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TIAMAT The Church Of Tiamat Century Media (2006)
You know what? I get really annoyed with bands that decide to make DVDs at the very early stages of their career, and unfortunately at the moment, there are many of them out there. I am not trying to be funny here - I understand that a DVD release is an ideal way for young musicians to promote their music, but what sort of interest is any band with a couple of studio albums in their arsenal really capable of generating? In today's competitive market, you must have quite a few things on offer in order to hope that such an investment will become profitable. One band that really deserves to enrich their discography with such a release is definitely Tiamat.
It is amazing how an outfit that's been around for the last eighteen years like Tiamat, has only just now decided to venture into this field. Their only previous live effort "The Sleeping Beauty (Live In Israel)" was indeed quite enjoyable and entertaining, but also it was relatively sort (five songs) and definitely not representative of the band's varied and quite interesting career. Byway of contrast, what we have here is a professional band that performs fifteen of their most successful compositions, in front of a quite passionate audience...now that sounds really good, doesn't it?
The fact that I had never attended a Tiamat concert so far in my life made me even more determined to get my hands on this release, so I was indeed more than happy to find out that Century Media had sent me a promotional copy of this DVD. Then came the moment of truth: would Tiamat's live performance be as magical as I have imagined it to be in my mind during these last sixteen years? In all honesty, I knew that disappointment would not be an option, but I was really not prepared for such a shocking and mesmerising performance that the five musicians gave for their numerous Polish fans on the 13th of January 2005.
What I really like about Tiamat's performance in "The Church Of Tiamat" is the fact that they have managed to re-create this unique dark atmosphere that has been their trademark since the early 90's while quite skilfully performing their amazing compositions, and in an ideal environment like that in Krakow, the result was mind-blowing. Even though the set list was mostly based on their last three studio releases ("Prey", "Judas Christ", "Skeleton Skeletron"), classics such as "The Sleeping Beauty", "Whatever That Hurts", “In A Dream" and "Gaia" ensured that this would be a well balanced and pretty dynamic concert and seems to have enthused many of the band's oldest fans who have attended the show.
Johan Edlund (guitar vocals) was as enigmatic as I expected him to be, though he never once tried to hide his enthusiasm and was in constant communication with his audience. His partners Anders Iwers (bass), Lars Skold (drums) and Martin Brandstrom (Keys) kept a relatively low profile, in comparison with Fredrik Akesson who mesmerised everyone in the audience (myself included) with his beautiful guitar melodies and fiery solos. It is because of that reason that songs like "Vote For Love", "Cain" and "Clovenhoof", which was introduced by Johan as a song "for my friend who lives down there", sound ten times better that the studio versions, and it is for that exact reason why you should make sure to invest in this release.
The effect that this performance had on me was so strong that after a while I began to feel as if I was part of the audience, and I guarantee that this is something that does not happen to me very often. There is also a very interesting bonus section, which includes the band's promo videos, rare home video footage, an interview with Johan Edlund and Anders Iwers, as well as a photo gallery and a wallpaper section that most Tiamat fans would find of great interest.
With all the numerous promos that I have been receiving since I started working for this website, I have inevitably neglected some of the bands that I grew up listening to. What "The Church Of Tiamat" managed to do was to get me hooked once again on the music of this great band, and to raise my hopes for another killer release in the near future. Get your hands on this DVD - it is imperative!
*****
Review by John Stefanis
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