Therion – “Gothic Kabbalah” [Album Review]

Once bands are formed, over the years they tend to evolve. They might evolve slowly into another genre or style, or they might do it overnight. The Swedish band, Therion evolved throughout the years from Death Metal, to Symphonic Metal. Therion, deriving from the Greek word meaning beast, formed back in 1987, which has given them 20 years to evolve into the band that we all know and love today. However, with the release of their latest album Gothic Kabbalah, the task of vocal duties has been traded. Christofer Johnsson (guitar/keyboards) announced in 2006 that he would be retiring his vocals, allowing Mats Levén (vocals) to take over, as well as two female opera vocalists, Katarina Lilja and Hannah Holgersson. The rest of the band consists of Kristian Neimann (guitar), Johan Neimann (bass), and Petter Carlson (drums).

To start off, the album opens with “Mitternacht Löwe.” The track begins with a palm mute being repeated, which fades out, allowing a slight guitar riff to take over before the rest of the band enters. The operatic touch to this newfound sound is a little bit weird. Not that I’m knocking it down, because I’m not. It’s just different. The majority of the instrumental that stands out is the symphony playing in the background and the drums. Both of which tend to drown out the guitar and bass most of the time. When the bass is audible, the bass is played with a certain technique, allowing it to sound classical, portraying their influences.

Fifth on the album is “Son Of The Staves Of Time.” The track opens up with the opera style vocals once again, but once the instrumental kicks in, the track sounds closer to power metal, well at least the vocals sound that way. The keyboard throughout the track is very audible, giving the track a happy feel to it, making the listener feel temporarily invincible… I know I did! The solo in the song is pretty good, although it is pretty slow at the beginning, it’s played perfectly.

“T.O.F. – The Trinity” is twelfth on the album. This track has got to be the best song on the record. It kicks off with a drum roll, which is accompanied by a heavy guitar riff, including pinch harmonics and a slight solo bound to catch any listener’s attention. It’s utterly amazing how high Mats vocals can go, and it’s even more amazing how it sounds like he isn’t trying all that hard to hit the high notes. It’s a little bit difficult to understand what the lyrics are when it’s about four or five guys singing at once. I don’t know if it’s another language, or just the way they are singing it, but I couldn’t catch what they said. The bridge has got to be the best part of the track, considering it is the heaviest part of the song, touching back to the band’s original death metal roots.

Overall, the album was pretty damn good. Therion added a new touch to their style, which only proved to help them out; where as if any other band attempted to add two opera vocalists to their roster, they would have probably failed miserably. I’m gonna have to give this album a 9.3, for sheer talent and creative ingenuity.  [ END ]

Track Listing:

01. Der Mitternachtslöwe
02. Gothic Kabbalah
03. Perennial Sophia
04. Wisdom and the Cage
05. Son of the Staves of Time
06. Tuna 1613: Momentum Excitationis
07. Trul
08. Close Up The Streams
09. Wand of Abaris
10. Three Treasures
11. Path to Arcady
12. TOF – The Trinity
13. Chain of Minerva (2012)
14. Falling Stone
15. Adulruna Rediviva

Run Time: 1:11:00