Hammerheart Records are excited to announce the release of Therion’s second decade re-issues, coming on September 9th!
The legend of Therion rose from the depths to reign supreme over all symphonic metal and many many years later, the echoes of that reign still resound profoundly.
All 6 albums come as a deluxe CD with full booklet in a silver laminated slipcase, featuring the original artwork, of which “Theli” and “Secret of the Runes” have also been remastered.
Theli
One of the most essential Symphonic Metal album ever! The glorious album that marked a new era for Therion.
Link: https://therion.lnk.to/theli
More than 25 years after the release their legendary fifth album, “Theli”, the seminal album will be available on deluxe CD once again via Hammerheart Records! Today, “Theli” is considered formative in the symphonic and operatic metal genres – incorporating choir and classical instruments and contributing immensely to the breakthrough of Therion, all the while being a release that the band themselves considered a defiant departure from their standard ways.
Opening track “To Mega Therion”, still a fixture of the band’s live shows, emerges as top-class with its influential guitar lines, complex structures, a constant flux of varying lead vocals and choral elements. Throughout the whole album, Therion showcases how classical music and metal soundscapes can coexist: balancing driving harshness and withdrawn, atmospheric passages, growls by famous musician and producer Dan Swanö and soaring choir, as well as keyboard and guitar. “Theli” is an undisputed all time classic highly acclaimed by fans and critics, delving into a sound that shaped the evolving symphonic metal genre to come.
For fans of: Nightwish, Amorphis, Celtic Frost, Tiamat, Within Temptation
Order via: b2b.napalmrecords.com
Voivin
“Vovin” is Therion’s masterpiece and the definitive symphonic metal album. A well deserved classic!
Link: https://therion.lnk.to/vovin
With their roots in death metal, Therion were one of the first to include symphonic and classical elements in their metal sound in the 90’s: with violins, cello and double bass blending effortlessly with guitars, drums and bass. Now, “Vovin”; Therion seventh album and catalog bestseller, will be re-released on deluxe CD via Hammerheart Records. Written entirely solo by founding member Christopher Johnsson and recorded with studio musicians, “Vovin” went on to be the band’s most successful release.
Exceedingly symphonic songs like opener “The Rise Of Sodom And Gomorrah” alternate with faster numbers, and with “Eye Of Shiva” the album finds a beautiful ballad with impressive guitar solos and catchy vocals. Album highlight “Clavicula Nox” shines as an over eight-minute piece boasting acoustic guitars, strings, solo vocals, choirs, guitar solos and incomparably pleasant, somber atmospheres, inviting the listener to lose themself completely in the music. With over 150,000 copies sold, “Vovin” marked the band’s place on top of the metal scene.
For fans of: Nightwish, Amorphis, Celtic Frost, Tiamat, Within Temptation
Order via: b2b.napalmrecords.com
Deggial
“Deggial” is one of the best Symphonic Metal albums of all time! A must listen for any symphonic metal enthusiast!
Link: https://therion.lnk.to/deggial
“Deggial”, the ninth album by symphonic metal originators Therion, is set for reissue on deluxe CD via Hammerheart Records! The band had already more than made a name for themselves by the time the album was originally released in 2000, but despite their great success, stayed to true to themselves on “Deggial”. Nearly convinced to add a frontwoman to the band to coincide with mounting trends, founding member Christopher Johnsson stuck with his gut, instead incorporating long, complex compositions and choirs instead of soloists. The result was another best-seller of eclectic anthems.
The tracks on “Deggial” are even more complex than the songs found on its predecessor, “Vovin”. Backed for the first time by a real symphonic orchestra and featuring 27 musicians recorded at Woodhouse Studio in Germany, this compositional masterpiece does more than prove the claim that Metal Hammer (UK) made in 2021 that “Deggial” was one of the best symphonic metal albums of all time! Even featuring guest vocalist Hansi Kürsch of Blind Guardian on “Flesh of the Gods”, after more than 20 years, the album hasn’t lost a single drop of its fascinating power. This is a must listen for any symphonic metal enthusiast!
For fans of: Nightwish, Amorphis, Celtic Frost, Tiamat, Within Temptation
Order via: b2b.napalmrecords.com
Secret Of The Runes
Secret of the Runes is another perfect masterpiece made by Therion. An unique album full of musical genius, classical brilliance and fascinating Nordic tones!
Link: https://therion.lnk.to/secretoftherunes
Only one year after the release of “Deggial”, they soon came back with an incredible new album: “Secret of the Runes”. This time, Therion challenged to make a concept album which concept is based on Norse mythology. In this album, each song gets one of the names and concepts of nine worlds. “Secret of the Runes” sounds very different from any other albums of Therion, and it’s also one of the best albums Therion has ever made. On “Secret of the Runes”, Therion’ s music style becomes more various than their previous albums. Aside from the operatic choruses and symphony orchestra, they add many Scandinavian sounds such as black and Viking metal. More surprisingly, the music fits with concept perfectly.
“Secret of the Runes” is not only a perfect combination of music and concept, but also a unique album in Therion’ s career. This album is an extremeness of feeling. It contains epic, majesty, beauty, peace and passion. You can listen to this album in any kind of mood. This album also shows magnificent atmosphere of Scandinavian epic metal, which Therion has never composed before. Moreover, the musicianship in this album is better than all of their previous albums. The solos in ” Midgård”, ” Asgård”, and” Vanaheim” are amazing, the acoustic guitars in ” Ljusalfheim” and ” Vanaheim” are astonishing. The ability of operatic vocals use in this album is, in my opinion, their best work so far. It’ s totally mind-blowing. In “Secret of the Runes”, the inspiring creativity of songwriting skill also appears once again. Therion is back to their standard, and they are even above their high level.
For fans of: Nightwish, Amorphis, Celtic Frost, Tiamat, Within Temptation
Order via: b2b.napalmrecords.com
Lemuria
“Lemuria”, one of the two twin albums that Therion released in 2004, is definitely one of the best in their career.
Link: https://therion.lnk.to/lemuria
“Lemuria” must rank up there with the best releases of the zero’s decade: a landmark album. This album remains in high rotation and is one of only a handful of genre defining records released in a lifetime. Therion tone down the operatic quotient of earlier albums like “Voivin” and increasing the metallic elements to reach a perfect balance.
Balance is probably the best way of describing Lemuria. It’s paced perfectly, from the bombastic openers “Typhon”, “Uthark Runa” and “Three Ships of Berik (I & II)” which all feature sharp guitar work and varied vocal styles. The album settles down towards the middle – during “Lemuria”, “Quetzalcoatl” and the first half of “Dreams of Swedenborg” which boasts an absolutely brilliant guitar solo and is a definite highlight on an album so equal throughout. The album clears out on the positively brilliant trio “Arrow from the Sun”, “Abraxas” and “Feuer Overture” which brings the album full circle with a nice mid-tempo rocker. Also worth noting is the production which is also perfectly balanced so that no element of the music is overbearing, allowing the strength of song writing to shine.
Creating something this multi-faceted and cohesive, utilising the entire tonal spectrum with more than 171 musicians is an achievement in itself. Therion also obviously had a huge amount of material early 2004 when they set about recording their pair of albums. “Lemuria” in particular of the pair displays a strength of song writing fused together to create the rare kind of record where each track both fits together as a whole and can stand on its own. That is probably why “Lemuria” is so good and why isolating any particular track more than we have in this review would not do the others justice.
For fans of: Nightwish, Amorphis, Celtic Frost, Tiamat, Within Temptation
Order via: b2b.napalmrecords.com
Sirius B
One of the two classic Therion twin albums from 2004, is definitely one of the best in their career! A must listen for any Symphonic Metal enthusiast!
Link: https://therion.lnk.to/siriusb
There are very few bands in which you can trust blindly, Therion is one of them. “Sirius B” in one of the twin albums released by Therion in 2004, and in the same way than “Lemuria”, this album is a clear proof that Therion has left its “barbarian” beginnings to move on into something more mature and more harmonic, and of course a lot more symphonic. “Sirius B” is definitely the calmed and symphonic brother of this couple of albums, it’s just great. Let’s check out it.
“Sirius B” is a lot longer than “Lemuria”, lasting for about 57 minutes, resulting in the longest songs included in both albums: seven of the eleven songs of this album are longer than 5 minutes, and the longest is over 7 minutes long. But, if you think that a very long song is boring, you’re wrong: all the songs are very interesting. But, while “Lemuria” is aggressive, “Sirius B” is slower and involves the orchestra and the operatic chorus a lot more than its twin. This can only result in very beautiful songs, with very beautiful lyrics.
I call this album “The Eastern Twin” because the lyrics of the songs talk about eastern mithology, journeys to that part of the world, and local legends from there. Each song is different from the others, of course, with the exception of two songs that can be treated as one: “Kali Yuga”. This situation is also found in “Lemuria” with the song “Three Ships of Berik”. For example: “The Blood of Kingu” is a very aggressive song with very long lyrics, and “Sirius B” is a very slow, dark song with only two words as lyrics; “Call of Dagon” is a very simple song with an ethereal atmosphere, and “Voyage of Gurdgieff (The Fourth Way)” is a very complex song with a difficult rhythm; “The Wondrous World of Punt” is a slow, symphonic and very beautiful song, and “Son of The Sun” and “The Khlysti Evangelist” are fast and aggressive songs.
For fans of: Nightwish, Amorphis, Celtic Frost, Tiamat, Within Temptation
Order via: b2b.napalmrecords.com
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