It’s not often I have to do a double-take on a disc I’m
\nlistening to for a review — but in the case of
\nDeggial<\/i>, the latest full-length release from the
\noperatic\/metal outfit Therion, I found myself not only consulting
\nthe review I wrote on their last disc
\nCrowning Of Atlantis<\/i>, but also re-listening to
\nDeggial<\/i> an extra time.<\/p>\n
In my review of
\nCrowning Of Atlantis<\/i>, I mentioned how I loved Therion almost
\nfrom note number one, and how the disc left me wanting to hear
\nmore. So what was the difference between that and
\nDeggial<\/i>? Simple: I found myself getting tired of the disc
\nreal quick. Repeat listens helped — but why was this album not
\nlighting my speakers on fire the same way that
\nCrowning Of Atlantis<\/i> did?<\/p>\n
The answer isn’t quite clear, but it could well be that
\nguitarist\/band leader Christofer Johnsson tries almost too hard to
\nmake this work, almost conceptual in theme, be the crowning point
\nfor Therion. While there are a few good moments, the bulk of the
\nalbum collapses under its own grandiose weight.<\/p>\n
It’s not that Therion — Johnsson, guitarist Kristian Niemann,
\nbassist Johann Niemann and drummer Sami Karpinen — fail with this
\nwork. There are some moments on
\nDeggial<\/i> that remind you that metal doesn’t have to be
\nfull-volume distortion to be heavy. Tracks like “Eternal Return”
\nand “Via Nocturna Part I, II” demonstrate the ability of this band
\nto merge two styles that one might never have thought to combine
\nbefore. Musically, Therion – who perform with heavy classical
\ninstrumentation, including a full choir – create a sound that is
\nboth beautiful and spine crushing.<\/p>\n
But in the case of
\nDeggial<\/i>, it almost becomes redundant after a while –
\nsomething I could not say the same about with
\nCrowning Of Atlantis<\/i>. It’s almost as if the listener is
\nlulled into a state of being with tracks like “Ship Of Luna,” “The
\nInvincible” and the title track. Add on to this that it’s extremely
\ndifficult to understand the lyrical content, and the final result
\nis a disc that becomes hypnotic – and a tad boring.<\/p>\n
While the classical overtones of Therion’s music are an intregal
\npart of the band’s identity, it sometimes seems that they might be
\nrelying on them a little too much with this release. Yes, there’s
\nplenty of room for the core of the band to shine, but the focus is
\noften moved off of them and onto the orchestral readings.<\/p>\n
\nDeggial<\/i> is a disc that I had high hopes for going into it,
\nbut it left me feeling like Therion could have accomplished much
\nmore, simply by layering on less. It’s not a failure, but it is a
\ndisappointment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6293],"rating":[5619],"class_list":["post-36546","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-therion","rating-rating-c"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36546"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36546"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}