Therion
Gothic Kabbalah

THE REVIEW

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...