THELI

Therion

Progressive Metal

4.12 | 203 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Hector Enrique like
Prog Reviewer

After treading the hostile paths of black and death metal, Therion took a turn in their musical proposal, and ventured with "Theli" (1996), their fifth album, into less wild and more epopoeic territories, fusing elements of gothic rock, doom and heavy metal, tinged with sacred and operatic choruses taken from genres more akin to classical music.

From the majestic keyboards of the duo Christofer Johnsson and Jonas Mellberg that groove on the solemn instrumental intro "Preludium", the album develops mythical atmospheres full of allusions to symbolism and timeless characters, in pieces such as the apocalyptic and galloping "To Mega Therion" (the great beast to which the famous occultist Aleister Crowley referred to himself), or the incisive "Cults of the Shadow" (rituals in Greek mythology), as well as the thick mid-tempo with oriental touches of "In the Desert of Set" (god of chaos in Egyptian mythology), or the gothic and dark "Nightside of Eden" (a sobering vision of the biblical paradise).

And although more elaborate and decorated with brief peaceful interludes, the traces of the early works of the Swedes can be found in the aggressive power metal of the Babylonian "Invocation of Naamah", a contrasting step prior to the epic "The Siren of the Woods", a remarkable and nostalgic composition written in Arcadian (extinct Semitic language of ancient Mesopotamia), surely the best song of the album.

The orchestrated and instrumental "Grand Finale / Postludium" concludes one of Therion's most accomplished and iconic works, and one whose novel musical dimension would become the guide for the band's subsequent releases.

Very good.

4 stars

Hector Enrique | 4/5 | 2025-3-12

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