VOVIN

Having fully blossomed on Lepaca Kliffoth and Theli, Therion then hit a transitional phase as they drained their music of its former death metal influences and worked to put in a more gothic foundation for their particular brand of symphonic metal. The end result is an album I can't help but find less immediately arresting than its two predecessors, though it's a competent enough job and when it does work it's an interesting continuation of this particular musical direction. Still, I can't help but feel that underneath the undeniable polish Vovin is just a bit more vapid than the preceding albums, relying slightly too much on orchestral pretensions without bringing sufficiently meaty material to the table to justify them.