Artist: THERION
Album: VOVIN (CD)

Release date: 1998
Media type: CD

VOVIN is already the second album in a row Therion in their love for the occult named after their favorite pet. As Theli in Hebrew Vovin means "dragon" - in the secret language of black magic Enochian. Therion's or as we should say Christofer Johnssons' (because as we will see later, he is Therion these days) affection for winged and firebreathing wyrms might be profoundly esoteric, yet the dragon seems to be a fittin symbol for this kind of music: mighty not of this world and therefore maybe a triffle pathetic, but at the same time enigmatic, defying nature's laws of a strange sort of strength

With their last two albums Therion achieved an extraordinary position in a Metal scene torn between tradition and innovation. After getting rid of their gloomy Death Metal roots the band started to unleash a bombastic soundblast taking influences both from traditional Heavy Metal and Mainstream classical opera. The result was some sort of mixture between Guiseppe Verdi and Iron Maiden. Only the dragons and magicians that dwelled in the fantasy like old Heavy Metal songs had to submit to a very rigid conception of occult sciences which always played an important role in Therions lyrics. Alchemistic allusions are omnipresent and the ultimate goal of alchemy is well known: the philosopher's stone.

In musical terms and by their own standards "Vovin" has brought Therion remarkably close to this philosopher's stone. To get there a new approach had to be chosen. Therion mastermitid Christofer Johnsson gave up the idea of a poper band, one that rehearses and records the songs he writes. Instead he employed studio musicians a drummer and a bassist as you would expect, but also a full choir and a string orchestra. The solo vocals are performed by two well known female singers Sarah from Cradle of Filth and Martina from Dreams Of Sanity. Also one song was done by Ralph Scheepers (Primal Fear). Christofer himself parently feels very confident in his role as the composer and supervisor in the background. And obviously it needs this distance and overview to make.the intricate compositions between Power Metal pompous orchestral parts, delicate string arrangements and exotic oriental sounds work. The elegance of arrangements, the sensuality of the melodies and the subtle different styles saves "Vovin" from being a simple case of musical overbombing - which is something that wasn't necessarily to be expected after last year's opulent live performances, because those were as triumphant as they were close to an Andrew Lloyd Webber style "Metal meets Classics" showdown. "Vovin" proofs that Christofer with all his love for big bombastic sounds hasn't lost his sensibility as an artist. "Lepaca Kliffoth" and "Theli" explored new realms of sound, but it is "Vovin" which claims Therions rule over these lands. The combination of Metal and genuine classical music might after ten years of dreadful keyboard samples will be the coming trend. But for now there is no way past Therion on this path. "Vovin" certainly is a milestone for modern Metal and it might as well turn out to be Christofer Johnsson's philosopher's stone, turning music into gold ....

TRACKLIST:

01 The rise of Sodom and Gomorrah
02 Birth of Venus Illegitima
03 Wine of Aluqah
04 Clavicula Nox
05 The wild hunt
06 Eve of Shiva
07 Black sun
08 Draconian trilogy
09 The opening
10 Morning star
11 Black Diamonds
12 Raven of Dispersion

LINE-UP 2007:

Christofer Johnsson - guitars
Kristian Niemann - guitars
Johann Niemann - bass
Mats Leven - Vocals
Petter Karlsson - Drums