After signing a deal with Century Media, TIAMAT released their second album on this day in 1991.
I can't remember the exact details. I think UNLEASHED already had a contract with Century Media and Johan had asked them to do a good word for TIAMAT. We recorded "The Astral Sleep" in the middle of 1991. TIAMAT was already a completely different band by then. Stefan and Anders were not in the band anymore because they wanted to concentrate on EXPULSION and were replaced by Thomas Petersson and Niklas Ekstrand. I didn't feel comfortable anymore very quickly. Thomas and Niklas were not fans of Death Metal and preferred to listen to ordinary Rock. I think they would never have joined the band if we didn't already have a record deal with TIAMAT. The new songs were also much slower and more atmospheric, the music was not nearly as extreme as in TREBLINKA. It wasn't any longer why I was doing it for. Death Metal represented freedom for me. It was music where you could do completely your own thing and you didn't care what others thought of it. I just started to dislike the whole situation more and more. I remember that I went sailing for a whole weekend with a friend the week before recording "The Astral Sleep" out of sheer frustration. I also didn't feel like practising the new songs with the others, I didn't have any passion anymore for the band. And so, a week after the recording of "The Astral Sleep", I quit the band.
- Jörgen 'Juck' Thullberg / Tiamat interview, Voices from the Darkside