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Rating: Some time ago, I wrote a review about this double album by Therion: I had just bought it and listened to it no more than a couple of times, and I was enchanted, completely captivated by its charm and atmospheres. However, after listening to it again in the following days two, three, four, five more times, I went back to read my old review and realized I had written a never-ending list of utter nonsense (and poorly, too), which I now want to rectify with a more attentive analysis of the object in question.
First of all, "Gothic Kabbalah" is not a masterpiece, absolutely not, it's not a great album nor even a good album. But then, what the heck is "this thing"? Quite simply, like Coca-Cola, a product inflated with air.
I reiterate that songs like "Der Mitternachtslöwe," "Gothic Kabbalah," "The Eternal Sophia," and "Three Treasures" can still be listened to with relative ease, thanks to the power-pop vibe and the relatively good performances, but nevertheless, this album is a colossal rip-off for the following reasons:
1-The female vocalist, I regret to say, is a downright disaster, who most of the time, in vain attempts to assume a sensual and mystical tone, produces raucous meows worthy of the worst Elisa (listen to the half massacre she commits precisely in the otherwise beautiful "Gothic Kabbalah," "The Eternal Sophia," or in "The Wand Of Abaris" and "Path To Arcady")
2-Even some of the operatic voices are so theatrical and cloying that they make your knees weak, as for example in "Son Of The Staves Of Time," "Tuna 1613," and especially "Chain Of Minerva," one of the ugliest songs on the album, embarrassingly soporific.
3-In this album, there's no blood, no impetus, no anger that underlies any metal album, and even when they try to toughen the sound, all that comes out is a mishmash with neither head nor tail like "TOF-The Trinity"
4-Songs like "The Wisdom And The Cage" and "The Falling Stone" are nothing but bland and inconclusive rambles, sung terribly and arranged with extreme baroque style, truly exaggerated and in bad taste even for me, who am not precisely a lover of sobriety in music.
5-The more power-oriented tracks like "Son Of The Staves..." and "Tuna 1613" overall are not worth more than any "Triumph For My Magic Steel" or "The Last Angel's Call" by the much-maligned Rhapsody, in fact, they end up losing the comparison due to their manifest inferiority, always due to that fake mystical and ecstatic sheen that by the third, no later than the fourth listen already becomes quite annoying.
6-Songs like "Close Up The Streams" and "Path To Arcady" are pure and simple fillers begging to be skipped, included solely to reach the fateful number 15, and imposing a certain structure at all costs on an album (even more so a double one) inevitably loses spontaneity, even the final suite "Adulruna Rediviva" turns out to be a tedious and pointless whirling reflection of all the album's defects. Overdose of yawns
7-The lyrics: alchemy, runes, prophecies, the end of the world, pagan cults, and ancient rites are all very fascinating and interesting topics, but at this point, I'd prefer to either read a book or watch a documentary, preferably without some "Gothic Kabbalah" song as a soundtrack
In summary, my dear Therion: I know you are very skilled and capable of creating, if you want, little masterpieces like "Theli," "Vovin," or even "Lemuria" or "Sirus B," but please throw all these mental exercises on Kabbalah in the trash, which in the end, doesn't make you seem much different from Louise Veronica Ciccone, get rid of all these operatic or pseudo-opera voices, also eliminate all these overdone arrangements: go back to listening to "Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son," or even "Visions" by Stratovarius, take notes and start from scratch, heed my heartfelt plea, otherwise, with another album like this, you'll end up becoming useless relics, cold statues with no emotion to convey, and that would be a very inglorious end for a great entity like yours. Maybe I'm not Cagliostro or Nostradamus, but I've warned you...
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Der Mitternachtslöwe (05:38)
In the end of time, in times of revelation
lion from the north appear in the dark nation
Löwe aus der Mitternacht
tear down the curtain of Paroketh
Ecce vicit Ariel
Break the seal and make the Lion rise
When Man has found all the three treasures
stars will fall and the Lion rise
Ariel, break the seventh seal
Abaddon, rise from the great black sea
Read the forecast - Fear the Eagle
See the wonders - Trust the Lion
Read the prophecy, the saviour of midnight
Ascending right now to bring us Borean light
Löwe aus der Mitternacht
tear down the curtain of Paroketh
Ecce vicit Ariel
Break the seal and make the Lion rise
When Man has found all the three treasures
stars will fall and the Lion rise
Ariel, break the seventh seal
Abaddon, rise from the great black sea
02 Gothic Kabbalah (04:33)
Listen when the Sibyl speak
(of) prophecies and ciphers in the sky
Adulruna is her name
I will follow - Come to me!
Fifteen runes (were) revealed to me
A holy message from the Frey to Man
Secret letters in my mind
the door is open in your dreams
From ancient days the Sibyl speaks to me
through the northern wind
the Talisman of Gothic Kabbalah (she) reveals to me
The staves and runes are written in the sky
Read the book of Gog
The Talisman of Gothic Kabbalah (will) unite your soul
Kabbalah Upsalica
Odin, Thor and Frey, you'll find them here
I'm the runic kabalist, the door is open in your dreams
From thrones and temples of the mighty gods
in the halls above
the words and runes of Gothic Kabbalah
(are) once again revealed
The soul will fly, ascending into the sky to the halls above
The words and runes of Gothic Kabbalah
they'll break he chain
From ancient days the Sibyl speaks to me
through the northern wind
the Talisman of Gothic Kabbalah (she) reveals to me
The staves and runes are written in the sky
Read the book of Gog
The Talisman of Gothic Kabbalah (will) unite your soul
03 The Perennial Sophia (04:54)
Enter paradise, the snake will find the way
She is lilith, fallen from the sky
Fall into our world, the snake of paradise
(You're the) maid of wisdom in (the) songs of orpheus
She's the wisdom, she's the truth: the eternal sophia
Perennial, beyond the time, she is the one
You're the river, you're the womb
The perennial
The sophia
Sophia is here
Do we need to fear?
She's the gem of (the) mind
...(Or the) serpent for the blind
She will make me see
Or she will punish me
She appear in a glare
Or disappear
She's the wisdom, she's the truth: the eternal sophia
Perennial, beyond the time, she is the one
You're the river, you're the womb
The perennial
The sophia
Shekinah, shekinah
Eternal sophia
Shekinah, shekinah
Eternal sophia
She's the wisdom, she's the truth: the eternal sophia
Perennial, beyond the time, she is the one
You're the river, you're the womb
The perennial
(The) sophia...
Sophia...
04 Wisdom and the Cage (05:01)
I am trapped in matters cage
I am locked in heavy chains
Sophia, please rescue me
From the carnal darkness
In the shades of reflections
Break the chains and the cage!
Byrghal is the only door to the path of Tinctura,
(to an) alchemy within my soul,
that will guide my spirit
and may lead to perfection
Break the chains and the cage
Sophia, I believe in you, your light...
Shine inside my soul, I feel the sun from above
Sophia, I believe in you, your light is so bright
Shine inside my soul, I feel the sun from above
06 Tuna 1613 (04:23)
Flash of light, from the sky above
I'm the augur of runes
I'm the Lion Man
Flash of light, early in this winter dawn
a vision of hidden truths in Tuna
IVDICIVM, the year I have waited for.
I read it (in) the prophecy
Year of doom...
I can see! I'm filled with this fantasy
The King is my company in Tuna
The judgement day, it has been revealed to me
(in) a moment of ecstasy
I can see!
Flash of light, from the sky above
I'm the augur of runes
I'm the Lion Man
666, the number was shown to me
I'm filled with this prophecy in Tuna
A Momentum excitationis
In the year of IVDICIVM - year of Doom
Flash of light, from the sky above
I'm the augur of runes
I'm the Lion Man
07 Trul (05:11)
If you run in the track of wolves you're entering Trul
A land beyond the Shepherds grove in the depth of night
Do you understand?
Runes expelled from the world of God, (runes) with demons and trolls
(They will) push you down with the trident fork, (the) four stave rage of man
Enter Trul
Wolves are going to hunt the shepherds flock and tear them apart
Bear the sign of the beasts of Trul, (the) four stave rage of man
Enter Trul
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Other reviews
By OzzyRotten
"Therion... excel marvelously in this kind of subject, and the result could only be, precisely, 'Gothic Kabbalah'."
"They are very capable of transmuting lead into gold, because everything they touch becomes a fairy tale, a magnificent symphony priceless."
By Starblazer
"A golden album, which shines with a cold, arcane, and terribly fascinating mystical light."
An absolute masterpiece to have at all costs.
