Reviews: Therion, Conviction, Here Lies Man, Dragony (Reviews By Paul Hutchings, Richard Oliver, Paul Scoble & Matt Bladen)

Back in the mists of time, Therion were a death metal band. Over time, under the careful tutelage of founder Christofer Johnsson, the band has pulled away from that style and is now rightly regarded as one of the founders and leading lights of the symphonic metal movement. Yet with a little careful research you’ll find links to magik, occultism and a focus on ancient writings. Leviathan is the 17th album for the band which released its first record Of Darkness … 20 years ago. Johnsson’s voracious work rate belies the fact that he curates records of incredibly complexity and intricacy. The use of choral, operatic, and symphonic elements alongside more traditional power and heavy metal means that it’s not unusual to hear flute, dynamic brass sections and sweeping orchestral movements in parallel with thick, chugging metal riffs and thundering double bass kicks. 

Leviathan is, according to Johnsson, “the first album that we have deliberately packed with Therion hit songs”. Now, I’m no expert on the band, having been aware of them but rarely having had any encounter other than mild skirmishes in new release lists, so I don’t know what a Therion hit song sounds like. What I do know is that if you like excessive, dramatic, and stirring symphonic metal music, then Leviathan should be on the pre-order list already. It’s magnificent in its opulence and drama and as the album develops it becomes more and more decadent and extravagant. The signs are there early with the imperious The Leaf On The Oak Of Far which opens the album. A racing riff holds the attention, the duelling female and male vocals capture the interest and the soaring choral backing soon takes centre stage. Fans of the band may well trace this interaction back to early works such as 1996’s Thelli. It’s followed by a more traditional Therion track, Tuonela, with the soprano tones of Lori Lews, the band’s female voice for the past decade, jousting vocally with Nightwish’s Marko Hietala. It’s already anthemic, majestic and quite ludicrously over the top. 

The sonic warblings and real operatic vocals arrive on Ai Dahka which is where things go completely over the top. It’s a hard rock song with some fantastic guitar playing, the vocals transport the track far away, backed by angelic choruses. Eye Of Algol brings a slice of Eastern promise with it, the darkened feel making it one of the standout tracks on the record. For much of the album, the atmosphere is that of a cinematic film score. Nowhere is this better demonstrated than on Nocturnal Light, which opens in glorious style before receding into almost musical territory. There are hooks a plenty, the melodies are fantastic and yet, it’s so incredibly excessive that it is almost impossible to take it seriously. Johnsson’s passion for classic voices, choirs and orchestral movements shines through from start to finish. His core nod to Wagner remains unrestricted, something that is unlikely to change. Leviathan is named after a giant sea monster from Judeo-Christian myth that has roots in Babylonic lore. I imagine this will be a huge favourite with the band’s legions of fans. It is impressively constructed, and even though it leaves me somewhat cold, for many this album will be one of the highlights of the year. 7/10

Here Lies Man: Ritual Divination (RidingEasy Records) [Paul Scoble]

Ritual Divination is Here Lies Man’s fourth album. The band is made up of members of the band Antibalas. Here Lies Man claim to mix Afro Beat percussion with Black Sabbath riffing. Although there is some influence from the doomy midlanders, a lot of the riffing, and there is a lot of riffing on this album, it feels far more rooted in late sixties and early seventies psychedelic rock. This is ably demonstrated by the song I Told You (You Shall Die) which is a fantastically uptempo exercise in fast, bouncy riffing. The percussion is impressive, most of the songs have a driving beat, backed up by extra percussion that is lower in the mix. The song What You See has some very impressive percussion which helps to drive the track along in a pleasingly head nodding way. 

Vocally thing are a little strange. The vocals are either gang vocals or they are multi-tracked, so they come across more like chants. This means that the songs feel more like a series of huge choruses, rather than songs. The riffing also emphasises this as the songs tend to only have a couple of main riffs that are repeated. This isn’t a problem as the riffs are very good, so they improve with repetition rather than getting boring. In many ways its the less obvious elements of Here Lies Man’s sound that keep changing and keep things interesting. The extra percussion might be quite low in the mix, bit there is always something interesting going on that adds more layers of interest. The psychedelic parts; keyboards and electronics also helps to keep things from getting boring. The track I Wander is a good example of this, the riffing takes a back seat, feeling more minimal, as the electronic elements dominate. 

Another track that lets the riffing slide and allows the psychedelia take over is the track Disappointed. However, this style does seem to obey the law of diminishing returns. Everything is fairly simple, so the fact that the album has 15 songs and is over an hour long, I did find my concentration waning in the last 15 minutes of the album. The material is also very similar to the band's last album, so if they want this to keep peoples attention developing some brevity might be a good idea for Here Lies Man. A very enjoyable, if over long album. 7/10

Dragony: Viribus Unitis (Napalm Records) [Matt Bladen]