Customer Reviews

Astral Sleep

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is Tiamat at their nastiest! Everything on here is horribly raw with ghastly and often hillarious vocals by the now very sedated Johan Edlund. The music is usually melodic and always wierd as sin. The lyrics are quite killer for the most part, but sometimes have that stupid "I think I'm a poet" feel to them. The riffs are very strange with a fast and rockin' sort of feel and there are plenty of melodic accoustic parts on it. The better songs on this will haunt your cerebellum for centuries to come. Angels far beyond, Mountain of Doom, and, of course, Sumerian Cry III are this album's highlights, but it is a complete classic from beginning to fiendishly crazed end. I can't get enough of those hideous vocals!!!

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.

Two distinctions make this CD a must buy for metal heads. First, the vocals which are really extraordinary. Unlike other singers who have to rely on garggling with Draino and treating their voices to heavy processing, Tiamat's vocalist sounds like he is demonically posessed - gutteral, but clear. Sounds like a contradiction, but you have to hear it to believe it. Most of the songs are in the early Judas Priest/Black Sabbath vein which will be appreciated by those craving this kind of classic metal. The second big reason to buy the album is a track called "The Entity". After about a minute you're led to believe the boys have shot their wads and what next? Be patient, the song soon rises from the pedestrian to the truly inspired. Multi-orgasmic is the best way to describe this finely-tuned biomechanoid anthem of a song. Not for mass consumption, this song will send shivers up the spines of a select few. Take that Stained CD out of your basket and buy this one.

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.

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!

One of the greatest bands in early 90's. Tiamat was a black, death hybrid, and one of those rare bands that try to make a fussion on this styles in the 90's. Great album, recommended!! So stay away of the other releases!!!

One of the most talented Metal(whatever you call it) Bands I know. This Band has a very own atmosphere and magic that you shouldn't miss if you are interested in music that makes you feel your soul. This is one of their early, darker Outcomes, which manages to capture the things I'm trying to write about. Just check out "Mountain of Doom" or "Angels far beyond" and you will understand. Be also sure to get their CLOUDS Album, it is even better but quite different from THE ASTRAL SLEEP.

The dark bliss that this music brings to the inner mind is incredable and stimulating to anyone not afraid to look into their own darkness and find humor in themselves this album will be your guide

My first Tiamat album was Wildhoney which was brilliant, I then got a deeper kind of slumber which was a more polished and somber effort, not as classic as Wildhoney but still a great cd. I decided to track down some older Tiamat and got the astral sleep and I must say I was very very disappointed. I love heavy music of all kinds but this is just a sloppy, misguided mess. It's like they wrote the songs as they were playing them. They have no direction or guidance. The only song I can stand is lady temptress, the rest feels like someone is yelling at me for no reason and I just want them to shut up, luckily I can make them by hitting the stop button. This is just a very very bad annoying cd that will get very old in about 20 minutes. Save your money.