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Therion
Lemuria
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Therion
Sirius B
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My last experience with Therion and their what has been called “symphonic metal”, “operatic metal” or whatever subtitle was their 1999 EP Crowning of Atlantis, a tepid affair with an ear-achingly, annoying cover of an apparently legendary, but 'I-don’t-really-care', Japanese metal band, Loudness. Prior to that, there had been the 1997 A'arab Zaraq - Lucid Dreaming, more of a B-sides release that gave fans a taste of front man Christofer Johnsson’s movie soundtrack side as well as “Into Remembrance”, a shamelessly catchy tune I still like to throw on random mix discs every now and again.
My experience with them has been minor to say the least. So I went into this one relatively unbiased and came out relatively floored.
If I had to use only one word to describe both Lemuria and Sirius B, it would be “large”. From the layout, the stories behind the songs, the sound to the amount of people it took to create that sound, more than 170 – which includes full choirs, orchestras and more, in addition to “the main band” that being Johanssen’s guitars, Kristian Niemann on guitars and Johann Niemann on bass – this entire production is utterly massive.
In perhaps less capable hands, this project could have been a royal mess. But here, it works, it all works. Even the power metal vocals interspersed throughout, which would have usually left me cold, nail it.
Equal parts thrash, power, melodic and full-on symphony freaking orchestra, this is a powerful release. Listen to Lemuria’s opener “Typhon” or the utterly cataclysmic “Kali Yuga part 2” and I dare you not to feel the intensity that came from its creation.
If I had to use only two words to describe Therion's latest, it would be "large" and "damn". An epic piece of work.
Release Date: June 01, 2004
Tracks: 21 (2CD) - Time: 99:26
Produced by: Therion
Format: CD
Website: www.megatherion.com
Track Listing:
Lemuria - Disc One - 10 tracks (42:21):
Typhon / Uthark Runa / Three Ships of Berik, Pt 1: Calling to Arms and Fighting the Battle / Three Ships of Berik, Pt 2: Victory! / Lemuria / Quezalcoatl / The Dreams of Swedenborg / An Arrow From the Sun / Abraxas / Feuer Overture: Prometheus entfesselt.
Sirius B - Disc Two - 11 tracks (57:05):
Blood of Kingu / Son of the Sun / The Khlysti Evangelist / Dark Venus Persephone / Kali Yuga Part One / Kali Yuga Part Two / The Wonderous World of Punt / Melek Taus / Call of Dagon / Sirius B / The Voyage of Gurdjieff.
Therion:
Christofer Johnsson- Guitars / Vocals
Kristian Niemann - Guitars
Johann Niemann - Bass
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