Crowning of Atlantis

by

Therion

Edit

This album sees Therion putting together something of a "smorgasbord" of the bands talents and personal tastes. The album starts with 4 tracks of the now famous melodic metal filled with soprano, alto, tenor and bass vocals by a variety of males & females, as well as the token choirs. Therion could not have possibly done this any better if they tried. The guitars are seamless, and the keys lend a certain mystical feeling to the music. The songs are fairly down-tempo, leaving the later songs to pick up the speed. "Clavicula Nox" is a nearly 9 minute long epic of varied instrumentation. It features a bass solo (bass meaning vocals), along with violins, violas and cellos (in there somewhere!).

After this, we come to the worship section. Therion decide to pay homage to their favorite power/trad metal bands. For the first two, they have enlisted the extreme vocal talents of none other than Ralf Scheepers (Gamma Ray/Primal Fear among many!).

The first song, "Crazy Nights" was originally done by Loudness and is a real anthemic mosh about "rocking and rolling" and "seeing the show" and "getting on your seat". This is a pretty good song, but pales in comparison to the next one. This is a song called Thor which was originally done by Manowar. This has got to be one of the most uplifting songs I have heard to date: it just makes you want to bang your head or do something else completely ridiculous. The choirs send up a soaring melody and Ralf's pants are extra extra tight to allow him to hit the "mega-high" notes. The drumming is one of the most intricate and unique patterns I've ever heard, and the guitar solo towards the end of the song done by Christoffer Johnsson is something made in heaven (in my opinion he outshines Trey Azagthoth). The final cover is entitled Seawinds and was originally done by Accept. It is a completely slow pace song entirely comprising of female vocals performed by none other than Sarah Jezibel Deva (ex-Cradle of Filth). This song belongs more on a Britney Spears (or something) album than a Therion one, but it is still brilliant!

To round off the album there are three live tracks, one of which is the stunning To Mega Therion. They still manage to pull off the choir caper perfectly on stage. Full credit to them! This is an extremely well rounded album, and has allowed me to appreciate some more esoteric forms of metal. I cannot find a single thing wrong with it, thus I recommend highly.

Well, this isn't what was expected of Therion when this CD came out. I was expecting alot more than a bunch of hacked up songs thrown onto one CD. It's kind of like saying "this song is good. and this song is alright but lets put it on there anyway." If you are going to buy this album, buy it for 'Crowning of Atlantis' and 'Seawinds' Some of the other songs songs were OK but the rest of the album just (...). If you are looking for a more even-flowing album by Therion, buy Vovin. If you are looking for a darker version of Therion, buy Deggial. If you just like the metal, than buy Theli. Each of Therion's albums are great in their own way. I'd have to say most of their albums are pretty much even-flowing throughout but this one just different. Well, Christopher Johnson needs to keep on trying. He's almost got it.