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Review:
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Since the sprawling double album Gothic Kabbalah all
of Christofer Johnsson’s crew have jumped ship, including
the important Niemann brothers and drummer Peter Karlsson.
With a new team and Therion’s reputation for constant change,
what will the new more manageable single album bring? Joining
Aesma Daeva’s opera diva Lori Lewis is new vocalist Thomas
Vikström whose voice ranges from a rich tenor to metal,
with trusty old Snowy Shaw also helping out, together with
the massed choirs and various opera soloists. The lyrics
are as usual by Swedish occultist Thomas Karlsson about
various mythical and pagan legends together with the Sitra
Ahra which is a supernatural evil force that’s the opposite
of good in the ancient Jewish Kabbalah teachings. Therion
are credited with inventing symphonic metal in the mid 1990’s
with the amalgam of opera, choirs, and orchestra to heavy
metal, but their music has many other dimensions. We kick
off in fine style with the strutting, marching ‘Sitra Ahra’,
and it is clear that the massed choirs are back with a vengeance,
filling every track. ‘Kings of Edom’ (an Iron Age kingdom
in southern Jordan) continues in similar vein, but this
time the song changes in pace with everything from stately
to sedate to a gallop, very clever. ‘Unguentum Sabbati’
(European pagan folklore) rampages along with a hint of
Phantom of the Opera, with Snowy sounding like a singing
Dalek, I half expected him to shout EXTERMINATE!!!! The
epic ‘Land of Canaan’ (an ancient Middle Eastern area around
Israel) starts as a B52’s style groover with Vox organ,
then turns spaghetti western complete with harmonica, it
turns into a cowboy waltz, then we are in Fiddler on the
Roof, followed by a paper and comb waltz, and finally a
Broadway show, barking mad but brilliant. ‘Hellequin’ (the
French devil’s horseman and probable origin of Harlequin)
is a rocking tune that verges on the Doctor Who theme at
one point, followed by the seriously groovy, even danceable,
‘2012’, even though it’s about the Mayan prediction for
the destruction of the world. ‘Cú Chulainn’ sounds like
a Welsh male voice choir singing a carol between the heavier
sections, but the lyrics are about the Irish mythical king.
Another dramatic rocking tune ‘Kali Yuga, Pt. 3’ (ancient
Indian scripture) is followed by the jolly bouncing 2/4
‘The Shells are Open’ (about an evil force in the Kabbalah)
with its rousing refrain. The brief, thrashing and suitably
titled ‘Din’ (about the Sitra Ahra) made me realise that
this album isn’t at all heavy, in fact, more rock than metal.
Final cut ‘After the Inquisition: Children of the Stone’
sounds like a hymn written by Rick Wakeman with a schoolboy
choir even though it is about the witch trials and pagan
mysticism (they mention the nun Mary/Maria von Mossau who
was one of last people to be executed for witchcraft in
Germany). Ignoring the incongruity it is a beautiful song,
indeed throughout the album the generally upbeat music is
often in stark contrast with the dark and obscure lyrical
themes. This album distils all that’s best about Therion
in one easy to digest package, and its accessibility makes
it a perfect introduction for those new to the band. Being
on Nuclear Blast it will be easily available from all your
favourite stockists. All in all this is a brilliant album,
9/10
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