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The (!) marks the best albums, some might have more than one. Lack of (!) doesn't necessarily mean it is a bad album, just that it is not their best. The (+) marks albums worth listening to, and if there is (-) next to the album you should skip the album completely. Clicking the album name will take you to the album review and clicking the year will show all albums in database, published that year.
Over the course of the 1990s Sweden's Tiamat evolved from a typical Death Metal outfit into a leader of what some call "symphonic" Black Metal, its aim is to keep all of Death Metal's darkness intact, but keep it more subtle and moodier, in other words with more gothic touch. The only one constant throughout Tiamat's history has been vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Johan Edlund, by 1997 he was the only official member of the band so I won't even bother to list all the myriad lineup changes.
Tiamat released their debut album, Sumerian Cry, in 1990, the album was not especially noteworthy and only worth buying if you really must have all Tiamat's albums. Tiamat jumped to the Century Media label. Working with producer Waldemar Sorychta on 1991's The Astral Sleep displayed great amount of maturing from the band that one would not expect by listening to the debut, blending aggressive Deat Metal with ponderous [[Category/Gothic]-Metal and more atmospheric, restrained passages courtesy of the new addition of keyboards.
The follow-up 1993's Clouds, grabbed the athmospherics of the music, throwing acoustic guitars into the mix. After some touring with session musicians in tight leash, as well as producer Sorychta manning the keyboards, Tiamat began work on the epic Wildhoney in 1994.
Released later that year, Wildhoney became the group's artistic and commercial breakthrough, fully realizing the sound only hinted at on previous releases and gathering excessive praise in metal circles everywhere for its brooding, Gothic atmospherics.
The sound was often described as Death Metal meeting Pink Floyd, which is actually rather accurate description of it. The connection was underlined by cover of Pink Floyd's "When You're In" on 1995's Gaia EP, which otherwise featured four remixes/edits of few Wildhoney songs. Some time after that Johan changed his focus, turning Tiamat into more of a personal project and studio band and declaring himself the only official member.
In 1997, the seminal A Deeper Kind of Slumber was conceived on Edlund's home studio and produced by Dirk Draeger. It found Edlund moving into largely electronic territory and addressing more personal subject matter. While most consider Wildhoney to be the pinnacle of Tiamat's career, I personally consider A Deeper Kind of Slumber their best effort so far. Characterized by the dark electronic soundscapes and ethnic flavors, the album is darkly melancholic. Even more than anything else Tiamat had done so far.
Skeleton Skeletron followed in 1999, and divided their audience with the new style. Previous to this album Goth influences had been on the background, but this album proudly displayed the gothic tendencies at the front stage. Still, few songs kept the original sound, and kept the interest up.
2002's Judas Christ made definite their transformation into a goth rock band. It had been true for years, but many just didn't want to believe in it. Prey was an album that was based in Sisters of Mercy style, after which most metal people lost interest in the band, even though some hardcore fans are still pining for Tiamat's glorious return.
They (and me) were somewhat vindicated in 2008 when Tiamat published, finally on another label than Century Media, Amanethes which was a move towards heavier direction. It still wasn't metal, but it definitely had more metal than Tiamat had done in, oh, let's say about fourteen years or so. The album was received well, and was a huge step up from their last three albums, and definitely renewed the faith in the band for many.