Therion - Lemuria/Sirius B (2004) (Japan, TFCK-87352)

Date: Feb. 2, 2016

Therion - Lemuria (2004)
FLAC, IMG+CUE+LOG | 340 MB | MP3 CBR 320 Kbps | 110 MB
Label: Toy's Factory, Tokyo, Japan #TFCK-87352 | RAR 3% Rec.

“Lemuria” must rank up there with the best releases of the decade so far: a landmark album. This album remains in high rotation and is one of only a handful of genre defining records released in my 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 (1 & 2)” 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 I have in this review would not do the others justice.

~

Tracklist :

1. Typhon - 4:37
2. Uthark Runa - 4:42
3. Three Ships Of Berik Part 1: Calling To Arms And Fighting The Battle - 3:20
4. Three Ships Of Berik Part 2: Victory! - 0:44
5. Lemuria - 4:15
6. Quetzalcoatl - 3:47
7. The Dreams Of Swedenborg - 4:58
8. An Arrow From The Sun - 5:55
9. Abraxas - 5:22
10. Prometheus Entfesselt - 4:39

EAC extraction logfile

Exact Audio Copy V1.1 from 23. June 2015

EAC extraction logfile from 28. January 2016, 19:01

Therion / Lemuria (Japan, TFCK-87352)

Used drive : PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-219L Adapter: 1 ID: 1

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000

Used output format : Internal WAV Routines
Sample format : 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo

TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 4:36.65 | 0 | 20764
2 | 4:36.65 | 4:41.60 | 20765 | 41899
3 | 9:18.50 | 3:20.05 | 41900 | 56904
4 | 12:38.55 | 0:43.57 | 56905 | 60186
5 | 13:22.37 | 4:15.35 | 60187 | 79346
6 | 17:37.72 | 3:47.23 | 79347 | 96394
7 | 21:25.20 | 4:58.37 | 96395 | 118781
8 | 26:23.57 | 5:54.60 | 118782 | 145391
9 | 32:18.42 | 5:22.30 | 145392 | 169571
10 | 37:40.72 | 4:38.48 | 169572 | 190469

Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename D:\.by necromandus for avaxhome\Therion - Lemuria (Japan, TFCK-87352).wav

Peak level 98.9 %
Extraction speed 6.5 X
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 4659229D
Copy CRC 4659229D
Copy OK

No errors occurred

AccurateRip summary

Track 1 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [73055F5E] (AR v1)
Track 2 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [B0DF0604] (AR v1)
Track 3 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [DD062552] (AR v1)
Track 4 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [D11E839F] (AR v1)
Track 5 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [C0C91AD3] (AR v1)
Track 6 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [E0CC15A0] (AR v1)
Track 7 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [BC0110E4] (AR v1)
Track 8 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [1AA8E04C] (AR v1)
Track 9 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [0B51DDCA] (AR v1)
Track 10 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [C970EFBF] (AR v1)

All tracks accurately ripped

End of status report

–– CUETools DB Plugin V2.1.6

[CTDB TOCID: UCXrrjA41z5RpaJ5sh7g2hcV1Rk-] found
Submit result: UCXrrjA41z5RpaJ5sh7g2hcV1Rk- has been confirmed
Track | CTDB Status
1 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
2 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
3 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
4 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
5 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
6 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
7 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
8 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
9 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
10 | (6/6) Accurately ripped

==== Log checksum 25AE95813D436F4FA2834FF7A2C361EE5B7929CA3FEE26BBEB003A11FD6C4675 ====

Therion - Sirius B (2004)
FLAC, IMG+CUE+LOG | 470 MB | MP3 CBR 320 Kbps | 150 MB
Label: Toy's Factory, Tokyo, Japan #TFCK-87352 | RAR 3% Rec.

Secret of the Runes was great to be sure, but Sirius B is where they finally recaptured the potential that Theli promised. With a more power metal mentality and even more obsucre esoteric subjects, Sirius B (and to a lesser extent it's sister Lemuria) burst on almost every track with power and passion. From the first four wild songs to the later weirder music, and even the slow ominous title track, Sirius B never wastes a note. Every second of this thing is audio heaven. After the stagnation in Deggial and overt oddity of Runes, Therion tried another itteration of their sound with the power tunes that would take over Gothic Kaballah. Here those creatures are tamed to great effect, always just under the gothic surface, threatening to erupt into pure mayhem (the noun not the band). But then there is Wondrous World of Punt, the Siren of the Woods of the new era, which would fit in as well in a space opera soundtrack as it does here. There is not a single song here that feels like a B-Side, rather every single work feels like it deserves it's own single (the title track excepted, which feels like the intro to a single, which it would be if the awesome last track didn't have another intro of it's own). Do not hear this album hoping for any degree of subtlety or doom metal mood. Only listen to this if you want exiting, crazy, fun, wild music by the wild beast of Swedish symphonic metal.

~

Tracklist :

1. The Blood Of Kingu - 5:45
2. Son Of The Sun - 5:36
3. The Khlysti Evangelist - 5:39
4. Dark Venus Persephone - 4:02
5. Kali Yuga, Pt. 1 - 3:28
6. Kali Yuga, Pt. 2 - 5:48
7. The Wondrous World Of Punt - 7:19
8. Melek Taus - 5:32
9. Call Of Dagon - 4:14
10. Sirius B - 3:43
11. Voyage Of Gurdjieff (The Fourth Way) - 5:57

EAC extraction logfile

Exact Audio Copy V1.1 from 23. June 2015

EAC extraction logfile from 28. January 2016, 20:05

Therion / Sirius B (Japan, TFCK-87352)

Used drive : PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-219L Adapter: 1 ID: 1

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000

Used output format : Internal WAV Routines
Sample format : 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo

TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 5:45.35 | 0 | 25909
2 | 5:45.35 | 5:35.47 | 25910 | 51081
3 | 11:21.07 | 5:38.43 | 51082 | 76474
4 | 16:59.50 | 4:02.17 | 76475 | 94641
5 | 21:01.67 | 3:27.55 | 94642 | 110221
6 | 24:29.47 | 5:48.15 | 110222 | 136336
7 | 30:17.62 | 7:19.25 | 136337 | 169286
8 | 37:37.12 | 5:31.73 | 169287 | 194184
9 | 43:09.10 | 4:14.10 | 194185 | 213244
10 | 47:23.20 | 3:43.32 | 213245 | 230001
11 | 51:06.52 | 5:56.50 | 230002 | 256751

Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename D:\.by necromandus for avaxhome\Therion - Sirius B (Japan, TFCK-87352).wav

Peak level 98.9 %
Extraction speed 7.0 X
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 7D607DD6
Copy CRC 7D607DD6
Copy OK

No errors occurred

AccurateRip summary

Track 1 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [4875192D] (AR v1)
Track 2 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [0BC06410] (AR v1)
Track 3 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [530F73BC] (AR v1)
Track 4 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [6A101187] (AR v1)
Track 5 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [DBC414DD] (AR v1)
Track 6 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [5FFA55AC] (AR v1)
Track 7 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [CF6E05FD] (AR v1)
Track 8 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [1218A2A2] (AR v1)
Track 9 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [747443DF] (AR v1)
Track 10 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [79207E78] (AR v1)
Track 11 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [1A198D61] (AR v1)

All tracks accurately ripped

End of status report

–– CUETools DB Plugin V2.1.6

[CTDB TOCID: 8sMGIrfyOn9iIVIE2OMdF1.ZZHc-] found
Submit result: already submitted
Track | CTDB Status
1 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
2 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
3 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
4 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
5 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
6 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
7 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
8 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
9 | (5/6) Accurately ripped
10 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
11 | (6/6) Accurately ripped

==== Log checksum 7FA2B28A2197C883A65579FE15FB4166CBD49A3D936024ECE83F1F3F131F678B ====

• Christofer Johnsson - Guitars, Mandolin, Vocals
• Kristian Niemann - Guitars, Mandolin
• Johan Niemann - Bass
• Richard Evensand - Drums
• Steen Rasmussen - Hammond

All drums, bass, guitars, balalaikas, domras, rock/metal vocals and most of the opera soloists
were recorded at the Modern Art Studio in Stockholm, Sweden from April-July and September, 2003.
Orchestra, choir and additional opera soloists were recorded at Smečky Studio
in Prague, Czech Republic during September, 2003.

The mix and the recordings of hammond organs, mellotrone and narration were done during
September/October, 2003 at Sun Studios in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Dee also:
Therion - The Beauty In Black (1995, CDS)
Therion - Lepaca Kliffoth (1995) (Japan, TFCK-88761)
Therion - Theli (1996) (Japan, TFCK-88790)
Therion - Vovin (1998) (Japan, TFCK-87160)
Therion - Secret Of The Runes (2001) (Japan, TFCK-87276)

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