Tiamat have always been at the forefront of the Swedish scene, whether it was under the name Treblinka where they played the still nascent death/black metal of the time that was popular or in 1990 when they had recorded their debut “Sumerian Cry” under the name Tiamat. Despite their timely appearance on both occasions (Sumerian Cry was recorded two months before Left Hand Path and released two months later), success was still out of reach. Possibly due to the fact that their earlier material didn’t stand out and felt lacking compared to their competitors as their music didn’t offer anything that other bands were doing just as well if not better. Though the Swedish bands had lost their luster for the most as they were either trying to repeat their successful formulae or were experimenting with more commercially acceptable styles at the expense of their integrity. On the other hand, Wildhoney is Tiamat’s first serious foray outside of the fold of death metal and it simply blows their peers out of the water. Having bloomed much later than their peers, it seemed that for surviving members Johan Edlund and Johnny Hagel that they had finally found their true calling.
Stylistically, elements of prog-rock, death metal, Spanish folk, ambient and psychadelic music colour the album. The vast stylistic differences from song to song don’t impede the cohesion of this album in any way as there is a logical progression in terms of mood. Starting with the rousing “Whatever That Hurts” that plays with long psychedelic, atmospheric passages that explode into a gigantic death metal chorus and then slowly working towards the calm and introspective “A Pocket-Size Sun”. With the shift away from metal, the use of vocals naturally becomes a lot more prominent. Edlund doesn’t attempt a deep baritone impression nor does he try to push himself beyond his vocal limitations but rather alternates between oneiric whispers, full on death metal growls and a half sung/half spoken style that fully enriches the music by following and accentuating the underlying melody. Though on sparse songs like “Gaia” and “Do You Dream of Me?” he does let himself sing a bit more and within his compact range he is very good at creating interesting melodies without vying endlessly for the spotlight. While there are a lot of different instruments on the album, each song isn’t densely layered and the orchestration remains sparse generally relying on either a guitar or synths to lead the songs with the occasional external instrument used for impact at specific moments.
A lot of the experimentation comes in the form of the three interludes “Wildhoney”, “25th Floor” and “Kaleidoscope” that heavily feature ambient sounds and segue into the corresponding pieces seamleessly. Luckily the band don’t break up the flow of the individual pieces by randomly injecting these ambient passages which may theoretically sound a like an audacious move but in other similar projects, such attempts tend to come across as stifled and frankly boring. Each composition revolves around a handful of ideas that are fully explored with various interplay between different layers of synths and guitars as the bass and drums aren’t constantly present to allow for such arrangements to be fully heard. what makes the album so satisfying is that despite the experimentation and the dive into uncharted waters, the band will always feature climaxes and points of interests in their songs like on “Visionaire” which combusts into a dark chromatic melody before returning to the clean guitar arpeggios. Though “Planets” and “The Ars” break the mold by relying a lot more on their melodies and ambience throughout, this does not weaken them as they respectively rely on unique and captivating textures and strong melodies respectively.
Wildhoney is the first case of an extreme metal band that manages to reach their creative apex by mostly foregoing their initial style and using it as an embellishment within other influences. This album shouldn’t be thought of as being metal but rather metal inspired to fully enjoy everything that it has to offer. A true classic in every sense of the word Wildhoney is the golden standard of a band leaving metal, not out of desperation but rather on the path to reach greater heights.
