As with so many bands of their style and era, Tiamat have gone through a number of incarnations to get to where they are at now creatively. Starting out as a death metal band in the late 80’s and early 90’s, they were one of the leading forces of the Swedish death scene along with Entombed. As time progressed, Tiamat’s style changed and veered towards the more melodic gothic rock style. 2008’s ‘Amanethes’ retained the gothic rock sound, but was punctuated with a harsher overall feel in both the vocals and music, and the impression was that there was a slow gravitation back towards the harsher sounds of the early 90’s. Those who were hoping for that will be disappointed in ‘The Scarred People’, but fans of the band in their boom years should read on.
From the rich and bombastic opening to the title track, it’s pretty obvious that Tiamat have abandoned any idea of a foray back into the depths of the death years as some were hoping, but the sound is very much in keeping with their most popular and accessible era, with strong nods towards the straight ahead goth rock of ‘Skeleton Skeletron’ and the slightly unpredictable nature of ‘Judas Christ’. Johan Edlund’s voice still resonates from the Andrew Eldritch end of the scale, although now it sounds stronger and less prone to wandering. The title track is a certain future live favourite, its pace and overall sound combining the straight ahead rock blast of ‘Brighter Than The Sun’ with the glitz of ‘Angel Holograms’. The pace of the title track quickly gives way to the more plodding goth rock that Tiamat are now known for, with ‘Winter Dawn’ and ‘Radiant Star’ both of a slower pace but with uplifting sing-along choruses.
The biggest problem with ‘The Scarred People’ is that it really does lack pace past the opening track. By the time you reach ‘Thunder & Lightning’ with its return to driving tempo, you simply are no longer in the mood for it, especially given that it is one of the most throwaway tracks on the album. The slower tracks make up for this in their quality however, and have a richness about them that is intensely pleasing. Johan Edlund’s voice is far more suited to this sound these days and I no longer get the feeling that he is outside of his comfort zone as he often sounded on the heavier ‘Amanethes’. The album closes with the finely crafted beauty of ‘The Red Of The Morning Sun’, which is a song that really burns into your senses over a number of listens, and whilst it sounds like a fairly typical Tiamat track at first, it is actually one of the most polished songs of their that I can remember.
‘The Scarred People’ could have gone one of two ways, and rather than pursue the darker and heavier route, they returned to what they do best, and I believe that is to their absolute credit on this occasion. A lot of bands who started off heavy and went through the gothic rock phase have gone full circle and with great success, so the temptation must have been there, but instead Tiamat have embraced the style that suits them best and have delivered their best and most consistent album in over 10 years.
(8/10 Lee Kimber)
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