THELI

The fact I like most from this album, is that every track is interesting... There is no weak songs here, just great compositions, with smart arrangements, wich make-up the lack of a better production. The sound is not bad, but it's not so luxurious like later Therion productions.

But the really important fact is here: the stunning quality of the songs, and the fresh ideas this band showed to the metal community... Some metal bands had experimented with symphonic arrangements before Therion did, like Devil Doll and Symphony X, but with Theli (and also the previous Lepaca Kliffoth) the swedish band showed the path to make a really coherent and perfect mix between classical music, metal and some folk elements.

This open-minded approach to metal, allows Theli being a really variated album. The interest towards this collection of songs increase with every listening... The epic opener To Mega Therion, the 70's keyboard oriented Cults of the Shadow, the oriental influences in In the Desert of Set, the 80's gothic sounding Nightside of Eden, the symphonic and semi-pastoral Siren of the Woods ballad, the classic heavy metal influenced Invocation of Naamah... This album is really rich! If you think prog-metal is repetitive or it lacks from ideas, then you should try Theli, and your mind will change.

Best songs: Cults of the Shadow (the keyboards work is great, like the deep Dan Swanö's voice wich appears here... I also like the hard riffing in the instrumental interlude!), In the Desert of Set (great singing here... The oriental feeling remembers me a bit to the masters Orphaned Land!), Nightside of Eden (I think in Fields of the Nephilim or even The Cure hearing this bass lines!) and The Siren of the Woods (just a great succession of marvellous melodies!)

Conclusion: gothic influences, classical music with opera choirs and bel-canto singing, pure classical heavy metal, 70's keyboards, some extreme metal influences... If you like metal, and specially if you are an open-minded heavy lover, then you will surely enjoy Theli. This album has almost everything you can dream, but accomplished in a really coherent and original way. Listening this album, you can understand why the symphonic metal has developed itself in this way in the last decade... Because it's a milestone in this genre! Highly recommended.

My rating: ****1/2

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