After the splendid 'Leviathan' in 2021 which had given me an irresistible desire to bring out all these wonderful albums from the first 10 years of 'Therion' to make a playlist of 50 tracks (listen on spotify here), here is the second part of this trilogy which according to the words of 'Christofer Johnsson' revives the mystical and melancholy aura of the album 'Vovin'. And it's true that by listening to titles like 'Alchemy Of The Soul' or 'Lunar Colored Fields' on slow catchy tempos, we get closer to the magnificent compositions dating from 1998 like 'Eye of Shiva' or 'Black Sun' which are now etched forever in my memory. In the same style, we can also mention, 'Cavern Cold As Ice', 'Codex Gigas', 'Hades Ans Elysium' or even 'Lithany Of The Fallen' which is more muscular while keeping a more calm rhythm with a chorus than we want to accompany. The rest shows a more energetic face while keeping these superb vocal harmonies of which only 'Christofer Johnsson' has the secret, still putting a 'Lori Lewis' and a 'Thomas Vikström' at the top of their art: witness the compositions 'Aeon Of Maat' which begins the album, the rhythmic 'Lucifuge Rofocale', the epic 'Marijin Min Nar' or the catchy 'Midnight Stars' which presents a very nice break in the second part, the album ending with the two versions of the single which we already knew, 'Pazuzu', the AOR version with the singer of 'Eclipse', 'Erik Mårtensson', even showing a more enraged vocal character compared to that of 'Thomas Vikström'. And as 'Christofer Johnsson' likes to do on each release, this time four videos are available with 'Litany Of The Fallen', 'Marijin Min Nar', 'Codex Gigas' and 'Pazuzu'.
In summary, the trilogy announced by 'Christofer Johnsson' presents itself under the best omens (of course of all the treated Celtic, Chinese, Finnish, Toltec/Aztec and Germanic mythologies if you have followed the first chapter! ) and, for my part, I look forward to the third part which will certainly make the whole thing a kind of best off of 25 years of 'Therion' which will certainly be the first music group to release a best off with songs totally original... | |
