SOUNDTRACK: THERION-Theli (1997).
I bought this disc when I was living in Boston and I immediately fell for it. I seem to recall I was doing a lot of driving at the time, and this mix of extreme metal, orchestral accompaniment and twinned vocals was very captivating. It was also really fun to play very loud on a dark highway.
I’d read a very good review of this disc that claimed it was a big step forward in styles of thrash/black metal (and if you Google reviews for this album they are pretty universally great). The disc is exemplified by the track “To Mega Therion” which is almost entirely a full choir singing what I guess is the chorus. The verses are populated by a guy screaming in a guttural voice who is answered by an almost mechanically twinned voice which sounds great but is even harder to understand. Follow this with a beautiful piano (!) solo not unlike something Randy Rhoads put together for Blizzard of Oz, and add a pounding double bass drum all the way through (truth be told the album could be a little heavier in the bass) and you get a crazy mix of styles which is catchy and creepy at the same time.
It’s hard to match a song like that. And, admittedly, the band doesn’t quite manage to do so, but the rest of the album keeps up this orchestral death metal throughout.
Reading about Therion has taught me that this album is something of touchstone for a new genre of metal, called variously symphonic or operatic metal (I suppose we have this to blame for the Trans Siberian Orchestra?).
In addition to the choirs and guitars there are a lot of keyboards. They are disconcerting when you’re thinking death metal and yet really they add an even fuller sound, even if at times they are not as grand or powerful as anything else. At times the album seems cheesey, but that may have more to do with thirteen years distance than the music itself.
Anyone who has seen The Exorcist knows that choirs can be spooky. And when you mix it with the heavy guitars and guttural vocals, you get a really cool sinister yet catchy (and possibly uplifting) album. There are certainly a lot heavier albums, but this one is pretty stellar.
[READ: Summer of 2010, finished December 12, 2010] Lords of Chaos
My brother-in-law gave me this book for my birthday this year. I was familiar with it as it is fairly well-known in heavy metal circles as a fascinating read. And so it was.
This book is basically a history of black metal in Norway and how some bands’ antics went beyond music into burning churches and even murder. The authors present a pretty neutral account of the story. They let the main participants (criminals) have their say and the interviews don’t comment on their answers, they just let them tell their side of the story. The authors also know a lot about the music scene. Of course, in the end, the authors (thankfully) disapprove of the violence. It makes for an interesting and somewhat conflicting read. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 