Therion - Lemuria Sirius B (21 tracks) +Album Reviews

Album Of The Year?

Mr D. | Cave Creek, Az United States | 06/12/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you were to ask me to compare Therion's music with other artists, I would probably think, and scratch my head, think some more and finally say, there is none. Fact is there is none. Therion is incomparable. I do get a similar feeling from few of the songs of power metal band extraordinaire Thy Majestie and a little from Rhapsody but that's it. I guess nobody else can do it or if the can, don't want to or can't go through the expense of hiring Symphonic orchestras and large choirs.Therion, brainchild of Swedish musical obergenius Christofer Johnsson, creates the most beautiful heavy metal music imaginable. His use of classical oriented elements in confluence with heavenly choirs and symphonic orchestras is becoming legendary. Having said that, the new double release Lemuria / Sirius B is just a little heavier than their last five releases. This is not bad, no, it's very good just different, so don't expect a repeat of Theli etc. Lemuria / Sirius B has more metal and even a little electronica but don't worry there's still plenty of the recent Therion to go around.More than 170 musicians and singers participated in the creation of Lemuria / Sirius B with the recording sessions taking over nine months. With this release, Therion have taken on the challenge of revisiting their roots. Therion have, until now, not been able to meld the harder facets of their early years with the new bombastic symphonic aspects for which Therion have become renown for, like they have on this album! I like the new direction of Therion. There is nothing wrong with their older material, after all it is all five stars, but this is an exiting change of pace. A fresh perspective from one of the most creative minds in the music industry. I think, in the long run I may like it more. As usual with Therion, there are no mediocre let alone bad songs. I'm tempted to give all songs five stars but I guess there are a couple that only deserve four and a half stars. This(these) album(s) is(are) in the running for album of the year."

Therion's best work in years

Ironblayde | Omaha, Nebraska, USA | 12/08/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've been a fan of Therion for several years now, and although I've really enjoyed their last few albums (Vovin, Deggial, and Secret of the Runes), my favorite release of theirs has long been 1997's Theli. It was a magnificent album that got the balance between Therion's metal and operatic sides just right, and I'd begun to think that Therion would never reach that level of achievement again.

Well, here it is folks, the double album that proved me wrong. On Lemuria and Sirius B, Therion resurrect some of their metal roots and, as on Theli, fuse them flawlessly with their signature symphonic sound. There are even some death metal growls to be heard from time to time, and if you think that sounds out of place for this band, please try to reserve judgment until you've heard it, because it works amazingly well, as on the thundering opener 'Typhon' (packed with so much energy that I find it difficult to sit still when it comes on) and the interesting power-metal-esque 'Three Ships of Berik.'

Other highlights include: 'Lemuria,' a slower song whose chorus features the same unusual, distinctive vocals that fans will recall from Theli. Some people have said that the vocal style spoils the song, but for me, it's the vocals that make the song so memorable. 'The Blood of Kingu' is another awesome track, with energetic verses, soaring choruses, and a remarkable ending. Finally, the epic 'The Wondrous World of Punt' is perhaps the best song on either album, and will appeal to fans of Vovin.

In a time when it seems as though so many of the European metal bands I listen to are starting to go downhill, it's especially gratifying to hear a band return so triumphantly to their full potential as Therion have done here. Lemuria/Sirius B will doubtless appear on many "Best of 2004" lists; it certainly will on mine."

In a Class by Itself!

Mr D. | Cave Creek, Az United States | 06/01/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"My my, Therion's Christofer Johnsson sure has been busy. Not one new album but TWO! Twenty-one songs! Twenty-one new Therion songs to savor on the new albums, which see Therion taking an overall heavier and a little less melodic direction. A return to their Heavy Metal roots in a couple songs with a touch of raspy growls but it is in conjunction with crunchy guitars and works quite well. This album kind of reminds me of how Dream Theater went heavier on their recent release Train of Thought. What is the Same Lemeria and Sirius B still have the elegant soaring choirs we've come to expect in all songs. We still have the familiar Therion Operatic Symphonic Metal sound in about three quarters of the songs, though less pronounced in about half of those. What is different Many songs have a stronger more definitive metal presence. A couple songs have elaborate guitar solos. Chistofer Johnsson ingeniously injects the choirs into most of the heavy metal numbers. One very good song, "Kali Yuga part 1", is unrecognizable as Therion. One song Typhon has some Death Metal type Growls and a dance beat and "Feuer Overtüre/Prometheus entfesselt" has some Rammstein style singing. There is a lot more variations from song to song than usual. For you late comers, here is a little background on Therion. For close to a decade, Therion have been honing their special songwriting style and skills, while pioneering one of metal's newest sub-genres by melding metal with operatic, classical music elements. Numerous bands have attempted to master the highly complex task of fusing ripping metal riffing with symphonic and operatic layers with varied success. Therion on the otherhand, is the creator and preeminent such band and has been able to successfully turn out masterful albums and increase their fan base with each new offering. Lemuria Track list
1. Typhon
2. Uthark Runa
3. Three ships of Berik, part 1: Calling to arms and fighting the battle 4. Three ships of Berik, part 2: Victory!
5. Lemuria
6. Quetzalcoatl
7. The dreams of Swedenborg
8. An arrow from the Sun
9. Abraxas
10. Feuer Overtüre/Prometheus entfesselt Sirius B Track list
1. Blood of Kingu
2. Son of the Sun
3. The Khlysti Evangelist
4. Dark Venus Persephone
5. Kali Yuga part 1
6. Kali Yuga part 2
7. The wonderous world of Punt
8. Melek Taus
9. Call of Dagon
10. Sirius B
11. The voyage of Gurdjieff Summary If you were hoping Therion's new releases are more of the same wonderful music that was included in Therion albums, Theli through The Secret of the Runes, you may be disappointed. For you, it seems Lemuria may be a safer bet, with more of the older (as opposed to original) style of music with songs such as "Lemuria", "The Dreams of Swedenborg" and "An Arrow from the Sun". However, some of these like "An Arrow from the Sun" and "Son of the Sun" on Surius B have a heavier sound. Killer Tracks "Typhon" Therion with a dance beat? Believe it and this isn't the only danceable song. "Typhon" has an uptempo chugging beat and raspy vocals that remind me of Samael with choirs. "Uthark Runa" Name sounds like something from a John Carter of Mars book but this medium speed song has definite Arabic influences. "Lemuia" starts slowly with acoustic guitar and an operatic sounding lady singer. This is pretty much a ballad of Therion's older style that picks up nicely and finishes strong. "Feuer Overtüre/Prometheus entfesselt" a classical feel in the beginning but pretty much a rock number with several styles of singing, Rammstein, clean, multiple vocals and male choir. "Blood of Kingu" Another song starting out with pomp then quickly becoming a galloping medium fast metal number (sometimes sounding like Black Sabbath) with straight male vocals and an answering lady choir. "Kali Yuga Part 1" A most interesting song. If you were to play this for me and tell me this was Therion, I'd say sure and Jenna Jameson is a virgin. Kind of an industrial sound with electronically altered vocals, male and female and a slight ethereal feel. This song segues into Part 2 "Kali Yuga Part 2 Tempo picks up and this is a hard driving fast paced number with male and female choirs and a lady singer. Just excellent song. "Call of Dagon" Kind of a epic sounding number with our operatic lady singer backed by choirs Conclusion More than 170 musicians and singers participated in the creation of Lemuria / Sirius B with the recording sessions taking over nine months. With this release, Therion have taken on the challenge of revisiting their roots. Therion have, until now, not been able to meld the harder facets of their early years with the new bombastic symphonic aspects for which Therion have become renown for, like they have on this album! I like the new direction of Therion. There is nothing wrong with their older material, after all it is all five stars, but this is an exiting change of pace. a fresh perspective from one of the most creative minds in the music industry. I think, in the long run I may like it more. As usual with Therion, there are no mediocre let alone bad songs. I'm tempted to give all songs five stars but I guess there are a couple that only deserve four and a half stars. This(these) album(s) is(are) in the running for album of the year."

In counterbalance..

K. Hess | Tukwila, WA United States | 07/29/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I didn't give this album five stars for one reason - it's Therion. Had any other band been responsible for this double album, I'd not only have issued five stars, I'd have hailed it as the second coming of Christ.

But this is Therion we're talking about.

Therion.

If the name alone doesn't explain everything, I'll give you a quick background. Until about 1995, Therion was mainly an experimental death metal group, with their 'experimentation' being the sort of minor technical differences that serious metal-heads hail as 'pure genius' as opposed to 'derivative drek'. Flip of a chord here, bass riff where you don't expect it, etc. There was work on a Russian movie soundtrack, certainly, but nothing spectacular. But unlike other bands who toil away at their particular brand of experimentation for years until they decide to return to the same formula they started with in an effort to touch bases with their junked-out former fans who outgrew them years ago, Therion hit on something.

The bridge between heavy metal and classical is a strange one. While it can't be disputed that heavy metal sprang (in a roundabout fashion) from simpler roots, the percolating influences of Elvis and the Beatles and similar acts from before our childhoods, metal in the most advanced tense seems to extend an affinity to that more ancient form, classical. Orchestral. The headbangers of yesteryear were the composers and audiences of such pieces as the 1812 Orchestra, Ode to Joy, powerful pieces like that. And while we can surmise that they probably weren't doing lines of cocaine in their hotel rooms or bodysurfing over ladies fanning themselves in the theater halls, they did indeed share a love of powerful music with our modern sect of volume worshippers. Metallica can do a Phrygian scale too, you know.

Still, these are two very distinct types of music, on different sides of a gulf. With the release of Lepaca Kliffoth, Therion began building an ever-strengthening bridge, poising themselves increasingly between both landmasses, rather than merely incorporating elements of one into the other. The original death vocals? Largely absent by Theli, completely gone in Vovin, Deggial and Secret of the Runes. Guitar-driven metal? Rather more symphony-backed in Vovin, whereas Deggial employed guitars as simply another piece of the orchestra, right alongside the cello, clarinet and tuba. Yes, a tuba.

Simply put, there is no group like Therion in music today. Not one. With most other bands, you can point, and say, 'they sound like Disturbed, with a little Creed mixed in there', or 'pretty much a Skinny Puppy/Einsturtzende Neubauten ripoff'. Therion sounds like nobody, interprets nobody, became nobody but themselves, and have managed to grow and expand their music to where it is its own genre. A difficult-to-pinpoint genre? Certainly, but its own genre nonetheless. In a quickly decaying musical scene, fought over by major record companies bitterly complaining about lowered profits (after releasing, on average, 25% fewer new releases per annum than their bumper crop years) and simply perceptibly bad music, Nuclear Blast should be commended for not only pushing a truly innovative musical act, but helping them succeed through it all.

So how does that relate to this album? Sirius B/Lemuria are barely a double album; the entire album clocks in at a hair over 85 minutes or so, and the dreadful Three Ships of Berik and the barren Sirius B could have easily been dropped to accommodate all of the music on one disc. That being said, there are some spectacular pieces on this disc as well.

Therion in general (see above for a bit of irony) have returned a bit more to their roots; this album does seem geared to please the 'death to false metal' fan more so than, say, the spectacularly symphonic Deggial (quite possibly music's finest hour). Most of the tracks are guitar-driven, and Therion has not been for some time ranked among the technical geniuses of modern metal. Their riffs are generally simplistic in nature and have more appropriately served as the strength behind the orchestral beauty. There are a few blistering solos here and there, but they tend to be shorter and don't dominate the composition like standard metal solos usually do. Typhon, the first track of Lemuria, reintroduces us to the death-metal growl left behind in Symphony Masses: Ho Drakon Ho Megas (a decidedly unsymphonic album, at least in comparison to their modern works), but it's interspersed between a male tenor, a female soprano, a male choir and a female choir alternating vocals. It's quite a kick back and forth, given the beauty of the classical vocals. Uthark Runa is relatively uninspired, and Three Ships of Berik is laughably bad; reminiscent of an over-the-top Rhapsody 'magic shield and sword and dragons' composition. (The song) Lemuria turned into temporarily relief; a deliriously beautiful opening composition is jarred by the same vocals we heard from the Theli era. This was a HUGE mistake, at least in my opinion. Any classical soloist (soprano, tenor, bass, contrabass, alto, male or female.. anyone) could have performed it in some shape or fashion. Quetzalcoatl is pretty but uninspiring at best, hardly memorable. Lemuria turns around at The Dreams of Swedenborg; a jangling, aggressive riff over a mystical backdrop is actually appropriate, and the introduction of the same voice that ruined Lemuria is welcome here, and works. Arrow From the Sun continues the positive trend with a stupendously beautiful soprano chorus as the centerpiece of only the second all-classically vocalized piece on the album (a severe shift of policy on Therion's part). Abraxas is next, with a raw, simple riff underscoring more of the same vocal beauty as Arrow From the Sun. There's a weird hair-metal 'Yeeeeeaaaaahhhh' in the middle of the song which I don't understand at all, but the bulk of the song is good and serious, and it finishes off well. Feuer Overture: Promethus Entfesselt can be pretty much summed up in one word--Rammstein.

Sirius B starts off with an aggressive, if not immediately jarring, power metal track that makes itself unique with a chorus that has to be heard to be believed. Son of the Sun is once again pretty, if not remarkable or terribly memorable, but the Khlysti Evangelist is a nice last break into a rocking heavy metal track before we submerge into the weightier orchestral works toward the end of the album. Dark Venus Persephone is highly forgettable, regrettably. Kali Yuga will wake you back up; a respectable power metal tune accompanied by a very well done second half which finishes the song respectably while more actively leaning on a thunderous male choir. The Wondrous World of Punt is, in my opinion, the best song on the set. The choir here performs magnificently; from the off-rhythm vocals at the beginning to the phenomenal soprano over simple acoustic guitar, joined by the rest of the choir along with woodwinds. The song is swept away at the end by a shockingly aggressive ending that reminds one of Eternal Return from Deggial. Melek Taus and Call of Dagon took a little while to grow on me, I must admit, but they were both welcome in their own way. Call of Dagon is seductively mild and easy to listen to. Sirius B is album filler, unfortunately, but Voyage of Gurdjieff is spectacular. Fast, inspiring, and really a summation of the kind of music that Therion remains; that elusive missing link between classical and metal, the type of music you've never heard until you've heard Therion.

So why only four stars? Simple. Deggial, Vovin and The Secret of the Runes are even better. Is Lemuria/Sirius B a bad purchase? Not by any means. Is it a great purchase? An unqualified, unreserved, absolute yes. Should you buy it first? *Shrug* Maybe, most likely so if you're still a mainstream listener of heavy metal. If you haven't been exposed to the bulk of European goth (which is the closest thing available to Therion, although it's still a mile away), it's one of your better options. Vovin and Lemuria/Sirius B are their most metal-oriented albums of their 'modern' sound, while Deggial is complex and difficult to grasp at first. I even hated it for the first 6 months I owned it. It wasn't that the music was bad, far from it. I was simply unprepared for it, looking for the sweet musical candy of Vovin's more simplistic, if beautiful, melodies rather than the intriguing depth of Deggial's symphonic compositions. Therion has done better than Lemuria/Sirius B. That being said, very few bands have ever done better than Lemuria/Sirius B, even with its shortcomings. Therion is the only group in the world of music to deserve a 4 out of 5 for this effort, simply because of what they have already accomplished. Their work should be not applauded, but immortalized."

Nice to hear from Therion again

Carlos García | Monterrey, Mexico | 06/22/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After 2 years of silence, Therion comes back with a brand new album, an album the fans were expecting a lot, and it's just not one, but TWO different albums, released at the same time, Lemuria and Sirius B...Now... how to describe them... well, if you haven't heard Therion, this might not be the proper album to get to know their music, I suggest hearing first Vovin, or perhaps Deggial, to know the kind of music they play nowadays...As somebody has already said, Lemuria sound more like the kind of stuff they've been doing lately, so it is something you might be accustomed with Therion, and Sirus B is somewhat more experimental, something, that might surprise you...Overall, they both are great and might be a little shocking for some, since they add some male voices that sound a little too much like rock, but after a few listens, you will see that it was a right move for Therion, since it is more diverse, not the usual chorus all the way through 11 tracks...I liked it, specially after 2 or 3 listens, listen to it carefully a couple of times, and you'll find yourself humming one or two songs, I know I did...The best ones IMO, are: An Arrow from the Sun, Quetzalcoatl, Son of the Sun, Lemuria, Call of Dagon, Three Ships of Berik Pt. 1 & 2, Typhon, Melek Taus, The Voyage of Gurdjieff...You won't be dissapointed with this album(s), one of their best works..."

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