Lori Lewis

Therion is a Swedish symphonic metal band founded by Christofer Johnsson in 1987. Its name, meaning "Beast" in Greek, was inspired by the Celtic Frost album To Mega Therion. 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...

Therion is a Swedish symphonic metal band founded by Christofer Johnsson in 1987. Its name, meaning "Beast" in Greek, was inspired by the Celtic Frost album To Mega Therion. 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, magick, 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. Johnsson switched from bass to guitar and Peter Hansson played guitar. Johan Hansson (who would later form the Swedish death metal band Crematory) became its bassist, and Mika Tovalainen its drummer. After the band shortened its name to Therion, Erik Gustafsson of Dismember replaced Johan Hansson as the bassist, and Oskar Forss returned and replaced Tovalainen as the drummer. Matti Kärki, later to be the front man of Dismember, also joined the band and took over the vocals. 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. The latest release enabled the band the sign a one-album record deal with Deaf Records. Therion's first full-length album, Of Darkness..., released in 1991, featured songs that Johnsson had composed in the 1980s. The band called it "both a debut album and the end of an era", and described it as progressive death metal, since it contained elements that did not quite fit the standards of death metal at the time. The lyrics were very political, in the vein of Napalm Death, Nuclear Assault and other late-1980s hardcore punk bands. Therion signed with Active Records for its second album, Beyond Sanctorum. Prior to the recording sessions, Gustafsson left the band to return to the United States, so Therion continued as a trio with Hansson, Forss and Johnsson, the last of whom covered the bass. The album shows a more experimental edge to the death metal music; keyboard and clean vocals were used sparingly. After the recording, Therion changed members again. Forss left the band, and Hansson had to quit for health issues. For the Central European gigs, Johnsson brought in drummer Piotr Wawrzeniuk from his other band Carbonized, bassist Andreas Wahl, and Magnus Barthelsson who was an old friend from school. Musical metamorphosis (1993–1996) In order to scale down operations, Active Records had stopped releasing new records and transferred the band to Megarock Records. They released Symphony Masses: Ho Drakon Ho Megas in 1993. Its style combined death metal and doom metal, with elements of Middle Eastern music, industrial music, traditional 1980s heavy metal, classical music and religious chanting. Symphony Masses sold about 10,000 copies, which was more than the band's first two albums, but hardly a financial success. As the band's touring gigs were not that profitable, Barthelsson and Wahl quit the band, and Fredrik Isaksson was brought in as the new bassist. After a hiatus where Johnsson worked as a vocalist for Messiah, they received an offer to join metal label Nuclear Blast. Megarock Records, lacking the resources to properly promote the band, decided to release Therion without any strings attached. Therion signed with Nuclear Blast in 1994, and remained with them until 2023. Therion's first album with Nuclear Blast was Lepaca Kliffoth, with its single "The Beauty in Black" released in advance of the album. To Johnsson's surprise, "The Beauty in Black" sold 12,000 copies in Europe, before the company stopped printing. The album experimented with more elements: "a classic soprano and bass-baritone, more keyboards, more Persian influences, more melodies". Johnsson had "a new style of singing" that severed their ties to death metal. The album sold around 15,000 copies over the following weeks. 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. Symphonic metal beginning (1996–2001) In 1996, Therion recorded their experimental album Theli. The album heavily featured the vocals of two choirs, as well as vocals from Johnsson, Wawrzeniuk and guest vocalist Dan Swanö. The album featured keyboards and classic samples, which was labeled the "Barmbek Symphony Orchestra" after the subway station next to the studio. Jason Ankeny of Allmusic noted that the album "was almost universally acclaimed as the apex of Therion's career to date, fully realizing Johnsson's taste for elaborate, operatic grandeur". 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. The sales had gone up over 60.000 with the tour, more than triple that of Lepaca Kliffoth. which meant the band broke out from the underground and became an established name in the metal music business. In 1997, Therion released A'arab Zaraq - Lucid Dreaming, which contained unreleased songs from Theli, some covers, and Johnsson's soundtrack that he produced for a short art movie called The Golden Embrace. Johnsson noted that the next album, Vovin, was practically a solo album as it used studio musicians instead of the ones from the Theli tour, besides Eriksson, who provided some guitar support. Vovin was recorded at Woodhouse Studios; it involved a real string orchestra for the first time, and a "hand picked opera choir" which included Austrian singer Martina Hornbacher, and British vocalist Sarah Jezebel Deva. The album was released in 1998, and in two months, sales had reached 150,000 in Europe alone, doubling sales of Theli. The band toured with Moonspell and showcased Hornbacher and Deva on vocals. It brought in Sami Karppinen as the drummer, Kristian Niemann on guitar, and his brother Johan Niemann on bass. The album Crowning of Atlantis, released in 1999, was a mini-album that was padded to full-length with covers and live tracks. The band's next release, Deggial, involved the participation of a full orchestra. Johnsson noted it was 90% another solo album, but with a more permanent band lineup. Deggial sold more copies than Theli but not as many as Vovin. Secret of the Runes (2001–2002) Johnsson had written seven songs but shelved them in order to make a Nordic concept album. He built a recording studio for the band called "Modern Art". The band's tenth album, Secret of the Runes, was released in 2001, and had themes from the nine worlds of Norse mythology. It included the cover songs of "Crying Days" (Scorpions) and "Summer Night City" (ABBA), of which, Piotr Wawrzeniuk provided vocals. The album received positive reviews, and was an Allmusic editors' pick. 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 2001, Therion released the compilation album Bells of Doom to its official fan club. It includes recordings from the Blitzkrieg days in 1987, demos from 1989 that did not appear on any album, and an unofficial promotional demo from 1994 that enabled the band to land the record deal with Nuclear Blast. The album was later sold through Therion's webstore. 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) 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. Johnsson remarked that "we went through the songs and realized that we had enough good material for three albums. Recording one after the other, promoting, and touring each one separately would have taken several years and would have been a bad idea; and being so productive, we would have had another 55 songs waiting when we finally came to the end of it." In 2004, the band released 21 tracks on two albums: Lemuria and Sirius B. The albums were released simultaneously and were available as separate albums or a twin-pack. 171 musicians participated, including the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and a 32-member choir. Contributing to lead vocals were Mats Levén and a returning Piotr Wawrzeniuk. 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". The band toured Lemuria / Sirius B over two years and 106 shows, with its final performance at the ProgPower Festival in Cheltenham, UK on 21 March 2006. The last gig marked Johnsson's final vocal stage performance. 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, live classical shows, and the 20th Anniversary Tour (2006–2007) In September 2006, Johnsson announced that recording was completed for a new album with 9 songs written by then drummer, Petter Karlsson. 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 ful