"Tiamat" has been added to your list of bookmarked artists
close
Tiamat
Biography
Over the course of the 1990s, Sweden's Tiamat has evolved from a typical death metal outfit into perhaps the leading exponent of what has been tagged "symphonic" black metal, a variation that aims to keep all of death metal's darkness intact, but to portray it in a moodier, more atmospheric way, often making synthesizer arrangements just as important as guitar riffs and utilizing a deliberate, Gothic feel. The one constant throughout Tiamat's history has been vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Johan Edlund, originally known as Hellslaughter in the band's early days. Tiamat grew out of a splatter-metal band called Treblinka, which was formed in 1988 and released two demos (Crawling in Vomits and Sign of the Pentagram) that helped secure a deal with England's CMFT label. Electing to change their name to Tiamat (an ancient Middle Eastern goddess of chaos and a five-headed dragon in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game), the group released their debut album, Sumerian Cry, in 1990, with a lineup of Edlund, bassist Jorgen "Juck" Thullberg, and session musicians Stefan "Emetic" Lagergren (guitar) and Andres "Najse" Holmberg. Dissatisfied with the album's distribution, Tiamat jumped to the Century Media label, completing their official lineup with guitarist Thomas Petersson and drummer Niklas Ekstrand.