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

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

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

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“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.

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

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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.

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