Customer Reviews

Crowning of Atlantis

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

This is a very good album. It has all. 3 very well done covers, 3 incredible live versions, 1 re-edition and 3 master pieces of art; the 3 new songs. The 3 new songs are very similar to the Vovin album, an excelent instrumentation singed with lirycal and operal choirs. The covers show a bit of this metal group influences and an interesting face of the group; the song Sea Winds (originally from Accept)is incredibly well done and Thor (originally from Manowar, also played by Centurión) brings the soul of metal, also Crazy Nights showing Therion version of the roots of Heavy Metal. The more interesting thing on the album is the 3 songs on live versions: To Mega Therion, from the teli album, with interesting drums arrengerments and some choir arrengements too. There is also The Wings of Hydra, wich brings us to earlier days of the band, a Death metal song from the Lepaka, where C. J. was still the principal vocal. The last song is Black Sun from the Vovin. All live songs shows the great performance of the group on the VOVIN TOUR and are the only register of the Group playing alive. (Almost played as in the original records) The re-edition song is also from the album VOVIN; the title: Clavicula Nox. This redition introduces a piano playing along the song and on the intro, very good arrengement; but more interesting yet is the solos of the vocals. The song is originally singed by a female soprano, but in this reedition the lirics are singed by a male Tenor at first (in a SOLO) and then by a Bajo. Very enjoyable CD and very complete. A Perfect resume of the music purpose of this great symphonic metal Band.

This "EP" clocks in at over 50 minutes, making it well worth your money. The new songs are very well done, and return a bit more to the 'Theli' style, in that they are more guitar-oriented than 'Vovin' tunes. The covers are also well done, with Ralf Scheeper's doing a fine job handling the vocals. A great cover of Manowar's "Thor" is worth the price alone, to me. This "EP" is for definately for Therion fans, and I wouldn't recommend it as an introduction to the band. I can't wait for the new album.

I got this CD on an impulse, though not expecting much and so I thought on the first play it was just ok but i noticed some beautiful melodys and great vocals by both male and female singers, but the songs didn`t grab me on first play. Well I returned to it after a few days and sparks started to fly ITS very good and different to anything else i own. I realy like this CD, it has a progressive edge and also rocks, I cant stop playing it and it keeps getting better and better. I must check out other THERION releases as I am turning into a fan
so if you like bands such as THE GATHERING or LACUNA COIL or even EDENBRIDGE or GREEN CARNATION or WINDS in fact any doom cross progressive natured bands you owe it to yourself to get
this CD.

Not too bad, not bad at all. I still consider "Theli" as the best work of theirs, unfortunatly that one isn't that easy to obtain in US. But this one is in a lot of ways similar to "Theli", maybe even too similar, I would appreciate some more variations in theme. That's probably the only reason for 4 stars, instead of 5. But if you've never heard Therion before, or if you haven't heard their "Theli" or "Vovin", buy this one, at least. It's not too heavy (actually, even my mother likes it), it's stuffed with gothic. It is also a recommended buy, if you want to introduce your girlfriend to the world of your music, for it doesn't "hurt" the ears of mortals, unlike many other albums by other Doom or Gothic metal bands. And also, it will stay in your CD-player for a while: there's a lot of melodies, symphony instruments and choir, and cool guitar riffs to enjoy.

This e.p is Amazing I just got and It blow my mind away...this is a great e.p I cant wait to feb 2000 when the relesed the next Album!

A musty collection of rare tracks from opera-metal band Therion consisting of [...]-rockers, popular tracks performed live, b-sides, and reworked songs makes this the kind of purchase reserved only for the hardcore fan (of which I am not). Like much of their better material, the band is often hit-or-miss, often outweighing any propulsion with a predictably boring pace and an annoying predisposition to 80's rock values, so one can only imagine those potential flaws shown magnified tenfold when listening to this fan disc. Of course due to marketing, without careful research it would be easy to pick this up in mistake of expecting another, more solid studio release, to which one would be sorely disappointed. For fans that actually want this kind of thing, I suppose it's worth looking into. Older metal enthusiasts may enjoy the obnoxious, almost embarrassing rock anthems, fans will appreciate the live cuts that capture the band, chorus, and orchestra bewildering a crowd, but for others there are just about two standout tracks that function on their own as good songs without referencing other material.

The record company wanted Therion to put out a new album and they weren't ready yet, so this is what you got. The songs don't really go together, but there is a lot of awsome material on the album. Besides the typical Therion songs like Crowning of Atlantis (very good!) and from dynosis days (love it!), you also have a remake of Clavicula Nox (originally from Vovin), a cover of an Accept song (Seawinds), a cover of a man o war song that is awsome but sounds nothing like Therion (Thor), and also a few live tracks.

If you want an album that "flows" together don't buy this one. It's just a random assortment of whatever therion could throw together at the time, but the songs in and of themselves are all very good.

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.

The music is brilliant, but there is more. This album is a great example of how diverse a metal band can be, here Therion provides a real soulfeast for versatility lovers. The other remarkable thing that shows on the album is a selection of tracks originally belonging to other bands - not quite the most popular, but those which attract Therion's musicians by their very musical essence. The re-evaluation of those tracks, which shows apparent respect to the authors, is also impressive.