Tiamat (band)

Tiamat is a Swedish metal band that formed in Stockholm in 1987 and led by Johan Edlund. The band went through a number of stylistic changes in their earlier releases before settling on gothic metal.

Tiamat
Tiamat performing at Kavarna Rock Fest 2011
Background information
Also known as	Treblinka (1987–1989)
Origin	Täby, Stockholm, Sweden
Genres	Gothic metal gothic rock blackened death metal (early)[1] symphonic black metal (early)[2]
Years active	1987–present
Labels	Century Media, Nuclear Blast, Napalm
Members	Johan Edlund Lars Sköld Anders Iwers Roger Öjersson
Past members	Jörgen "Juck" Thullberg Anders Holmberg Stefan Lagergren Niklas Ekstrand Thomas Petersson Johnny Hagel Kenneth Roos P.A. Danielsson

History

Initially, the band had the name Treblinka and a style of black/death metal. After having recorded the album Sumerian Cry in 1989, guitarist/vocalist Johan Edlund and bassist Jörgen Thullberg parted ways with the other two founding members, and subsequently changed the name to Tiamat, after the Babylonian goddess representing the primordial sea and forebear to other gods. The Sumerian Cry album included re-recorded Treblinka songs and was released in June 1990. AllMusic refers to early Tiamat as "one of the leading lights in symphonic black metal."^[3]

After the debut, Edlund's leadership would modify the band's style with influences ranging from Black Sabbath, Mercyful Fate, Candlemass, Pink Floyd and King Crimson, with Sumerian lyrical themes. H. P. Lovecraft's writings also appear to have influenced Tiamat's thematology, a development consistent with a broader trend in death metal culture.^[4] Polish guitarist Waldemar Sorychta would produce and contribute instrumentation to many of the band's albums, as well as those by Tiamat's own tour and labelmates, including Moonspell, Rotting Christ, Lacuna Coil and Samael.

1994's critically acclaimed Wildhoney mixed raw vocals, slow guitar riffs and synthesizer sounds which sounded different from other extreme metal bands active at that time. An almost continuous forty-minute piece of music, Wildhoney led to the band's appearances at the Dynamo^[5] and Wacken Open Air heavy metal festivals in 1995. The group would play a second gig at Dynamo two years later.

Tiamat performing in Krasnodar, Russia, May 2013

Upon the release of A Deeper Kind of Slumber in 1997, Edlund relocated from Sweden to Germany and declared himself the only permanent member of the band; all albums that would follow would cement the band into a more gothic rock sound, quite different from the extreme music they did in the years before, with recent albums showing a Sisters of Mercy and Pink Floyd influence.^[6]

The band signed to Nuclear Blast in June 2007, and released their ninth album Amanethes on 18 April 2008.

On 10 August 2008, Thomas Wyreson announced that he was quitting the band, stating that "it's just kinda hard to make everything work with the family etc."^[7]

Their song "Cain" was also featured in the 2004 video game Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines.

The band's tenth full-length studio album, The Scarred People, was released on 2 November 2012 through Napalm Records.

Band members

Current Johan Edlund – vocals, guitars, keyboards, theremin (1987–present) Lars Sköld – drums (1994–present) Anders Iwers – bass, occasional vocals (1996–present) Roger Öjersson – guitars, keyboards, mandolin, backing vocals (2010–present) Former Jörgen "Juck" Thullberg – bass (1987–1992) Anders Holmberg – drums (1987–1990) Stefan Lagergren – guitars (1987–1990) Niklas Ekstrand – drums (1990–1994) Thomas Petersson – guitars (1990–1994, 1996–1999, 2001–2008) Johnny Hagel – bass (1992–1996) Kenneth Roos – keyboards (1992–1994) P.A. Danielsson – keyboards (1994–1995; died 2004)

Touring Nicke Andersson – drums (1989) Martin Brändström – keyboards (2002–2009)[8][9] Henrik Bergqvist – guitars (2002)[10] Fredrik Åkesson – guitars (2004)[8] Henriette Bordvik – female vocals (2005, 2015, 2016, 2017) Martin Powell – keyboards (2006–2007) Johan Niemann – guitars (2008) Joakim Svalberg – keyboards (2011–2012) Rikard Zander – keyboards (2014–2016, 2017-present) Gustaf Hielm – bass (2016-present) Thomas Wyreson – guitars (2016, 2017–?) Carl Westholm – keyboards (2016, 2017–?) Daniel Karlsson – keyboards (2017) Jonas Öijvall – keyboards (2018–?) Per Wiberg – keyboards (2018–?) Magnus Henriksson – guitars (2017–2018, 2022-present) Simon Johansson – guitars (2022-present)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions				Sales
		SWE [11]	GER [12]	AUT [13]	BEL [14]
Sumerian Cry	Released: 7 June 1990 Label: CMFT Productions Formats: CD, LP, CS, DL	—	—	—	—
The Astral Sleep	Released: 1 September 1991 Label: Century Media Formats: CD, LP, CS, DL	—	—	—	—
Clouds	Released: 2 December 1992 Label: Century Media Formats: CD, LP, CS, DL	—	—	—	—
Wildhoney	Released: 25 October 1994 Label: Century Media Formats: CD, LP, CS, DL	—	29	—	—	US: 8,082+[15]
A Deeper Kind of Slumber	Released: 12 August 1997 Label: Century Media Formats: CD, LP, CS, DL	39	29	22	—
Skeleton Skeletron	Released: 11 August 1999 Label: Century Media Formats: CD, LP, CS, DL	56	19	47	—
Judas Christ	Released: 30 April 2002 Label: Century Media Formats: CD, LP, CS, DL	52	28	—	—
Prey	Released: 27 October 2003 Label: Century Media Formats: CD, LP, CS, DL	—	83	—	—
Amanethes	Released: 27 May 2008[16] Label: Nuclear Blast Formats: CD, LP, DL	13	69	—	—
The Scarred People	Released: 2 November 2012[17] Label: Napalm Formats: CD, LP, DL	11	62	—	154
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Singles

Title	Year	Album
"A Winter Shadow"	1990	The Astral Sleep
"Cold Seed"	1997	A Deeper Kind of Slumber
"Brighter Than the Sun"	1999	Skeleton Skeletron
"Vote for Love"	2002	Judas Christ
"Cain"	2003	Prey
"The Temple of the Crescent Moon"	2008	Amanethes
"Born to Die"	2013	The Scarred People

EPs

Title	EP details
Gaia	Released: 28 November 1994 Label: Century Media Formats: CD
For Her Pleasure	Released: 8 November 1999 Label: Century Media Formats: CD, DL

Live albums

Title	Album details
The Sleeping Beauty (Live in Israel)	Released: 5 April 1994 Label: Century Media Formats: CD

Compilation albums

Title	Album details
The Musical History of Tiamat	Released: February 1995 Label: Century Media Formats: CD
Commandments	Released: 26 February 2007 Label: Century Media Formats: CD, DL
The Ark of the Covenant - The Complete Century Media Years	Released: 18 August 2008 Label: Century Media Formats: CD

Video albums

Title	Video details	Peak chart positions
		SWE [18]
The Church of Tiamat	Released: 24 April 2006 Label: Metal Mind Productions Formats: DVD	5
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Music videos

Year	Title	Directed	Album
1992	"Sleeping Beauty"	—	Clouds
1995	"Whatever That Hurts"	Tamara Jordan	Wildhoney
	"Gaia"	Tamara Jordan
1997	"Cold Seed"	Tamara Jordan	A Deeper Kind of Slumber
1999	"Brighter Than the Sun"	Doro Film	Skeleton Skeletron
2002	"Vote for Love"	Alexander Detig (Sound & Vision Film, Video & Media GmbH)	Judas Christ
2003	"Cain"	Patric Ullaeus (Revolver Film)	Prey
2003	"Do You Dream of Me?"	Eugen Erhan	Wildhoney
2012	"The Scarred People"[19]	angst-im-wald	The Scarred People
2013	"384"	Ioanna Lampropoulou[20]
	"Love Terrorists"	Johan Edlund, Ioanna Lampropoulou[21][22]
	"The Red of the Morning Sun"