TIAMAT — Cold Seed (review)

TIAMAT — Cold Seed album cover Single · 1997 · Gothic Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
lukretion
Released in 1997 as an appetizer for the forthcoming Tiamat’s LP A Deeper Kind of Slumber, Cold Seed is a single containing three tracks. All three songs can be also found on the LP, albeit one (“Only in My Tears It Lasts”) is a remixed version. Curiously, the inline notes only mention the title-track “Cold Seed” as being taken from the forthcoming LP, and not the instrumental “Three Leary Biscuits”, which makes me wonder whether the band initially planned to leave this song out of the LP’s tracklist and added it only at the last minute.

A Deeper Kind of Slumber is the album where Tiamat finally brought to fruition their inclinations to experiment with psychedelia, progressive rock and gothic metal that had surfaced already on their previous records and most prominently on Wildhoney. The three tracks on this single offer a good overview of what’s coming on the LP. “Cold Seed” encapsulates Tiamat’s catchy, goth rock streak that will fully explode in albums like Skeleton Skeletron or Judas Christ. It’s a great song, driven by an irresistible bass groove that leads to a subdued chorus, where a bright guitar lead carries the melody instead of the voice. It’s a nice twist on the verse/chorus formula that one would expect from a simple goth rock tune, which makes this song special. “Only in My Tears It Lasts” brings forth Tiamat’s most experimental side, which is further exalted here by the spacey and atmospheric remix by Carsten Achtelik (Morgoth). The song builds a gloomy, Floydian soundscape through moody percussions and mellow synths, while downcast, half-spoken vocals weave in and out of the music. It’s a song that invites meditation and inner travels, and is probably my favourite piece from this record. The closing track “Three Leary Biscuits” is a brilliant, Middle-Eastern flavoured instrumental that nods to 1970s prog rock. The song is built around a repetitive bass pattern that is held constant throughout the composition, while drums, sitars and guitars develop a portentous crescendo before mellowing down in a scattered finale.

While the quality of the music here is not under discussion, the value of this release is probably not immense if you already own A Deeper Kind of Slumber, since the remix of “Only in My Tears It Lasts” is the only track you do not also get on that LP. This may be too little to warrant purchasing this album, despite the stellar quality of the songs on it.
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