The RSSS fanzine or Räser Snigelns Skall Skav (Untranslatable), a Swedish fanzine that was not a pure metal fanzine had an interview with Tiamat in 1992 when they were still a Death Metal band. You can read it here in an English translation. The pictures in the article wasn’t originally published in the fanzine.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
In these times of evil, where you're stupid if you bet someone that there aren't 50 Swedish DM bands, it's hard to hear what's what. Entombed poses in Okay, then you'll be a little tired of the development. Nothing new is heard unless you throw on Tiamat's latest LP. You're clearly impressed that they manage to make DM that doesn't sound Morbid Angel/Entombed. Clearly worth listening to, and it's actually one of the few new DM vinyls I think is good... It's as hard not to listen to it as it is to stay sober on a Friday night. It knocks you over like a six-pack of Danish dynamite. The guys experiment with most things and you clearly hear a lot of classic mixed with brutal DM, all in a blissful mess of sweat and other bodily fluids. The record is as fun and mysterious as a study visit to Tuborg's beer brewery, and if you get a taste, you'll be happy to go there more than once. We talked to the band when they were here in Malmö a while ago.
The innersleeve to the debut album ”Sumerian Cry” LP (1990)
Where do you get your inspiration from?— From everything, everything you listen to, everything you do, everything you see, anything. You think something is cool so it sticks in your head and then maybe you do something with it. You don't think about it, it just comes subconsciously.But there are a lot of classical influences on the record, right?
— I don't listen to classical that much, there's a lot of stuff that's nice too. You listen to some other music that is in turn inspired by classical music. A lot of hard rock is influenced by classical.
What's it like being at Century Media?
— It's good when it works. There are things I would like to change, like arranging things in good time. As soon as something happens, they're out at the last second. They'd rather see that when things go wrong, they fix the problems afterwards. Instead of making sure there were no problems, it's really hard sometimes, especially when you're going somewhere. The good thing is that they're really serious, they have a pretty good budget. They can invest in the band, and there's quite a few staff so you get pretty close to them, good contact. What shows both their good/bad sides are the covers. They spend a lot of money on design, so the layout is nice. Then there are misspellings and stuff. They can't seem to do everything right. If they did everything right, they'd be really good, but I wouldn't want to change.
Tiamat ”Sumerian Cry” LP (1990) If Earache had called and wanted to sign you, would you have jumped on it?
— Well, Entombed and Morbid Angel aren't big because they're on Earache. They're big because they've done well, the music is good.
What's it like to be out and about, is it what you had in mind?
— It's really fun when it works. It's also less fun when it doesn't work out. Like when our bassist was stuck in Helsingborg, he had been given different tasks than we had...
How do you think DM has changed since the start?
— It's fun that it's going well because I'm playing by myself. It's fun for all the guys who play in bands, but sometimes it gets a bit much. Maybe all the bands that release records today shouldn't do that.
What do you think about it growing out of the underground?
— It's sad when there's so much talk about money all the time. When bands that have been friends for like 5-6 years, really close friends and helping each other, suddenly start fighting with each other. Like not wanting to talk to each other for some shitty money. I don't want to say any names, but there are fights going on between some bands in Sthm. We're not involved in any fights, we're friends with the ones we've been friends with all the time. But if this continues, we'll have to throw ourselves into the fray, and it's fucking sad. It'll be more of a competition, like a big band coming to Sthm, Death, Sepultura or whatever, and then it'll be a local band. And we say that, for example, Grave gets to play. I don't get angry, I'll be happy if they get to play, it's fun for them. But it's more and more like: "We've sold more records than them, so why can't we play?!". I'm fucking uninterested in that.
Tiamat ”The Astral Sleep” LP (1991) Do you want to call Tiamat and other DM underground these days?
— It's not like that anymore, no matter how hard you try. You can't say you're an underground band anymore. We haven't sold that much so we're underground. Not like Entombed, they're on the list and stuff. They play some kind of underground music, but Entombed is hardly underground anymore.
If you became as big as Entombed, would you keep your attitude and stuff?
— I hope so, I have done so far anyway. But I would like to earn $ from music. I don't feel like working, but I want money so I can live in an apartment, eat food... like a regular month's salary. I wouldn't mind earning a lot of $. If I could, I would. Happy. But I'm not going to sacrifice anything to do it. We record albums with what we want to release, then we'll know how it will sell. If we ever sell that many records, then it's only right that we should have money for it. I mean, who else would? It's not right that the record company should make millions off us, they do anyway. If we sell so that we made a million, then I would be proud.
How much have you sold so far?
— I don't really know, I would guess that the latest is around 30,000. Most in the USA and Germany. In Sweden about 2-3,000.
If you had released the record in -85, do you think you would have sold as much then?
— No, but like if we had released an record in -85 and were still around today, we would have maybe sold 150,000.
What do you listen to today?
— Mostly old stuff like Iron Maiden, Saxon and stuff that was good 5 years ago.
Do you think real hard rock will die out? Nowadays, there's almost only punk or death metal?
— It's always like that. People are influenced by a style of music and then the next generation comes along and adds something of their own, so there's always new styles. For me, it doesn't matter if it dies out. I don't have a huge demand to see them live. I don't give a damn whether Saxon exists or not. I still have those Saxon records, and I'll probably listen to them when I'm 70. That way it'll never die out. I went to see Saxon last year, there were 400 people there and like 2 long-haired people. Most of them were 25-30 years old, short-haired and knew all the lyrics. 5 years ago they were small and long-haired. So that's why it lives on, but you don't notice it.
Tiamat ”Clouds” LP (1992)
What do you think the music of the future will be, can it be "worse" than now?
— I think all styles will be mixed. You can already tell when hip hop fans start listening to Entombed. Like hip hop bands with death metal lyrics or death metal bands with hip hop beats.
What should your kids listen to to drive you crazy?
— I can't imagine that happening. They should be allowed to listen to whatever they want. The only thing would be if they played something with very racist lyrics. Then I would ask them to tone it down.
What are your lyrics about?
— They're not about that much. More like thoughts and stuff. Quite a lot about death and what happens after death.
That's it, thanks to Johan and the others in the band.