Therion (band)

Therion is a Swedish symphonic metal band founded by Christofer Johnsson in 1987. Its name was inspired by the Celtic Frost album To Mega Therion. "To Mega Therion" is Greek for "The Great Beast" and was a title used by occultist Aleister Crowley. Originally a death metal band, Therion adjusted its musical style by adding orchestral elements, including choirs, classical musicians, and even a full orchestra at their concert performances. As a result, they are considered pioneers of the symphonic metal genre.

Therion takes its themes for the lyrics from different mythologies and practices, including occultism, magic and ancient traditions and writings.

History

Blitzkrieg and Megatherion (1987–1988)

Therion originated as the band Blitzkrieg in Upplands Väsby, Sweden. In 1987, Christofer Johnsson, who had played bass for three months, teamed up with guitarist Peter Hansson, whom he had been jamming with, and drummer Oskar Forss, who was Johnsson's old schoolmate. The band's main influences were Metallica and Slayer, but its sound more resembled Venom and Motörhead. The band only performed two concerts. In March 1988, it split up after some problems with Forss.

In 1988, the band reformed with the moniker Megatherion, which was based on the album title To Mega Therion by the Swiss extreme metal band Celtic Frost. Johnsson has mentioned that therion is Greek for "beast" and likens it to Belphegor.

Demos and record deals (1989–1993)

In 1989, Therion released two demos: Paroxysmal Holocaust and Beyond the Darkest Veils of Inner Wickedness. Matti had left the band shortly after the first demo, so Christofer took over the vocals again. In 1990, the band worked with House of Kicks, a local record store, to print and release the Time Shall Tell demo on 12 inch vinyl. Isaksson had some personal problems, and was eventually released from the band. Therion brought in bassist Lars Rosenberg from the death metal band Entombed. The band toured with Annihilator in Germany, and also did a small headlining tour in Argentina and Chile. In a month, the album sold 20,000 copies.

Personal issues plagued the band's members. Jonas Mellberg, who had joined as a guitarist from Unanimated, had severe alcohol problems, and walked out during the recording sessions of some cover songs in the Abyss Studio. Wawrzeniuk was busy with his studies, so Johnsson brought in session members for their tours, including Tommy Eriksson of Shadowseeds. Rosenberg also had drinking problems, which got worse during a European tour they did supporting Amorphis, so he was fired shortly after. Therion headlined tours in Europe and Latin America with Evergrey and My Insanity. Afterwards, Karppinen left the band to focus as a sound engineer for Modern Art, but brought in replacement drummer Richard Evensand. In 2002, Therion released its first concert album Live in Midgård, which contained recordings from its Secret of the Runes tour. Mostly drawing from its Budapest concert, the album was released to commemorate the band's 15th anniversary.

Lemuria and Sirius B (2004–2006)

right|thumb|250px|Live in Netherlands, 2004

After the Secret of the Runes tour, the band had amassed 55 unreleased songs which included the ones Johnsson had shelved as well as contributions from the Niemann brothers.

In July 2005, the band released Atlantis Lucid Dreaming, which is a compilation of the 1997 tracks that were not part of The Golden Embrace soundtrack (not including its Iron Maiden cover of "Children of the Damned"), and seven tracks from its 1999 album Crowning of Atlantis. It included a bonus live version of "Black Sun".

Therion released their first DVD set, Celebrators of Becoming, in May 2006. The set contains four DVDs which include concert footage from its 2004 visit to Mexico City, documentaries of its 2004–2006 World Tour, Johnsson's art movie The Golden Embrace, the band's music video singles, bootlegs and commentaries, and two audio CDs from its Mexico City concert. Gothic Kabbalah was released on 12 January 2007, and was followed with a tour through Europe, North and South America with Grave Digger and with support act Sabaton. Therion also toured Japan for the first time. The band's Warsaw gig was recorded for the live album and video set Live Gothic, which was released in 2008.

In these times Therion held live shows that included local symphonic orchestras and choirs. The "Therion Goes Classic" show took place on 9 December 2006, in Bucharest, Romania. Another show followed at the Miskolc Opera Festival in Miskolc, Hungary on 16 June 2007, with future band member Lori Lewis as its featured vocalist. The first half of the show featured orchestral pieces from Dvořák, Verdi, Mozart, Saint-Saëns and Wagner. The second half pulled from Therion's repertoire. The song "Clavicula Nox" was featured as a full orchestral version in the first half. The Bucharest concert was broadcast on Romanian television, and its first part was later released together with the entire Miskolc concert as the DVD/CD box set The Miskolc Experience in June 2009.

Therion played at Wacken Open Air in August 2007. In November–December 2007, Therion had a 20-year anniversary tour with 16 shows in Europe. Songs included "Kali Yuga" parts 1 and 2, the entire Theli album, and "Adulruna Rediviva". Part of the set list was determined by fan voting. Some songs were accompanied by keyboardist Ferdy Doernberg and a belly dancer on stage, and some of the shows featured also the ex-singers Piotr Wawrzeniuk and Mats Levén. The Budapest gig of the tour was recorded, but it was released only in February 2014 as a part of the DVD Adulruna Rediviva and Beyond.

New line up and Sitra Ahra (2008–2011)

In 2008, the band announced that its core group of musicians would be parting ways, but Johnsson posted that he was in no way ending Therion. Johan Koleberg became the new drummer, and Nalle Påhlsson the bassist. The band did not tour that year, except for a single open-air festival show in Płock, Poland on 6 September.

right|thumb|250px|Therion [[symbolism and occultism-driven appeal is also present on the band live presentations.]]

On 10 May 2009, following the release of The Miskolc Experience, Therion announced Thomas Vikström as its new lead vocalist.

The band worked on a new album, Sitra Ahra, which featured new guitarist Christian Vidal, and Snowy Shaw on vocals.

Sitra Ahra was released on 17 September 2010 The band toured South and Central America for 17 days, and European tour through November and December.

In March 2011, Gothic Kabbalah singer Katarina Lilja left the band for a second time to "re-join the boring civil world and not be a cool rock star anymore". Thomas Vikström's daughter, Linnéa, provided supporting vocals for the band since the Bloodstock Open Air festival in 2011. Therion performed at Hellfest Summer Open Air, ProgPower USA, and the 2012 cruise liner based festival 70000 Tons of Metal. In a Bloodstock interview, Shaw mentioned that the band will work on new material at the end of the year. In September 2011, after four years of collaboration and session work, vocalist Lori Lewis joined Therion as a member. In this year also a board game called "011" was released; it features the band members and is based on the Sitra Ahra album.

Les Fleurs du Mal and Luciferian Light Orchestra (2012–2016)

On 14 February 2012, Therion announced it was recording a studio album and had planned a 25th Anniversary Tour. Les Fleurs du Mal was released on September 28. The album is considered by Johnsson to be an "art project", which includes not only the music, but also special inlay graphics and video clips On the release day the 25th Anniversary Tour was also started through Europe, also featuring the album's contributing keyboardist Stefan Jernståhl. Some leftover songs were released on an EP Les Épaves in the end of 2015.

On 14 September, Johnsson posted a statement on the band's website about developing a rock metal opera, and that the band will not be doing any major tours or releasing studio albums. According to this, in 2013 the band was to play only at three minor summer festivals in Europe. In April 2013 this statement was reconsidered by Johnsson itself, and the Rock Opera Unveiled Tour was scheduled for December 2013 with 15 European gigs, to test the fans' acceptance of the new material. The main framework of these shows included excerpts from the future rock opera, and the entire Vovin album due to its 15th anniversary.

On 21 February 2014 two new releases were put on market: a deluxe edition of Theli – including three bonus tracks from A'arab Zaraq – Lucid Dreaming and a DVD with Thelis live performance – and a DVD set Adulruna Rediviva and Beyond with the 2007 Anniversary concert in Budapest and the 2011 Atlanta show.

In 2014 the Rock Opera unveiled tour has continued with a Latin American leg, which has also meant – "due to family- and work-related reasons" – the last live performances of Lori Lewis. However, she has remained a band member for studio performances. The new touring singer has become Sandra Laureano, debuting on the Summer festival gigs and the tour for the first time in China and through entire Russia in October 2014. The Russian leg of this tour was made upon the invitation of their 2013 tour support band Arkona, and drums were played by their former member Sami Karppinen, as Johan Koleberg was not able to tour with them.

However, Sandra as a dramatic soprano did not suit for every song, so she was replaced first by coloratura Isa García Navas, and later Chiara Malvestiti to sing in the shows.

In 2015 Johnsson worked on another side project, called Luciferian Light Orchestra, which features songs in the '70s occult rock style. An eponymous album was also released in that year, accompanied by on-stage appearances as support of Therion's 2015 Latin American and 2016 European tours, featuring Vidal and Påhlsson (both of them masked) on guitar. In addition to the last two tours, Therion had the very first acoustic gigs in Latin America and on 3 July 2016 in Bucharest.

CDs and DVDs related to the side projects were not released by Nuclear Blast, but by Johnsson's own label, Adulruna.

Beloved Antichrist (2017–2019)

On 13 November 2016 the band announced that Johan Koleberg had decided to leave the band "due to different goals in playing music". For the 2017 live gigs the former Amon Amarth member Fredrik Andersson filled in, then on 21 November 2017 Sami Karppinen officially re-joined.

On 26 January, Johnsson revealed he had been suffering from intense pain in the neck and shoulders, and he was diagnosed with two spinal disc herniations (allegedly resulting from years of headbanging), and he was at risk of losing the ability to perform live. As a result, the rock opera project was delayed and the band downplayed their sets of songs in concerts to allow Johnsson to perform. By 8 April, Johnsson announced he had been able to avoid surgery as his condition had improved through physiotherapy, and the band would resume performing at festivals by August.

Johnsson also arranged the orchestration of Sabaton's stage show with symphonic orchestra, performed on 13 July 2017 at the Masters Of Rock festival in Vizovice, Czech Republic.

On 15 August 2017, the band announced the title and the release date of an operatic rock musical. Beloved Antichrist – inspired by and partly based on Vladimir Solovyov's Tale of the Antichrist – containing over 3 hours of music, and 29 vocal characters was scheduled for 26 January 2018, later postponed first to 2 February and finally to 9 February.

In 2018 a European and a Latin American tour was scheduled, later also extended for China, and – for the very first time – Australia. After the last show of the tour, Linnéa Vikström ended the collaboration with the band and was replaced by the new touring member Rosalía Sairem.

On 10 August 2019 Nalle Påhlsson has decided to withdraw from touring, and remain only a member for songwriting and studio recordings. For the year's only remaining show Justin Biggs from the band Sorcerer was standing in.

The Leviathan trilogy (2020–present)

The first Leviathan album was released on 22 January 2021, partly with Snowy Shaw on drums. A sequel, titled Leviathan II, was released on 26 October 2022.

The 2022 festival shows of the band featured again Johan Koleberg on drums, as Sami Karppinen took over the duties on Opeth's concerts after the leaving of Martin Axenrot. For the end of the year a European tour was scheduled, but cancelled due to problems with their booking agent and also stating increased costs of touring contributing to the decision. Instead of it only four shows were played in Malta, Greece and Turkey in January 2023, subsequently followed by a long Latin-American tour, which included 18 shows in Mexico.

After more than 30 years at Nuclear Blast the band has signed on 27 April 2023 to Napalm Records. The third and final installment album, Leviathan III, was released already by the new label on 15 December 2023.

The conclusion of the trilogy was followed up by a tour through Europe and China in February and March 2024. As Chiara Malvestiti became unable to stand on stage due to her pregnancy and childbirth the year before, Lori Lewis returned as a touring singer too. The tour was preceded by the band's third show with orchestra and choir in Mexico City on 20 January 2024, which didn't feature any covers, and deviated only slightly from the tour's setlist. The second leg of the tour went through Turkey and Latin America in Autumn 2024.

Influences

Therion draws its influences from several different bands. The name comes from Celtic Frost's 1985 album To Mega Therion

Other symbols include:

Pythagorean pentagram (one point down), on the dragon's head, for the cover of Symphony Masses: Ho Drakon Ho Megas.
Nordic runes with Elder Fuþark alphabet, on the front cover and the booklet for the album Secret of the Runes.
Celtic cross, on the booklet's page for "Helheim" on the album Secret of the Runes.
Clavicula Nox, a key symbol in Dragon Rouge and also the title of one of the band's tracks, on the covers of Crowning of Atlantis, Vovin (inlay), and "Eye of Shiva".
Mjölnir, the Hammer of Thor, on the inlay cover of Secret of the Runes.
The astronomical symbols Venus <big>(♀)</big>, moon <big>(☽)</big>, and sun <big>(☉)</big>, on the covers for The Early Chapters of Revelation box-set.
The Kabbalistic Tree of Life, seen on the Sitra Ahra album cover.

Band members

Current

Christofer Johnsson — guitars, keyboards, programming, Hammond organ, orchestral arrangement (1988–present), lead vocals (1988–2006), bass (1988, 1991–1992)
Sami Karppinen — drums (1998-2003, 2017–present)
Nalle "Grizzly" Påhlsson — bass (2008–present; studio only since 2019)
Thomas Vikström — vocals (2009–present; live member: 2007)
Christian Vidal — guitar (2010–present)
Lori Lewis — vocals (2011–present; 2014–2023 studio only)

Touring

Rosalía Sairem — vocals (2019–present)
Chris Davidsson — bass, backing vocals (2021–present)

Discography

Notes

References

External links

– official fan club