Tiamat
Commandments - An Anthology
Where the serpents ever dwell
I first met Johan at a Carcass gig in Gothenburg in early 1989, and we soon became friends
(I was introduced as Anders, but Johan wouldn't hear of it, and immediately gave me the infectious
nickname Satanfuck, which still sticks in certain circles...). Even though I wasn't in the band at the
time, I was close by, we were staying at each others' houses, and drank several hundred beers at
verious death metal gigs all over Sweden! These older songs are now an impossibility for us to learn
(too fast, too many riffs), but they're a great example of youthful energy and innocence... Tiamat
meant business!
On golden wings
The Astral Sleep was where I (as an outsider at the time) first realized that Tiamat had something
special, a voice of their own. Before the album was released, Juck had left the band, I offered my
services, and soon we were on our way to Poland's Metal Mania festival in November 1991, our first
gig abroad. A three-day bus ride, but with Dismember and Grave on the same bus, boredom was
never a factor!
Ancient entity
The first Tiamat song I remember learning, I got the "Winter Shadow / Ancient Entity" 7-inch
single from Johan in 1990, and my old band rehearsed a Tiamat medley to surprise the boys. Still
one of the songs we try from time to time in rehearsals, it hasn't made its way into any recent
setlist, but who knows... Still one of AD Lords' best guitar melodies!
The sleeping beauty
What's to say about "Sleeping Beauty"? Lots of people think of it as the ultimate Tiamat song.
We sometimes refer to it as our "Smoke On The Water"; on the few occasions we left it out of the
set, we almost got lynched! Never fun to rehearse, always fun to play live! On-stage vocals has been
supplied by Moonspell's Fernando, Morten from Sirenia, Peter from Pain/Hypocrisy and everybody in
Anathema, to name but a few!
A caress of stars
I had left the band when Clouds was recorded (I foolishly thought my own band would hit it big,
doh!) but stayed in touch with the boys when they rolled through Gothenburg on one of the endless
tours they went on, or whenever I went to Stockholm. Got to be good friends with Johnny too, even
kidnapped him once for a band, but that's another story... THis is one of my favourites on Clouds,
and it has been on a few "Try this" lists when we rehearse for touring, but it's been a while now
since it made an appearance
Whatever that hurts
When Wildhoney came out, I remember thinking, wow this is it, totally groundbreaking stuff,
and I started questioning my decision to leave... but I'd probably have fucked it up if I'd stayed!
I remember spending a week in Stockholm when they had a rare vacation, and had a great time with
Johan, Johnny and Thomas, cooking Mexican food, fishing and drinking numerous Coronas. I saw
Tiamat live several times on the Wildhoney tours, even met up with them in Copenhagen when I was
touring (it was the first time I met Lars, and I've never been the same since...) and they blew my
mind with the combination of audio and visual stimuli! "Whatever That Hurts" is still in the set
today, and it's an instant success, one of the heavier songs in the current set, and a joy to play!
Gaia
"Gaia", for me, might be the ultimate Tiamat wsong, the song we still close every show with. We
played it in Milan, Italy on a 2004 tour. Milan was where PA, our former keyboard player, lived
before he passed away, a very emotional experience. "Gaia" will probably be in the set as long as we
play.
Cold seed
In November 1996, I spoke to Johan on the phone. I had just left my band at the time,
and he had parted company with Johnny, so the solution was quite natural, and on December 30th,
I landed in Dortmund, Germany for the first (but certainly not the last) time and we started
recording ADKOS a few days later. We spent several months holed up in a hotel around the
corner from Woodhouse, which probably explains how we share hotel rooms, to this day I always
shack up with Johan, and Lars and Thomas are invariably next door! We ate lots of Thai food, drank
even more German beer, and made the most important record of our career, thus far. ADKOS was a
very difficult album to make, but I honestly don't think we would have been where we are today if
we hadn't seen the album through to what it eventually became.
Phantasma de luxe
"Phantasma" is one of the candidates for my all-time favourite Tiamat song. It's even better when we
get it right live. Sometimes we've touched upon being near-great on stage, and more often than not,
we are playing "Phantasma" at the time. It's one of those moments when you actually are not
thinking at all, just being. Pretentious? You bet!
Brighter than the sun
"Brighter" was our first try at a "hit" song, and if this was a perfect world, it would have been an
actual hit too. Such great lyrics, a very catchy chorus, the contrast of Johan's dark voice with
Nicole's clear high vocals, together with a video of a neo-toreador, fighting a monster truck, what's
not to like! Still in the set, although we can't afford a female backing singer, so Thomas and me
deliver the goods... That might explain why it never hit it big time!
As long as you are mine
A live favourite, a crowd-pleaser as we "in the business" call it... Seriously, we think this actually
works better live, although it's a smasher on the album too! Skeleton was a quite easy album to
make, at least compared to ADKOS, and I think we touched upon some things that led the way to
where we went afterwards, and "As Long..." is one of them. This was made as a trio, as Thomas
had other (better?) things to do, and Lars and myself shared a dodgy appartment with the wonderful
people of Lacuna Coil, which considerably helped our eating habits! On a different note, this also
was the time when Lars and myself got Century Media's company car towed away, but that's a story
for our memoirs...
The Return Of The Son Of Nothing
JC is our "Copenhagen phase", maybe not as cool as Iggy Pop's or David Bowie's "Berlin Phases"
but it worked for us! We spent two months in Denmark, and hadn't really written all of the album as
we went in, but it led to a very relaxed and easy-going working environment. I remember writing with
Johan as we watched "Casablanca", and drank wine, while Lars slaved at the drums. "Return..." is
actually heavily influenced by "Whatever That Hurts", just listen to the drums on the chorus. It also
contains lyrics that rank in my top-five of Johan's best work.
Vote For Love
"Vote" was our second attempt at a "hit" and yet again, no... as with "Brighter", I was totally,
unweaveringly dead sure that another sons was to be the first single, I won't say which one,
as I am apparently crap at deciding singles... I remember Lars and myself hitting each other really
hard, repeatedly as Trille recorded her vocals for this one, not really sure why, I think it came from
watching too much Jackass. Stupid, but something we still do occasionaly... Copenhagen was also
where Lars taught us to drink Underberg... he worked hard, but he won.
Cain
Prey was recorded very differently from JC. We did the drums in Stockholm, then I flew to
Hamburg and recorded with Johan, very relaxed, very productive. He even had a small bar set
up next to where I was sitting! After I finished my tracks for Prey, we went out to celebrate,
a night that ended with me being absolutely certain that the authorities had relocated the
Reeperbahn, that's what too much Fernet can do to you... The video was shot in Gothenburg,
with the whole band staying at my place; cramped, but cosy!
Wings of Heaven
A very cool song, one that works very well with acoustic guitars, too. A dressing room
favourite, maybe one day you'll hear it. We called it "MASH" when we recorded it... This was
the song I thought would be the first single from Prey, I really suck at picking singles.
Divided (edit)
My favourite song on Prey. A song that is as minimalistic as we probably get. I love the way
it's very monotone. All that happens happens beneath the surface, with harmonies, slight
variations in instumentation and so forth. This is something I'd really like to explore in the
future
Anders "Satanfuck" Iwers, January 2007
Lyrics in plain text format
