I am of the opinion that Christofer Johnsson is the inspirer/founder of symphonic metal and I credit its existence to him. “Theli” was in 1996 a real revolution in metal. Nevertheless, Therion has never been my real favorite band of the genre. I can appreciate almost all of their releases, but Johnsson’s overload on his compositions often tired me, mostly on “Beloved Antichrist” which, truth be told here, I couldn’t wait to finish.
“Leviathan” is the first part of a trilogy that will be completed in the next two years.
I dare to say that it is the most…down to earth album I have heard from the band. This album is so compact that in my ears, it brought the exact opposite result from the previous one. Of course, the orchestras and the choir parts have a dominant role, but all of them are very well put together this time.
It starts without a trace of introduction, contains eleven very good tracks, none exceeds five and a half minutes and all in all it is the Therion record that I can listen to more than anything else of their entire back catlogue. Lori Lewis continues to enchant us all with her unique voice, Vikström is a constant force to be reckoned with while Marco Hietala’s and Mats Leven’s strong presence should also be noted. I consider the “Psalm Of Retribution” to be the highlight of the album which immediately became one of my favorite tracks of the band ever, followed by “Tuonela”, “Leviathan”, as well as “Ten Courts of Diyu” which closes the album in a very beautiful way.
I’m very satisfied with “Leviathan” mainly because it allows me to listen to it so comfortably and on a repeat mode thus I include it among their best.
I would love to see the next two album follow the same path.
