Lucyfire

Sweden's Tiamat enjoyed a successful career two-by-two: from a faceless death act (Sumerian Cry and The Astral Sleep) to an innovative and essential Euro doom outfit (Clouds and Wildhoney), then down the suicide tubes with terrible albums that have rightly eliminated most of their fan base (A Deeper Kind Of Slumber and Skeleton Skeletron). Front-man Johan Edlund has given up the clown makeup for a ten-gallon hat, and saddles up Lucyfire, in which he lives out his straightforward rock fantasies with session players - including Morgoth producer Dirk Draeger - and the music is not far removed from '80s new wavers Thompson Twins, or any other goth rockers who list the Cure as a primary influence. The album's title is a quote from Donald Duck's Uncle Scrooge, so naturally the lyrics get a bit cartoon-ish at times, like in "Automatic" ("I'm a bee for the honey and a run for the money/Sugar for the sweet and a carrot for the bunny") and "The Pain Song." Edlund invokes Edgar Allan Poe in "Annabel Lee" and, contrarily, ZZ Top in an uneasy cover of "Sharp Dressed Man." If you weren't already sickened by Tiamat's recent output, then you'd probably dig this, as long as you can stomach Type O Negative on mega doses of caffeine and vitamin C.