Review Summary: Black sheep mind's eye.
Anno 1994. Death metal dominates the Swedish underground music scene and Tiamat stands out as one of the quite blackest sheep of the movement. Coalescing an extreme genre as such with 180 degrees psychedelic Pink Floyd-influences was an all but historic commonplace and so back then the
Wildhoney album appeared as avant-garde in the fullest sense of the definition. Its audacious nature and versatile presentation stands to this day as one of the very most precious in the modern music industry. This seductive piece of art is a captivating extension of the human mind, a chef d’oevre of immense magnitude and an overall truly superb buffet of enchanting, mind expanding potpourri; creative as few. Tiamat was neither the first nor last to marry odd genres and launch out into unconventional experiments but this particular type of fusion certainly made for a promising artistic claim. A movement as exciting as the 60’s and 70’s psychedelic and progressive rock scene should certainly be enough to moist the palms of anyone with a genuine interest in music. A successful marriage between two of my favorite genres that wouldn’t be enough to shape two hearts below my forehead would probably have to be the flaw of some kind of cosmic error. Fact is, music never really sounded anything like this before
Wildhoney. The experiment is a success from every thinkable perspective (practical as principled), one that most people who are interested in music or art in general should be able to enjoy.
Opening wise, the album launches by adjourning its nearby listener from the living room and slams the gate wide open to an exotic Garden of Eden. But in the same biblical sense, a brooding menace dwells within the apparent utopia in the midst of nature’s distilled splendor.
Wildhoney houses a seductively beautiful character that interacts with an equally alluring kind of treacherous media which reflects off its captivating traits. These vastly romantic mixtures contrast each other with striking grace and bestow the music with a great sense of deep character that many other bands so yearningly aspire.
Wildhoney’s deck of cards guarantees content to all curious listeners and its actual projection; the songs – they’ll likely make an equally strong impression. The band alternates between intense doom metal with psychedelic traits and nicely complementing ambient sections, ethereal as trips on acid. Soundscapes strongly reminiscent of the cover that adorns the album are spiced with bold but apt sections of various exotic instruments, crested with Edlund’s highly fitting variety of beckoning whispers and aggressive death growls. A soothingly mellow approach on "Do You Dream Of Me?" and "A Pocket Size Sun" contrast with "Whatever That Hurts", "The Ar" and "Gaia"’s transcendental doom metal façade which reveals a diverse selection of not only influences but Tiamat’s overall very precious mind’s eye. An enduring sense of creativity flows throughout the entire album that finally discharges in a very special place in my heart as one of my absolute favorite albums. One almost can’t quite help speaking in pompous tongues after having been seduced by
Wildhoney’s wicked charm. But if you’re going to listen to this album you might as well do it right; drunk of passion in harmony with all forbidden sensations in the Garden of Eden.
