THERION :

Therion is quite possibly the best band in the world. Of all time. Having seen them on the last tour of Lemuria/Sirius B and then now for the awesome Gothic Kabbalah I am still in a state of awe and wonderment at the beautiful, moving experience. The line up of the band was different than last time and I wasn't sure what to expect but this current group of singers accompaning Christofer Johnsson - the man who started it all - were simply amazing.   I liked them even better this time and thought the way they "dueled" on stage and presented the new material was fantastic.

At one point the guitars and bassist left the stage as well as the two women singers and the two male vocalists pulled out free-standing drums and joined the drummer in a pounding rhythm interlude. The two then fought with drumsticks and added a lot of energy to the show, one finally falling "impaled". Likewise the two female vocalists had a "vocal duel" each singing parts and staring each other down. For The Perennial Sophia, one of the men and women came out together and interacted as they sang back and forth. I liked this aspect of the performance a lot, as there was some thought put into making it more than a mere concert and inserting some of the story-telling of epic opera and also at times added a playfulness - you could really tell the entire band was enjoying being on stage together as much as we enjoiyed being in the audience and witnessing it.

I greatly appreciate the mythological lyrical content in combination with epic vocal qualities and then on top of that some really moving/driving melodic metal compositions. I especially like the dark beauty of the new double disc release and felt the new vocalists brought that Gothic mood and appeal in even stronger doses than on the album. I find myself just letting the CD's repeat over and over since seeing the show.

The rest of the audience was a moved and taken by the experience as myself and wouldn't let Therion leave without a double encore, the last song being a Man of War cover which everyone saluted with one hand held high in a fist the other encircling the raised arm's wrist. I am not familiar with Man of War but their version was awesome and left the crowd in high spirits.

If you ever have a chance to see them live, you must take it.  They are like no other band.

For another page of Therion photos click the link below