We remind you that Therion is recording a new album, which is going to be titled Sitra Ahra. 13 songs are being recorded, but at this moment it is not certain which, or if all, of those will end up on the actual record. All of this represents a challenge to the master Christopher Johnsson, who has new band members by his side.
Track listing:
1. Preludium
2. To Mega Therion
3. Cults of the Shadow
4. In the Desert of Set
5. Interludium
6. Nightside of Eden
7. Opus Eclipse
8. Invocation of Naamah
9. The Siren of the Woods
10. Grand Finale / Postludium
Theli – Therion (1996)
In this album, Christopher Johnsson left behind Death Metal and directed Therion on a road less taken until then: combining Heavy Metal with classical music, using operatic choruses and orchestral arrangements, creating a perfect symbiosis and marking the beginning of a new era in metal music, which is now known as Symphonic Metal.
The album is just wonderful and by the time it came out it was amazing. The way in which all instruments are combined interacting with each other, creating a whole assembly that is perfectly astounding; there is no instrument that stands out individually, which emphazises the uniformity that only Therion is capable of doing.
From the time you listen to it for the first time and the initial notes of the instrumental song called "Preludium" arrive at your ears, you're able to imagine what comes later. Then you can feel the dark, oriental and dramatic —but at the same time- majestic and bombastic atmosphere that exploits immediately with the classic song "To Mega Therion", in the middle of some surprising female choruses and orchestral fury.
Thus, the album never decays, but it takes you on winding roads that will make you rise or fall. It causes a myriad of feelings ranging from a devastating passion to the most heartbreaking melancholy in the midst of a complex mixture of sounds: metal riffs, classical tunes, instrumentals, vibrant and clean vocals, growls, heavy melodies, melancholy... all of these very well assembled in an album that marked history and is a must-have in any collection.