Therion
Gothic Kabbalah (disc 1)

THE REVIEW

The substitute of this album, its philosophy, the atmosphere of sacredness that permeates it, are inherent in this aphorism: exploring the dark side. Certainly, the Therion, authors of this commendable work, do not intend to refer to the sequels of "Star Wars". Rather to a mysticism of the "unique" and "self-deification," so dear to the unorthodox Hermetic tradition.
Here we talk about Kabbalah, symbolism, and "secrets" given by the runes, based on the system of interpretation of Kabbalah itself, developed by the scholar, mystic, philosopher, poet, and writer Johannes Thomae Bureus Agrivillensis, tutor to King Gustav of Sweden, who spent his life adapting the Hermetic systems of his era (we are talking about the period at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries and therefore, inevitably of the Rose+Cross in the first place) to an idea that for that era seemed absurd. Obvious, for those interested in Hermeticism: to create a system of interpreting signs not based on the classic Hebrew symbols, but rather on the fifty runes belonging to the Nordic and particularly Scandinavian tradition.
To do this, he had to overturn the "readings" then considered proper and correct, creating a new one, which was later called "Uppsalica". Perhaps this strange and peculiar character could have never imagined having students and scholars of his knowledge of the caliber of Papus or Aleister Crowley, who made the Uppsalica Kabbalah, a method of studying occult sciences, purely Europeanized, and thus detached from the canons of Judaic mysticism.

Arduous matters, things from another world one might say. But the Therion, known well by those who love and have followed them for a long time, excel marvelously in this kind of subject, and the result could only be, precisely, "Gothic Kabbalah", a concept centered on the life of the aforementioned Bureus, which rightfully becomes part of the quadrilogy that the band is publishing, and whose last chapter, with the remaining songs to make fifty in total, will be released in 2009.
For now, however, we must be "content" with this disc that carries within it over eighty minutes of music that, as in the best tradition of the band, proves to be challenging on the first listens, wonderfully enjoyable and rich in endless insights as one manages to perceive its multiple meanings.

Once again, as happened with "Lemuria/Sirius B", the discs are two, and if in the case of those two albums the listener was given the opportunity to appreciate one or the other since they were sold separately, for this one the situation is different: two discs sold together. Mammoth, epic, changing, disarming, perfect from any point of view you want to analyze them.
The production for example. Entrusted to a producer who has already worked with Rammstein, Europe, etc.; the very high quality of the contents, which it goes without saying is excellent, and then the melodies. Those are the strength of this album, this work: always balancing between a rocky and heavy Heavy Metal, and an apocalyptic Gothic taste that gives pearls placed on the staff that few could reproduce. It is, for instance, the case of "The Perennial Sophia" with its heartfelt progression, magically sublime, or "Der Mitternachtslöwe" the first track of the first disc, which gets lost in the pompous baroque of symphonism and opera choir, changing its features and taking them to a dynamic, unpredictable, sublime level.
In this monument to the gothic and the imaginative, there are moments to forget being made of flesh and others to delight in the extraordinary talent of the band. Two representative examples might be "Close Up the Streams" for the first hypothesis, and "Son of the Staves of Time" for the second. This, among the chapters most linked to classic American Heavy Metal quality. It's impossible to stand still while listening to it.

Don't listen to those who want to find the many influences of Therion in this album, even going so far as to accuse them of plagiarism in some cases; it's all wasted effort! There are numerous influences, but those who know the band well know that their skill lies in reworking concepts, not inventing them, converting them, "transmuting" them, since we're on the subject. And as for the Therion, they are very capable of transmuting lead into gold, because everything they touch becomes a fairy tale, a magnificent symphony priceless. Invaluable.
And if you were to seek something even more intricate and intimate, with many points having to do with certain seventies Progressive, you only need to ask. The second part of the album, in fact, is focused precisely on a more psychedelic, ancient, symphonic, and epic aspect.

I believe the band was quite justified in releasing this work in two parts. Condensing the content into a single album would have been extremely dispersive. Many things done in the first do not exactly align with those done in the second (for example "The Wand of Abaris" with its piano and its opening organ that seem to fall from the sky for how they tighten, wrap, and compute things that can only be imagined with closed eyes), but this doesn't mean it's a point against them. On the contrary. "Path to Arcady", "Chain of Minerva (2012)", but especially "Adulruna Rediviva" will transport you to a world that you will hardly be able to achieve, and if you do manage, it certainly will not be easy to free yourself from all the burden of tragedy and the deadly dreamlike sense they carry. The only exception, if you want to remember that the Therion are always and in any case a band dedicated to Heavy Metal is "TOF - The Trinity", another distillation of power and technicality that perhaps would have been better placed in the first CD.
These are certainly details. Details that do not change the opinion I have made of this album: namely that it is a unique, precious pearl, to claim as your own jealously; as, after all, is the majority of the discography of this band that, over the years, never ceases not to say amaze. No! That would be too simple! But rather to astonish. Perhaps not even this could be the right word to fully describe all the exciting stories narrated by these figures, who it is unclear whether they emerged from some science fiction tale or from some hermetic writing lost in time.