If this winds up to be a double-post... I apologize ahead of time. But I have to do this next band... they are often one I consider to be my absolute favorite band.
THERION!!!
But I cannot do their whole discography in one take. I got to do the best of each era instead.
Disc 1. The Death Metal years
1) The Return
2) Asphyxiate With Fear
3) Genocidal Raids
4) Morbid Reality
5) Future Consciousness
6) Pandemonic Outbreak
7) Symphony of the Dead (Beyond Sanctorum)
8) Enter the Depths of Eternal Darkness
9) The Way
10) Paths
11) A Black Rose
12) Dawn of Perishness
13) Procreation of Eternity
14) Powerdance
15) Ho Drakon Ho Megas
Many of these songs rank as among the most atmospheric. Genocidal Raids gives me the impression of a totalitarian government sending out dark robed patrols with rifles to find and murder any people that is a target of their genocide. Pandemonic Outbreak appeared in a nightmare of sorts I had a while back. I woke up with the ending of this song playing in my head and an unsettling feeling followed by a cold sweat. The dream had blood and gore and shit in it. It was about an attempt at interstellar travel using some sort of magnetic rail that went horribly wrong and killed a shit load of people.
Asphyxiate With Fear is my favorite example of a death metal song with funny lyrics. "McDonalds feed their cows with the lives of our children!"
Then you got The Return and Morbid Reality with their fucking awesome riffs. Enter the Depths of Eternal Darkness has one of my favorite opening breakdowns, it blows away any deathcore attempt at a heavy riff.
The Way is one of the most epic death metal songs you'll ever hear. Dark, melodic and it's got one of my favorite guitar solos in all of metal.
Paths is one of the best album closers ever. Yes, I know I said the same about One Last Sunset, but Paths is darker by far.
Yes, I consider Symphony Masses: Ho Drakon Ho Megas death metal. Fuck you. Don't care.
- to be fair, I often consider this album to be a part of the immediate post-death metal years of Therion and group it with Lepaca Kliffoth as the two are somewhat similar.
Speaking of Lepaca Kliffoth...
Disc 2. Further Ventures Into the Depths of Symphonica
1) The Wings of the Hydra
2) Riders of Theli
3) Sorrows of the Moon
4) Evocation of Vovin
5) The Beauty in Black
6) Black
7) The Veil of Golden Spheres
8) In Remembrance
9) Black Fairy
10) Symphony of the Dead (A'arab Zaraq)
11) To Mega Therion
12) In The Desert of Set
13) Cult of Shadows
14) Nightside of Eden
15) The Siren of the Woods
So Lepaca Kliffoth is where Therion really started to delve into symphonic territory and use operatic vocals in metal. It's a varied album, so it also has several songs that could be on Symphony Masses, with Christofer Johnsson's deathy/thrashy howl that was quite distinctive of this time period. Lepaca Kliffoth is also where Piotr Wawrzeniuk makes his first appearance - his vocals also were distinctive for Therion's time period and he makes a later appearance in Lemuria and Sirius B.
I included three songs from A'arab Zaraq because they happen to be three of my favorite Therion songs, though I have a lot of favorite Therion songs. In Remembrance, Black Fairy and what I personally consider to be a sequel to Symphony of the Dead instead of just a rerecording (it's condensed and has more symphonic elements while the original was more drawn out and heavier).
Black Fairy, In The Desert of Set and Nightside of Eden are especially of note because Dan Swanö sings on them! Fuck all of the yes! Theli overall is a great album, it has probably the best balance between "old" Therion, still with Christofer's vocals (but here much more shout instead of death growl) and heavy riffs, but plenty of operatic vocals and symphonic elements of "new" Therion. Then you got yet probably one of the best and most magical ballads in all of metal: The Siren of the Woods. Sung in Akkadian, it beautifully captures a sense of wonder of mythic times.
Speaking of a sense of wonder... their next two albums (and Crowning of Atlantis) feature next...
Disc 3 - Epic Symphonies Galore
1) The Rise of Sodom and Gomorrah
2) Wine of Aluqah
3) Clavicula Nox
4) The Wild Hunt
5) Raven of Dispersion
6) The Crowning of Atlantis
7) Mark of Cain
8) Thor (Manowar cover)
9) Seven Secrets of the Sphinx
10) Eternal Return
11) Enter Vril-Ya
12) Via Nocturna (part 1 & 2)
12) O Fortuna (Carl Orff cover)
One thing Therion does great with is paying tribute to their influences by covering their songs. Their most recent full length is entirely covers, but of obscure 60s and 70s French pop songs. However, right now the best of covers Vovin, Crowning of Atlantis and Deggial.
Crowning of Atlantis was a late entry into my collection. I overlooked it because I thought at the time it was all old material with some covers. BOY WAS I WRONG. Mark of Cain has a classic metal feel but it's distinctly a Therion original. The title track of this EP/full length/whatever has a catchy opening riff that will get you returning to it quite often. I included their cover of Thor by Manowar because this song will ALWAYS bring memories of their performance of this song at the end of their set in 2007, all of the band members dressed up as Vikings and I think Snowy Shaw and Thomas Vikström came out holding cardboard Viking ships. BEST CONCERT EVER by the way.
Vovin and Deggial are albums that didn't pique my interest immediately. Thergothon's Streams from the Heavens is also an album that didn't catch my ear on first listen but now I fucking love it! I fucking love Vovin and Deggial too! Both of these albums are getting a few spins tonight now. Deggial in particular contains the best metal version of O Fortuna. Trans-Siberian Orchestra can try all they want, but the Swedes beat them at this one. To be fair, TSO is great at Beethoven worship!
Disc 4 - Secret of the Runes
1) Ginnungagap (The Black Hole) (Prologue)
2) (Old) Midgård
3) Asgård (The Bifrost Bridge)
4) (Call Of) Jotunheim
5) Schwarzalbenheim (Svartalfheim) (Gold der Unterwelt)
6) Ljusalfheim (The Shining Ones)
7) Muspelheim (Gudaskymning)
8) Nifelheim (Dimmornas Värld)
9) Vanaheim (Seed of Ing)
10) Helheim (Den dimhöljda)
11) Secret of the Runes (Epilogue)
12) Summernight City (Abba Cover)
As a concept album, I feel this album works best when listened to as a whole, so no single song should be left out. Also Ginnungagap is the heaviest non-death metal song by Therion.
Disc 5 - Double albums and Experimentation
1) Typhon
2) Lemuria
3) Feuer Overture-Prometheus Entfesselt
4) The Blood of Kingu
5) Son of the Sun
6) Kali Yuga (Part 1)
7) Kali Yuga (Part 2)
8) Kali Yuga (Part 3)
9) Son of the Staves of Time
10) Chain of Minerva
11) The Falling Stone
12) The Perennial Sophia
13) Kings of Edom
14) Din
15) Poupée de cire, poupée de son (France Gall cover)
16) Une fleur dans le cœur (Victoire Scott cover)
17) Lilith (Léonie Lousseau cover)
The started to experiment with Beyond Sanctorum, and Therion has
always been a band to experiment with their sound. This trend continued for the Lemuria/Sirius B duo, which contained several of Therion's catchiest and most accessible songs. Son of the Sun, The Blood of Kingu, Lemuria, etc... Gothic Kabbalah was more experimental while Sitra Ahra seemed like an attempt to throw back to the sound of Sirius B. Unfortunately the album as a whole is Therion's weakest. I still like many songs off Sitra Ahra, especially the epic Kings of Edom and the bludgeoning Din that brings back the death metal. Gothic Kabbalah was another double album epic that pleased my ears, yet it contained some weak songs that I often skip. The latter half of the album picks up though it's the first half I always enjoy a bit more. The Perennial Sophia is my favorite off of that whole album. Then we have the boldest move yet by Therion - a cover album, part of a project of a touring metal opera that will take the band's time over the next 3 to 5 years at most before they release another traditional Therion album. Les Fleurs du Mal is the first result and this is a record that is actually growing on me. Entirely covers of 60s and 70s French chansons, some of them quite familiar to my ears (such as Poupée de cire, poupée de son). They are covers, but each song is Therionized and typically contain several new riffs, so in many ways these are new takes on the old songs.
Of course there were many songs I didn't include because they didn't fit into 80 minutes. Here are some honorable mentions:
Bells of Doom off Paroxysmal Holocaust - fucking raw Therion death metal! Not the greatest production
Macabre Declension and Paroxysmal Holocaust both appear on Beyond the Darkest Veils of Inner Wickedness but not on any future release.
Cthulhu and Beyond Sanctorum on the latter song's namesake album are also great songs on their own right. Both feature heavily distorted monstrous vocals used to great effect!
The covers on A'arab Zaraq are also partly what got me into Therion, and I didn't even realize they were covers when I first listened to them. A'arab Zaraq is the first Therion album I got.
Then there's the Bells of Doom release, which contains some good unreleased raw death metal (such as a long version of Paroxysmal Holocaust that is more like Bells of Doom) as well as "Ravaged" which I don't know of any other Therion release with this song on it, but it may have been a song written for Lepaca Kliffoth.
Oy, I'm done writing for the night now. Got my bugs to feed anyway.