TIAMAT — Judas Christ (review)

Album · 2002 · Gothic Metal

3.5/5 · 2022-10-23
lukretion

Tiamat’s seventh full-length album has not a great rep among fans, which is somewhat unjustified in my opinion. The album was released three years after Tiamat’s “commercial” exploit, 1999’s Skeleton Skeletron. The line-up is largely unchanged. The band is still led by singer/guitarist Johan Edlund, with bassist Anders Iwers and drummer Lars Sköld forming a solid, no-frill rhythm section. The only addition to the line-up on the new LP is Thomas Petersson, who plays lead guitar delivering a handful of tasty solos throughout the record. Musically, Judas Christ continues Tiamat’s exploration of “easy-listening” gothic tunes. Edlund’s croony voice takes centre stage, with his catchy vocal lines and witty lyrics layered over simple guitar riffs, melancholic arpeggios, sultry Hammonds and atmospheric keyboards. The album mostly sticks to a pleasant mid-to-low tempo, enough to make you nod your head, but at a speed that is entirely safe for your neck muscles. It’s gothic metal, but soft and melodic, of the kind that you would have expected to hear in a rock club around those years.

The ample concessions to melody are partly the reason why Judas Christ disappointed fans of the band at the time, especially those who were already left unimpressed by Skeleton Skeletron. But there is another aspect of the album that somewhat penalizes the listening process. While Skeleton Skeletron had a very clear and coherent identity from start to finish, Judas Christ is much more heterogeneous, and probably even too diverse across its 12 songs for its own sake. The warning signs come early. While inspecting the album’s backcover, you will notice that the songs are divided into four “chapters”: Spinae (tracks 1 to 4), Tropic of Venus (tracks 5 to 7), Tropic of Capricorn (tracks 8 to 10) and Casadores (tracks 11 and 12). This is not just cosmetics: each group of songs sounds quite different from the others, to the point that one can almost think of Judas Christ as a collection of 4 distinct mini-EPs.

Spinae explores soundscapes at the intersection between gothic metal and melodic doom. The music is solemn, somber and dark. Even the most uptempo songs such as “Vote for Love” retain a deep sense of darkness and melancholy that makes them quite irresistible, frankly. The next chapter, Tropic of Venus, takes the doom and gloom of Spinae and filters it through a haze of 1970s psychedelia. “Fireflower” feels like a love affair between The Beatles and Black Sabbath, while the instrumental “Sumer by Night” screams Pink Floyd. “Love Is as Good as Soma” closes the chapter in great fashion, with a splendid combination of programmed loops, moody keys and dreamy melancholic guitar arpeggios. So far, Judas Christ is a phenomenal listen.

The other two chapters are alas much less interesting, in my opinion. The three songs included under Tropic of Capricorn feel a lot like outtakes from Skeleton Skeletron. They have the same “silly” rock vibe, playing on the combination between easy melodies, disturbing lyrics and gloomy atmospheres. However, while Skeleton Skeletron pulled that off with class, the songs here feel forced and tacky – not unlike Edlund’s side-project Lucyfire that was released one year prior. The album closes with Casadores – a chapter that takes Tiamat’s gloom in acoustic rock territories (“Heaven of High” is folksy, while “Too Far Gone” could have been written in collaboration with Tom Petty). It’s not a totally uninteresting experiment, although both songs fall a bit flat and are too long, ultimately coming across as slightly boring.

The rather dull second half is the sword on which Judas Christ ultimately falls. As the record comes to an end, I am left with a bittersweet taste that is hard to shake off entirely. It’s a pity because the album contains some of my absolute favourite songs in Tiamat’s discography (“The Return of the Son of Nothing”, “Vote for Love”, “Love Is as Good as Soma”). Indeed, the first 7 tracks are all of really high quality and I just kinda wish the album stopped there, rather than dribble along for another 5 lackluster songs until its unceremonious end. Despite these mixed feelings, it’s undeniable that Judas Christ once again confirms that, when it comes to gothic metal/rock, Tiamat are miles ahead of the competition in terms of class, artistry and musicality. So, whatever you think of this genre, Tiamat are among the very best that this particular brand of metal had to offer in the early 2000s.