Search - Tiamat :: Astral Sleep

TIAMAT's First Signs of it's Transition

King | U.S. | 05/22/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As one of their first Albums, "The Astral Sleep" can only be appreciated for what it is...Dark Metal. The metal is fast, & Edlund's vocals are brutal. But if you're a fan of ALL of TIAMAT'S work you can notice through hindsight, that this album shows the signs of the bands future plans. Along with many of the songs is the acustic guitar, and the atmospheric intro and outro that are made with the synthesizers. "Lady Temptress", & "Mountain of Doom" are great songs to point out on this album with the brutal vocals, subtle acustic riffs, and quick drum and guitar patterns. "I am the King of Dreams", and "A Winter Shadow", contain wonderful guitars, solo riffs, and lyrics(when identified), are found to be well-thought out. Of all the songs on this album I find "The Sounthernmost Voyage" the track which, stands out the most. The keyboards are very somber, the lyrics are wonderfully written, and Edlund sings with thoughtfulness. This isn't a dark metal song at all! This is the very song that one should pay attention to when looking at the progress and metamorphasis which, TIAMAT has undergone. As a TIAMAT fan, and a TOTAL fan at that, I truly appreciate all of their albums, both heavy and quick, or slow with sullen vocals. This is a wonderful album which takes us back to TIAMAT's earlier days. It is an important stepping stone in the band's history, which has led them to future records like: Wildhoney, A Deeper Kind of Slumber, and Judas Christ."

Look back not forward with Tiamat

rebecca baker | St-Laurent, Quebec Canada | 02/13/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Having started putting out demos under the name Treblinka up until the first ep "Severe Abomination" (1989), Tiamat are, or rather were, one the first bands in death metal to succesfuly mature their sound by wihthout losign any brutality and showing off their melodic side as well. Having only vaguely heard some of Tiamat's music with albums like Wildhoney, i had always wondered why they were somtimes lumped into the death/black/dark metal category with the other scandanavian greats. I had heard that Tiamat'a first three albums leaned more towards dark or death metal and that they had strayed from their roots on later releases. Feeling adventurous, i picked up The Astral Sleep and was impressed almost instantly. I might even be so bold as to suggest that people who don't really know black or death metal that much should start here instead of any Opeth album. I think that this album contains enough diversity to be respected by the "rock" crowd and enough dark brutality to earn a well deserved place in every heavy music fan's collection. So if you heard Wildhoney and were looking for something less dramatic and more brutal and edgy to it, i strongly recommed The Astral Sleep. I also suggest you buy their first three albums in this order: The Astral Sleep, Clouds, Sumerian Cry.This band, sadly, is only a shadow of its former self. The beauty of Tiamat's music lies in their past, not their present catalogue, beware!"

Lord Morted

Elyzabeth Skeletron | somewhere cold | 04/02/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the begining of the future changes tiamat will go through.Tiamat secound ablum astral sleep is a wave of desructive death metal,But they stay oddly close to there once black metal roots."