down my spine every time, especially the whispered repetitions of the line that almost make me feel as if I truly am being transported to some other world where, as he repeats, "we are not led astray." Sure, it's not the most intelligent poetry ever concocted, nor is it awfully specific, but the sincerity and the atmosphere conjured up by the song really make it work for me. Overall, the album has a couple of songs that fail to rise above mild enjoyability, but there are enough strong and interesting tracks here to make it a very worthwhile experience. If you discarded this because of Edlund's vocal performance, if you like death/doom, or like Tiamat and haven't ventured into this album yet, I'd highly recommend you do so - if you stick with it long enough, I think you'll find it'll be worth your while.

The first few albums from this Swedish act were decent slabs of death and doom, but Clouds is the true turning point in their career; where it became clear they were destined for so much more. It may not have the psychedelic, crushing weight of its successor Wildhoney nor the abstract brilliance of A Deeper Kind of Slumber, but in its day, Clouds was a pretty monumental effort.

As soon as "In a Dream" opens with its somber acoustic guitars and ambient synthesizers, you know you are in for a trip. The crushing guitars of its verse perfectly elevate Edlund's vocals to their brutal best, and the melodies and organs create the beautiful evocation of true mystique. "Clouds" is almost mid paced with some creepy melodies and a nice shuffle groove to switch riffs. "Smell of Incense" is even better, a Celtic Frost vibe propelling it into its catchy and simple vocal pattern, but the true joy is the great death metal riff contained within. The smell of incense takes me high! "A Caress of Stars" is glorious doom, the melody of the guitar evokes perfect sorrow, and the song is a pretty nice precursor for the next album Wildhoney. Hedlun's whisper of on my head, in my heart and my blood is supple and sensual. "The Sleeping Beauty" is another similar track, with a very doomy riff lapsing into a calm verse driven by keyboards and sparse guitars. Love the masculine gang chorus. "Forever Burning Flames" is one of my personal favorites here; grooving rhythms give way to another of those final, killer death metal riffs of Tiamat's career, and Edlund's vocals sound sick.

I for one would love to have Edlund start a pure death metal band at some point. "The Scapegoat" offers another wonderful surprise in its mellow acoustics and climactic symphonic chorus. Then I turn to you and say...I worship Lucifer! "Undressed" takes us out with more the band's gothic landscapes and a bizarre but beautiful ending.

This was pretty classic material, it possessed a lot more ambition than Sumerian Cry or The Astral Sleep and I was quite taken with it. I still am. I've always been a Tiamat fan, even in their more openly gothic phase way ahead of this, but it's the trio of Clouds, Wildhoney and A Deeper Kind of Slumber that the band will always be legendary for. Easily recommended to fans of gothic death/doom or unique and quality metal in general. And if you're named for a draconic Babylonian sea goddess, you've got quite the legend to live up to.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

The capital word for this album is "simplicity". Simplicity at its best. It's in the song structures, in the lyrics, in the production (which is very good, "Clouds" it's actually the first Tiamat album that has a pretty good and clear sound). Nothing fancy, nothing complicated, no intricacies – everything is straight.

The black/death from their previous releases makes room for a simple and very heavy doom/black: on one hand the old-school black metal, the one with powerful roots in the traditional heavy metal, and on the other hand a not-yet atmospheric doom (which eventually would be on "Wildhoney"). The music is based on the rhythmic section: simple and very heavy riffs and most of all, some very powerful drums. From the beginning to the end, the album is completely under the sign of the drums ("The Sleeping Beauty", for example, has a tremendous drums opening).

The songs moves between simple and straight songs (like "Clouds", "Smell Of Incense") and majestic doom songs (as "A Caress Of Stars" or "Undressed"). The album is not eterogenous though: it has a certain unity which is given especially by the overall atmosphere. The atmosphere is brought by the keyboards parts, which are, again, simple, but very effective: the music of the album gives the listener a strange sensation, which sometimes is overwhelming and tormenting. The vocals adds a lot to this overall sensation: they are agonical, like coming from the depths of the throat (and from the depths of hell itself). Some of the songs contains vocal parts sung by multiple voices, even choirs (like the female choir on the last track, "Undressed").

The lyrics are often very simple (the theme is the usual mystic one), short verses with simple rhymes, that fit in the simple structure of the songs (verse-chorus-verse-chorus). Guitar solo's are quite rare (sometimes replaced by acoustic guitars), but the songs are made in such a way that the listener doesn't feel their absence. Some of the songs resemble the punk songs structure (even in the spirit – "The Scapegoat" is obviously settling some accounts with certain "slanderers" that accused the band of serving Satan or other evil entities with their music – quite a funny song), but we can find on this album some more complex songs (like the last track, "Undressed", which is the longest track on this album, or "A Caress Of Stars" – a song that gives some hints about Tiamat's next album, "Wildhoney").

Overall, the album is quite impressive for a not-quite-fan of Tiamat, as I am. The music is not very complex and sophisticated, but is very very straight, it hits you like a hammer in the face. Want some really heavy and dark, but simple and straight stuff? Get this and you won't be sorry.

It was a cold dreary day when the God of Metal bestowed upon the earth a liter of bands. They were soon adopted by Century Media, and I am of course talking about the bands Moonspell, Tiamat, Nevermore, Grave, etc. Two of these bands would grow up to become musically strong and one of them was Tiamat.

Apparently as young musical pups they were death metal. By the time 1992 came around something had happened. Tiamat had released Clouds and it was not death metal. It was way too calm to be called as such, and even the lyrics weren't gory enough to be considered death. So then what was this album? I'd best describe it as atmospheric metal. This is almost in the same vein as WildHoney, but not as interesting.

This album is really slowed down. It is not doom metal or even goth, but it is slow. There are considerable lack of keyboards on this album, and in fact I found none on this album. The guitar riffs are melodic, airy, and hypnotic. The drums do a good job of establishing the beat and the pace of the song which is normally not very fast. Most of the time the drum beats are in 4/4 time except during some breaks when the drums go into the 16th notes for a couple of measures. The bass adds the "cloud"y sound that is so profieciant on this album, and the vocals are almost lullabyish and are never screamed or yelled.

The feel that this album gave me was that I was in some sort of ethereal world sort of like a heaven, but there is the discomfort of Hell's flames in the distance. It's almost as if Johan forgot his beliefs and decided to make an album that would help metal heads drift to dreamland. He does remember them though in the song "The Scapegoat" when he shouts out the three versions of the deity he worships.

This album would have gotten a 100, but after several listenings it isn't as good as Wildhoney. The strange trip to the clouds almost becomes boring.

Over all 87/100