Judas Christ

After listening to this album for about a dozen of times, I was trying to figure out what was their best release so far. Well, it's really hard to say since all their albums have plenty of qualities and plenty of weaknesses. I will deliberately skip the Sumerian Cry release since it sounds as an UFO in their discography. The Astral Sleep may have been a good record at a time, but this was more than 10 years ago. Since this release, the band has progressed a lot and considerably changed their style. Besides, I don't like this album a lot, and I probably might have listened to it less than 10 times (and probably never for the last 6 years). Clouds is the first release I really enjoyed and listened to a countless numerous of times. It was probably the first dark-gothic metal release ever, along with the Gothic album from Paradise Lost. The sound and the production however haven't really made it on the distance. Songs such as In A Dream, Clouds or A Caress Of Stars are still among my favorites. I wish Johan could give them a facelift (yeah you know like those bands such as Samael who like to rerecord some of their old songs to add them on single releases). Wildhoney is a brilliant album, a big step ahead in the band's evolution. Unfortunately among the 10 songs featured on this release, only 6 are not instrumental, which makes it a short album. However such songs as The AR, Gaia and Visionaire are among the best classics of the band. A Deeper Kind of Slumber was again a real change is the musical direction of the band. Unfortunately for this record, only five songs on this album are really good and entertaining. Cold Seed, The Whores of Babylon, Phantasma de Luxe, Mount Marilyn and A Deeper Kind of Slumber. This album is my wife's favorite metal album of all time. Skeleton Skeletron is a huge step backwards for the band, since they just took the best elements from Wildhoney and A Deeper Kind of Slumber to make this album. At the very last minute they decided to include a cover from The Rolling Stones, Sympathy For The Devil, on the album instead of the track Children of the Underworld which is only available on a single and unfortunately appears to be the best track they recorded for this album. Following this album, Johan decided to form the band Lucyfire and released the album This Dollar Saved My Life At Whitehorse (which could have easily been released under the name of Tiamat). Finally here comes the main point of this review, the new album Judas Christ (do you see the play on words ?). Although this album is full of enthusiastic tracks such as Vote For Love, So Much For Suicide, Angel Holograms and I Am In Love With Mylself, and full of mellow songs such as The Return Of The Son Of Nothing or Heaven Of High, it's nothing more than this good old recipe like only Tiamat is able to do it. And again one the best song, Cold Last Supper, is only available on the single. This album is better than Skeleton Skeletron though, but I would like to hear a more inventive Tiamat than just a strictly repetitive Tiamat. There's also a box collector edition available for this album that features two tracks from the Hamburg Tapes, which is in fact some country music delirium from Johan's own mind. Not interesting at all. I am then unable to say which one is their best album so far, but this new one, Judas Christ, has probably the best chance to make it in the distance.