Therion is a Swedish heavy metal band founded by Christofer Johnsson in 1987. The word "therion" comes from the Greek therion , meaning "Beast," i.e., that of the Christian Book of Revelation. However, the band's name is an homage to the Celtic Frost album To Mega Therion.
Beginning as a death metal band, they later turned to combining orchestral elements with their metal music, employing heavy use of choirs and classical musicians, not only as additions to but also as integral parts of the composition. The band is one of the first both commercial and audience-successful heavy metal with fully live orchestra featured. It is also one of the bands which originated, popularised and influenced the symphonic metal genre, cited as "the most adventurous metal band at present". Due to these extents they take in conducting their music, they've been dubbed as "Opera Metal".
Therion's music takes its themes from different mythologies and is based on concepts ranging from occultism, magic and ancient traditions and writings. The majority of their lyrics are written by Thomas Karlsson, head and founder of the magical order Dragon Rouge, of which Johnsson is a member. The band has seen many changes in line-up and style throughout its history.
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