lukretion
Vote for Love was released as a single in January 2002, only a few weeks before Judas Christ, Tiamat’s 7th full-length album. It contains three tracks in total: two songs taken from the forthcoming LP, plus “Cold Last Supper”, a song that was not included in the LP's tracklist, but did appear as a bonus track in some versions of Judas Christ. The CD also contains the video Tiamat shot for "Brighter Than the Sun", a song from their previous record Skeleton Skeletron, which is a nice, little bonus.
I normally use two criteria to evaluate single releases. One is based on how much excitement for the forthcoming full-length they manage to stir in me. In this respect, Vote for Love scores full points. The title-track is an awesome gothic anthem that indeed will also be one of the best songs of Judas Christ. It showcases all of Tiamat’s best qualities: catchy vocal melodies, witty lyrics, tasteful arrangements (with the “empty”, suspenseful verses that resolve satisfyingly in the fuller, more musical chorus), and a great use of female backing vocals to create some exciting harmonies in the song’s coda. The version of the song included in the single is slightly edited to make it more palatable for airplay, but the differences are only minor (a shorter intro and a slightly shorter instrumental break). If I wouldn’t have already planned to buy Judas Christ because I was a big Tiamat fan at the time, I would have decided to buy Judas Christ based on this song alone. The other album song, “So Much for Suicide” is also good. It is a slower, doomier number that displays the less upbeat and catchy side of Judas Christ, which in fact I ended up liking even more than the more easy listening material.
The other criterion I use to evaluate singles is based on the extra, non-album material they contain. Here, Vote for Love falls a bit short. It does contain a song - “Cold Last Supper” - that was not included in Judas Christ (though, as I mentioned, it did appear as a bonus track in some versions). However, the song is not very good. It’s a rather monotonous, industrial/electronic affair that revolves around some weak melodies and a repetitive arrangement that grows tired fairly quickly. In short, one can immediately understand why this song was left out from the LP’s tracklist and used as a bonus track instead. This reduces somewhat the value of this release, which may become particularly unattractive if you already own the version of Judas Christ that includes “Cold Last Supper” as a bonus track.