Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Tiamat - Clouds (1992)

Finally, I get around to Tiamat after several decades of somehow missing (or simply not remembering) them. Picking them up when firmly in their death/doom phase on Clouds I find an album that should – on paper at least – appeal to me. Hearing those gloomy riffs and b-movie horror synthesisers on opening track In A Dream certainly seems to indicate that I will enjoy this and…WAIT, WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?? That voice, is that Stephen Hawking saying, “in a dream”? That can’t be planned right? The tape has gotten mixed up with an audiobook somewhere on the production line surely.

Joking aside, after a few listens at least, the odd vocal delivery of the chorus line on the opening track retains some quirky value at least. If I am honest, the whole of Clouds has some vocal challenges for me in the sense that I find Johan Edlund to be a lazy sounding vocalist. I get that he is supposed to sound full of despair and hopelessness, but I find that he just sounds like he cannot be bothered in all honesty. His vocals appear to be an afterthought on most tracks, like they somehow forgot to record them with everything else and then had to track them at the last minute.

Luckily, there are some merits to the instrumentation to note that manage to detract away from Edlund’s half-hearted efforts. The guitars have a suitably mournful tone to them, and the use of keyboards is applied well to tracks to give a real depth to that gloomy atmosphere. It is not difficult upon hearing Clouds to understand how Tiamat moved onto their more gothic climes in latter years. The melancholic elements on the record lack any grandiosity overall but certainly hark to a more emotional performance than a mere death/doom vibe.

A Caress of Stars might be the better of the tracks on offer here with its patient and enveloping growth, torturing the listener by offering no real crescendo in the end albeit that the promise of such is hinted at in the song structure. If you can cope with Edlunds vocals, then Clouds is an album that rewards you for sticking with it as it continually delivers on a dank level of comforting consistency as it slopes its way over eight tracks. The drums are really striking throughout the album and have a chunky edge to them that gives them a real strong presence in proceedings. There isn’t anything particularly standout about them in terms of technicality, they just hit the spot consistently well.

The mood of the album is its ultimate triumph. To be able to provide something – anything – to distract from those vocals is a tall order to deliver, and Tiamat thankfully could rely on their musicianship to save what would otherwise have been a real struggle for this pair of ears to get through.