Judas Christ

This is one of the best if not the best album of this great band. After the incredible Skeleton Skeletron, this follow-up lives up to the great expectations. But only after 3-4 hearings. The opening track The Return of the Son of Nothing will blow you out the first time you hear it. It is dark, approachable and has a great melody line. This track is 1 of the 5 all time great numbers on this CD. The others being the 3rd Vote for Love, 5th Fireflower, 7th Love is As Good as Soma, 10th I am in Love with Myself. Believe in this, these are great songs that will haunt you for the rest of your time and the others are close. You get all elements of garage rock, heabvy metal, gothic, pink floyd, queensryche elements in these tracks. Too Far Gone sound very much like STP and it rocks. I got a extra track Cold Last Supper, which is very likable. Tiamat, unlike their last three releases explore some areas in this album. That is evident from the 2nd track So Much for Suicide and 8th Angel Holograms. If you ever liked any Tiamat album before, you will love this. If you ever heard and liked bands like Metallica, Queensryche, Pink Floyd, Moonspell, you will love this album. Johan Edlunds vocals are so good this is perhaps his best work till date. Like wise the guitars arrangements, production, mixing is superb. This is a classic, along with Deeper Kind of Slumber and Skeleton it will rock you and just like Wildhoney broke a new ground in music (Like Gothic of Paradise Lost) this does too. Its a mix of everything Tiamat ever stood for. Darkness, hope, love, hate, all in a haunting, brooding, gothic setting with killing melodies and superb instruments. You will not regret buying this CD, its a steal for $$$$ bucks. Get it, you will not regret it! Long live TIAMAT!!!

TIAMAT's Johan Edlund, Anders Iwers, Lars Skold, and new guitarist Thomas Petersson have created one of this bands best albums since Wildhoney. As the first song "The Return of the Son of Nothing" plays you wonder if it's going to be another Skeleton Skeletron, but it isn't. This album offers a greater variety, greater quality, and breaks ground anew. When you open the CD you can tell that time and thought was put into this album's creation. From the design, the album's title, and each individual song, this album does not disappoint.
Judas Christ's "Vote for Love" seems to be their choice for the albums new approach. "Vote for Love", is a great song, and it's idea of hope in love is somewhat foreign to this band, which makes it admirable. Still, there are other greats on this album that must not be overlooked. Songs such as: The Truth's for Sale, Love Is As Good As Soma, & Angel Holograms, are just as well-done or moreso as Vote... "Heaven of High" and "Too Far Gone" are great "ending" songs for the album, and evoke moods of reflection. If you're fortunate enough as myself to obtain a copy of their limited edition CD it also features two extra songs: "Sixshooter", and "However you look at it you Loose", these are two experimental songs by Edlund which are more synthesizer and bass, than metal and live drums. They appeal to the mechanical and industrial side, rather than the organic. They're worth the listen, and I appreciate Edlund trying something different! As far as the albums best, I feel that "I Am In Love With Myself", is the best, or at least in the top three. It has wonderful lyrics, dark humor, and draws inspiration from Shakespeare's King Lear. It also possess excellent guitar riffs which meld splendidly. It would finally appear that TIAMAT's "DARK METAL" days are outnumbered by their new style which seems to have erupted since Wildhoney, although you can see hints of it as far back as The Astral Sleep. As a great fan and supportor of TIAMAT it's nice to know that there's a band out there like them which, is underappreciated so that I can enjoy them and know that I'm one of the few privielaged individuals who knows about them. Why they haven't recieved the recognition they deserve is left to speculation. Either way, if you appreciate TIAMAT, you'll want this CD to add to the rest. With-out-a-doubt a five star album!

If there was the smallest shred of hope lingering inside your blackened, metallic heart that Tiamat's new album might revisit their "Astral Sleep" days, the song "Vote For Love" alone should surely put that to rest. If nothing else, this record proudly states, "we will never make death metal again" (but then, you'd have known that if you read about how much Edlund hated the band's early material in the liner notes to the re-issues).

But that doesn't mean they won't continue to make decent gloomy, catchy hard rock. Using that yardstick, this is probably Tiamat's best since "Wildhoney".

They've built this monster on the same bones as "Skeleton Steletron", but fleshed it with stronger hooks, a few heavier riffs, and a clearer theme. It really does sound as if this is the muscles, tendons, guts, and brains missing from the last album.

It's not their best. That much should be obvious. But it is a solid album. If you liked the last few albums, it won't disappoint.