2017 press on black vinyl

If your attraction to Therion’s music stems solely from theirlater work, which incorporates increasing use of choir andorchestra to create conceptual, gothic metal symphonies, then theirearliest albums might be a little outside your comfort zone. Butthere was a time in which Therion produced some bleak and evildeath metal, with only the barest hint at the band’s futuredirection. This hint comes in the form of synthesizers, which areused on the opening track “The Return” to create another level ofatmosphere behind the dense and central guitars. The guitars are sothick on this album, broiling beneath Christopher Johnsson’sreverbrous grunts, that you feel like you are drowning in molasses.“Asphyxiate With Fear” is a faster flurry of vomitous death metal,more in line with early, thrashing Pestilence. In “Morbid Reality”,the Hellhammer/ Celtic Frost influence shines through the churningguitar rhythms, though it’s faster to the point of grindcore.“Megalomaniac” has a good melody to follow, and “A Suburb to Hell”is one of my easy favorites, from energetic thrash to grindingdisgust, and some haunting melodies thrown in there. “GenocidalRaids” is Hellhammer-inspired thrash that opens with a doomedatmosphere, and “Time Shall Tell” revisists this pervasive hybrid,with some sick leads. “Dark Eternity” ends the album with somebeefy grooves. Though charming enough for classic purists of thegenre, Of Darkness is far from Therion’s best work. The lyrics areaverage at best, and downright silly in some places. They rangefrom the occult to the more relevant, social topics you’d find inthrash metal. McDonalds feed their cows with our children’s lives.I knew there was a reason I liked to eat there. You can hear theroots of Lepaca Kliffoth here, and the album holds its own againstmany forgotten peers of the age, but Johnsson and band would havegrown bored writing more than a few albums like this, so theorchestral evolution of the band was a wise choice. It’s prettyinteresting to go back to this or Beyond Sanctorum, then explorethe band’s incrimental metamorphis through Symphony Masses andLepaca Kliffoth to their later, diverse concept albums with all theguest musicians.

Track listing:
1. The Return
2. Asphyxiate With Fear
3. Morbid Reality
4. Meglamaniac
5. A Suburb To Hell
6. Genocidal Raids
7. Time Shall Tell
8. Dark Eternity

Condition cover: nm

Condition vinyl: nm

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M(mint)/NM(near mint) = Nyskick/Mycket bra exemplar
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