CELEBRATORS OF BECOMING

This is Therion's perhaps most essential release other than their brilliant 2004 releases of Lemuria/Sirius B. This live dvd consists of over 4 dvds and the live audio cds of the main live performance which was shot in Mexico City in 2004. The other dvds consists of other performances which some are not professionally shot, but just are an extra to this extreme number of cds for a bargain. (I bought it for 22 bucks, so I guess 600 minutes of dvd time and 122 minutes of audio is not that bad I guess)

The first disc is perhaps the best disc on this set. It features the Mexico City 2004 live concert of course featuring a fine selection of 22 Therion songs and the Motorhead cover Iron Fist (Which apparently they really dig a lot and play a lot throughout this disc). The live version of Blood of Kingu is great, it brings out the metalhead in me and the live rendition of Son of the Sun is great too, with its catchy phrase written of course by the amazing "jazz guitarist" of Kristian Niemann. Christofer even mentions in the liner notes that I will talk about later of course about this. What interests me the most is how Therion manages to change songs throughout the set alternating between songs of different intensities, songs like The Khlysti Evangelist and the beautiful ballad, SIren of the Woods. What I really like about this dvd are the choir singers and solo soprano singers, great performances by them and also Mats Leven, which is apparently a new "member" of Therion does a good job on vocals. Overall this dvd as I said earlier is the cream of this dvd/cd set and this is probably one of the better Metal dvds that I have bought in the recent years, probably slightly better than Evergrey dvd that I had reviewed earlier.

The second disc is pretty much a tour report of their long grueling tour in support of Lemuria/Sirius B, but unlike typical reports, they put songs up for some of the concerts and contains an in the dark improvised Soprano A' Capella which apparently was caused by power being shut down in Turkey. Anyways, there is pretty much nothing else to talk about the second disc than the day in La Paz, Therion's rendition of the national anthem of Russia and the songs that they played with Trail of Tears and Tristania.

The third disc consists of a live concert at Wacken with pretty much the same songs as on the first disc, but not as brilliantly shot or recorded as the first disc. Contains a good rendition of To mega Therion, perhaps one of the more classic Therion songs that I really like. This live concert is good, but perhaps more editing would have done the trick. The second part features video clips of certain songs, which is really cool since you get this videos all on one disc. The bonus feature on this disc is the amazing "Golden Embrace" art video, very interesting also is the studio reports from the Lemuria/Sirius B recordings.

The fourth disc is a good disc composing of Therion history, from the beginnings (Brutal Death metal) to the Symphonic "Gothic" Metal that we know Therion as today. The bad thing about it is the video quality, but a good view of their history shows a musical transition that I find very interesting. Not many times will you see a band turn from A Death metal band into a Experimental, unique band that Therion is today. When you buy the dvd/cd set, read the liner notes that our favorite Therion musician (well, he is mine at least considering he wrote everything) have about this disc. They are really interesting and tell you a lot about the band. Reading the liner notes overall give you an indepth, but brief history of the band.

The audio cds of course are amazing as the first disc.

So overall:

Disc 1: 95% Disc 2: 85% Disc 3: 90% Disc 4: 75% Discs 5-6: 95%

But overall the dvd gets 4.5 stars or 92%. I find this dvd set very interesting and well worth the price, but also pick up Lemuria/Sirius B if you have time, that double disc or single disc wherever you can find it is perhaps one of the best Metal albums I've heard in a while. Highly recommended for all fans of "Proggish" music or just generally experimental metal.