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Tiamat are masters at using the dark and demonic as metaphors for the modern world’s ills. So perhaps I could be forgiven for, like Tiamat, using comparisons to illustrate my own thoughts…..

 

If you think of the poppiness of 1999’s “Skeleton Skeletron”, “The Scarred People” (album no.10 from the band) is a somewhat darker version of that album. So, once again, the music is very much song-oriented, albeit with a significantly dark Gothic vibe. Of course that last phrase is also a perfect description of a certain band that successfully brought this brand of music to the masses: Type-O-Negative. And songs such as ‘384EKteis’ and ‘Thunder And Lightning’ do go eerily close to the sounds created by the late Mr Steele and his cohorts.

 

One of the things that I enjoyed about “The Scarred People” are the intense guitar solos, as in ‘Radiant Star’. Yes, Tiamat have used guitars in a similar fashion before but this time they really sound perfect. Specific songs that will justify the purchase of this album include the aforementioned ‘Radiant Star’, the brief but uplifting ‘Before Another Wilbury Dies’ and the mellow instrumental ‘Messinian Letter’. Other songs (‘Winter Dawn’ springs to mind) sound a bit like fillers, although that probably depends on the listener’s mood when the disc is spinning.

 

Another thing I can’t fail to notice is that from the band’s last 4 or 5 albums, I have now come to know what to expect of Tiamat. And in a way that goes against the ethos of the band. It is understandable that opinions may differ widely on the comparative value of albums such as “Clouds” (1992) “Skeleton Skeletron” (1999) or “Sumerian Cry” (1990) but you couldn’t help admiring the band for being musically adventurous. In that sense, “The Scarred People” does disappoint slightly, even though on the whole the material is unfailingly (for Tiamat) above average.

 

Let me be clear on this: Tiamat have never really released a sub-par album…..and that tradition certainly hasn’t been broken with “The Scarred People”.

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