Prey

Those among you who read my review of Judas Christ know that at the time I was wondering which one was the best Tiamat release ever and that I came to the conclusion that I was unable to make up my mind. Now less than a year and a half later comes the band's new effort called Prey. The album kicks off with Cain also released as the first single off this album. Honestly it's far from being the best song on this album and could have been taken off the A Deeper Kind Of Slumber sessions. Ten Thousands Tentacles is an instrumental songs that brings us to Wings Of Heaven that again shows the mellow side of Tiamat. Not the best song again, but a classic Tiamat's song. Love In Chains is another mellow song that could be taken off the A Deeper Kind Of Slumber sessions..................... In fact I could go on like this until the end of this album as Tiamat released the follow up to A Deeper Kind Of Slumber, except that there's no surprises on Prey. The album features a total of ten mellow, mid-tempoed songs in the Tiamatest tradition, as well as three unnecessary short instrumentals. I was pretty much surprised when I heard this album was coming up and also enthusiastic to listen to it as I really like Tiamat, but apparently Sir Edlund didn't take enough time to refine his songwriting this time and should probably have let his new songs matured a bit more. Although this album is one of Tiamat's weakest release ever, it still features a couple of great songs. Carry Your Cross And I'll Carry Mine stands as one of the best songs Johan Edlund ever wrote along with Visionaire and Mount Marilyn. A very melancholic song carried by Johan's clean voice and some average, sober female vocalist. Light In Extension is the second song worthy to be featured on this album. There's no songs on Prey except for Carry Your Cross And I'll Carry Mine and Light In Extension that might awake the listeners from the slumber they will surely drop into as the album heads towards the end. To sum up, Tiamat's new album is definitely not the best album the band released, not the worst either... They've never disappointed me, but it was pretty damn close this time.