Tiamat - Skeleton Skeletron [ Vinyl ]

This album is arguably the most important one in Johan Edlund's career. The mixture works quite well and is served on a near track-by-track basis with "Church of Tiamat" remaining on melancholic territory, a possible leftover from the "Wildhoney" recording sessions, a heavy atmospheric ballad which is sidestepped by "Brighter than the Sun", the vintage gothic rocker, a major qualifier for the Sisters' "Vision Thing" with the memorable sing-along chorus, the bouncy rhythms, and the brilliant female back vocals. A huge twist this one, it ushers the album into an entirely new realm but Edlund feels quite confident there, adding the dark sinister "As Long as You Are Mine", the excellent balladic keyboard-infused hipster "Dust Is Our Fare", and the very interesting individualistic, sombre cover of The Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil" to match this new gloomier but by no means more pessimistic vision. This album comes out in deluxe gatefold edition, in two colors (Gold / Red) 500 limited edition each. There is also a special limited edition of 60 copies in Metal Box for the collectors (Gold Vinyl).