I'd never heard of Therion before, but classical music in heavy metal is something I've always liked. The reviews looked good, so I picked it up. Two weeks later, I find myself mesmerized by this band. I can't stop listening to it. Everything else sounds bland. Note that the orchestra doesn't back up the band, its directly integrated into every song. But be assured, this is heavy, heavy stuff.

At first, the operatic voices just struck me as weird. I expected an orchestra, but not a choir! Only one song has "rock type" vocals. Everything else is choir. Strange at first, but now it just seems natural. So what is the best way to describe this CD? Intense and Mesmerizing. Play it loud, not loud for the same reasons as you would, say Iron Maiden, but loud so you can imagine you're "down in the pit" at the orchestra hall. Incredible stuff. When the drums hit in O Fortuna, you just can't help but be blown away. Musically, each track is very complex - light years away from 3 chords and simple time signatures. Faves so far - Deggial, Enter vr-ja, and the oh-so-complex Via Nocturna. Flesh of the Gods is a quick break from the orchestration and rocks very hard - starts with a return to straight-a-head rock vocals, but quickly the choir quickly returns. Its a very strange sensation to find yourself headbanging to a choir.

So is this CD dark? Because it was described as as "black/death metal" I almost didn't get it. Yes its lyrically dark, but the beauty of the orchestra and voices takes it light years away from the unintelligible screaming of cliches common in "death metal" (which I don't really like). Its no more "death metal" than Bruce Dickinson's The Chemical Wedding or Blue Oyster Cult's Imaginos (two of my favorite albums). Get it, try something distinctly different.


Boring   February 1, 2003
 9 out of 27 found this review helpful

I sometimes hear Metal music which I like but as soon as the death-metal-growling-grunt vocals kick in, I can't STAND it and change the station or turn off the radio completely. I HATE death-metal-grunt vocals. So I am always looking for metal groups who employ standard singing. Upon reading reviews of Deggial, I was quite excited. Beautiful choral singing added to metal in place of those intolerable growls - it's a great concept. Unfortunately, this fails in its execution. This is some of the most bland, nondescript, run-of-the-mill, generic, formulaic, boring metal music I've ever heard. The vocals are beautiful but the vocals alone can't bail out the insomnia-curing music. There are only a few short solos which are as uncreative as they are unimaginative. The rest of the time we are treated to churning power chords and the songs all sound too similar to each other. Add to this the fact that the production is very limp - everything is all muddled together and the orchestrated instruments, which, if produced properly, could have added depth to the songs, instead come across as weak background washes. The vocals are blended in so that the lyrics are undecipherable. I'm not even sure what language is being sung - it could be Latin for all I know. This was a good idea on paper, but better production with more diversified music with extended, more interesting solos would have made this a much stronger realization of the concept. As it is, this is a real yawner.


Operatic Metal, Inc   May 21, 2004
 9 out of 9 found this review helpful

OPERATIC METAL! Sounds like a contradiction of terms, doesn't it? Well, I suppose it was until January 21st of 1997 when, to the best of my knowledge, Operatic Metal was born, created, invented, whatever with the release of Theli. The album Theli was the fifth by the DEATH METAL band known as Therion.

This review is about Deggial the fifth release by the reconstituted Therion and the tenth overall. Deggial was released in March of 2000 and is tied with Vovin as my second favorite Therion album. Things are moving along swimmingly. Christofer Johnsson is happy, the record company is happy, the band is happy, the fans, well most anyway, are happy. Of course there had to be a few from the Death Metal days that think, what's that cliche, they sold out. God I wish we could get a few American bands to sell out like this.

As you might suspect, with the cash registers chinging and clanging away that the budgets keep getting bigger and the productions are getting more elaborate. Now instead of classical ensembles, full orchestras are used. The Choirs have also grown in size and prestige. Therion (Greek for Beast)is indeed in a state ascending popularity and that is with a minimum impact from America.

With an Egyptian theme "Seven Secrets Of The Sphinx" is heavy guitars and choirs with a nice balance between Classisal and Metal. "Eternal Return" being seven plus minutes long, goes through several style and tempo changes including an IRON MAIDENsk sounding portion in the middle which sounds really British, even though the rest again is very tranquil and august.

One of the more popular songs on the album, "Enter Vril-Ya" is intriguing because of its simple, but very effective guitar structure and great choir-arrangements, well implemented classical elements and that guitar, which also fits in very well. After that it gets more mellow and classical, with "Ship Of Luna", which has a nifty acoustic guitar/choir part in the middle and toward the end. Next the "Invincible" is a song heavy into the choirs with metal undertones. Then the title song "Deggial" starts out with a twangy distorted guitar before the choir and everybody jumps in. It has a medium slow tempo until the last 90 seconds which is double time.

"Emerald Crown" is a medium speed number which has it's moments but seems like standard fare after the other songs. It does have a nice guitar solo at the end. Then we have a short but interesting instrumental. Track 9, "Flesh Of The Gods" sounds almost traditional, with BLIND GUARDIAN's Hansi Kuersch guest singing on vocals accompanied by a Ritchie Blackmore sounding guitar.

"Via Nocturna", Parts 1 & 2 begins with slow placid classical passages, the pace increasing and varying between integrated guitars and a variety of arranged choirs, it offers a microcosm of what THERION music is about. And for the end, no make that the pinnacle, we have yet another great highlight, a cover-version of probably the most recognizable classical composition ever "O Fortuna" by Carl Orff, part of his cult-cycle "Carmina Burana", with everything, guitars, keyboards, orchestra and choirs, played with real feeling and equaling the class of the original!

Summary: This is a must for all Therion fans and for anyone who has an interest in Classical and or Metal music.


Therion is slowly becoming a monster Classical group   May 31, 2000
 6 out of 7 found this review helpful

The other reviews are fairly accurate, but the one thing to note on this album is that Therion is going even further in the classical direction. More operatic vocals, more orchestral interludes, but a little less metal as well. If they keep going this way, they'll be a full blown Symphonic Orchestra in another couple releases, but with interesting classical music! If you want pure chunking guitars with operatic and classical tendencies, get Theli or Vovin. If you want Opera and Classical with some chunking guitars, get Deggial. Still love 'em.


Therion   April 18, 2003
 6 out of 6 found this review helpful

"Therion" is a Greek word that means "Beast". It is used in the phrase "To Mega Therion" ("The Great Beast") in the New Testament, Book of Revelations.

Here, it is a reference to the English occultist and prophet Aleister Crowley who formed a religion known as Thelema, which I presume this band follows. The cd shows a familiarity with Thelemic concepts, and previous work also shows a familiarity with Qabalah, a form of Jewish mysticism used in much present-day mystic and occult religion/philosophy.

...Possibly the greatest operatic metal I have ever heard in my life. Blending metal with orchestral arrangements and opera singing, Therion creates a beautiful sound that is truly haunting. Some people might find the more pronounced orchestral section a bit disappointing. If you're looking for more powerful metal, you might want to pick up some of Therion's oldest albums. If you want more of a balance between the two, their legendary, godlike "Vovin" would be a good choice.

I, however, enjoy orchestral music *and* intense metal. I view this as a beautiful combination of the two, and a demonstration that they are not incompatible in the least, as many people seem to think.

Buy this album and you'll never regret it.