Label: Nuclear Blast
Date: January 22nd, 2021
Let me warn you in advance. This will be a completely biased review. If that bothers you, feel free to skip this text. I simply consider Therion a timeless band. I simply live in the belief that this band will one day be taught at music colleges. I simply love everything these madmen record in the studio and release.
The moment I listen to “Leviathan”, I am working on a very important project for my main job with a very short deadline. I thought I would be able to work and listen in parallel…
For some reason, I didn’t like the first 20 seconds of the song “The Leaf on the Oak of Far”. The vocals of Thomas Vikström in this song did not suit me the best. Luckily that’s the only detail I didn’t like on the album. By the end of the first song, I somehow manage to listen and work on the project in parallel. From the next song “Tuonela”, I completely left the project and indulged in a journey led by magicians from Therion. I left the Repeat button by mistake, so I can’t remember exactly how many times I listened to “Leviathan” in a row. I completely lost track of time and space. “The Leaf on the Oak of Far”, “Tuonela”, “Leviathan”, “Die Wallen der Zeit” … They went in a circle one after another, over and over again.
I was back to reality around 5 AM in the morning when the battery on my laptop was completely exhausted from the endless spinning of the “Leviathan”. I haven’t finished the project and I’m going to have a lot of problems at work today. But never mind, life goes on… And my life is richer for another Therion release.
I really have neither the desire nor the will to describe each song individually. I want to finish the review of this album as soon as possible so that I can continue listening to it in peace. If you haven’t loved Therion so far, you certainly won’t after this album. If you belong to a group of fans who didn’t like the previous 2-3 Therion albums, I believe that you will enjoy listening to “Leviathan” and consider it as “return” of Therion. Die-hard fans like me will adore “Leviathan” just like all other albums. That would be it in a nutshell.
To conclude: “Leviathan” is another diamond in the Therion treasure chest.
