LEVIATHAN

It's hard to believe that THERION began as a somewhat generic sounding old school death metal band when it was founded by Christofer Johnsson all the way back in 1987 but after a sluggish beginning which step by step morphed into full-blown symphonic metal by the time the 1996 album "Theli" wooed the critics and hi brow metalheads into the cult, THERION had done the unthinkable and crafted a brilliant new metal sound that took metal music further into the world of Western classical and opera than ever attempted. The results were riveting and brilliant and catapulted the band to international fame.

THERION kept this momentum going all throughout the 2000s with one excellent album after another that slightly reinvented the overall recipe laid down on "Theli" however beginning with "Sitra Ahra," Johnsson was obviously getting bored with the band's signature sound and started experimenting and while the albums thought the 2010's were interesting, they lacked the focus and enthralling hybridization effect that album's like "Secret Of The Runes" and "Gothic Kabbalah" had so perfectly captured. This all led up to the band's most ambitious effort yet, 2018's triple album "Beloved Antichrist" which tamped down the symphonic metal a few notches and instead delivered a whopping 3-hour rock opera.

While the project sounded like a good idea in writing, the results were very lackluster as the album lacked any sort of cohesive gratification despite exhibiting brilliant performances in bits and pieces. The album was a huge flop and fans were wondering if perhaps THERION should call it a day and go start a philharmonic orchestra somewhere in an undisclosed location in the Swedish countryside. The fiasco that was "Beloved Antichrist" pretty much kept fans wondering what THERION's next move was going to be and finally in 2021 we have a new album that makes it all so clear just what that next move is. In short THERION has proposed another ambitious project only this time it will disperse its grandiose visions in a three album set that will be released by the following LEVIATHAN sequels in 2022 and 2023.

This is basically what we call damage control as Johnsson is obviously not going to disband the profitable cash cow called THERION which has an international following and dedicated fanbase. LEVIATHAN (bad album title considering the mega-popular Mastodon album) pretty much backpedals to the band's style around the turn of the millennium and could easily fit anywhere in between "Vovin" and "Sirus B." What is presented here is a tried and true and very well performed collection of eleven tracks with an impressive lineup of various vocalists, both male and female sopranos delivering divine operatic performances accompanied by sizzling metal guitar, bass and drum backing. As always at this point in THERION's career, this is a big budget production with a great number of guest musicians and extra instrumentation that includes hammond organ, violin and lots of drumming diversity.

As far as a THERION album goes, LEVIATHAN is indeed a return to form and pretends that the whole "Beloved Antichrist" backlash was just a bad dream however at the same time these grounds have already been covered and no matter how well these tracks are performed (and they are perfectly executed), it just feels like THERION has gotten stuck in a certain moment in its career that it will never escape from due to the fact that the band is popular and therefore obligated to kowtow to the fanbase. Despite these apprehensions to continue down a more experimental path, as a true THERION fan myself, i'd prefer to have the band release experimental flops like "Beloved Antichrist" than to retread that which has already been accomplished two decades ago. THERION will always be a band i have a soft spot for so i can never rate an album this beautifully performed very low but it certainly doesn't get any extra love for creative growth. This is about as THERION by the books as it gets still though LEVIATHAN is quite an enjoyable album.

3.5 rounded down

I know I am not the only person who felt that Therion's previous album, 'Beloved Antichrist', was just too clever for its own good. A triple CD opera with a running time of more than 3 hours it was certainly ambitious, and a million miles away from what the band were doing when they started out as a metal act inspired by Slayer and Celtic Frost. In the last thirty years they have moved more dramatically from their roots than even Opeth, but the last album was just a step too far. So, when the new album arrived, I was both excited and intrigued, but also somewhat wary. Then I noticed there was something rather strange even before putting it on the player, as here we had just 11 songs and a running time of 45 minutes. What was going on?

Apparently, band leader and guitarist Christofer Johnsson and his collaborator singer Thomas Vikström decided to produce an album which contained far catchier and shorter songs, as a direct shift away from the previous release. That is not to say that we don't have mass choirs which sound as if they are performing in a cathedral, or that there are not plenty of female vocals, but here it makes much more sense. It kicks off with "The Leaf on the Oak of Far" which in many ways is the perfect introduction to Therion, as it is metal, yet there are twin lead vocals for the most part, as well as massed male and female choirs taking it in a more operatic manner, yet never losing sight of the metal. "Tuonela" sees Marko Hietala (Nightwish) bringing in his unique style, as we see Therion moving slightly more into that band's territory, yet still being distinctly different.

There is no doubt that this is a huge step back in the right direction, with the driving "Azi Dahāka" being my favourite. Just over three minutes in length, this is a blast of fun throughout, bringing together the best parts of Therion in one place. This album is a delight, and one to which I keep finding myself returning, unlike 'Beloved Antichrist' which has not been played since I wrote the review. Welcome back guys.