Therion – Shepherd’s Bush Empire 2010

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Although staged on Halloween Therion made no attempt to theme the London stop of their extensive new tour, the first full European tour with the all-new band line-up leader Christofer Johnsson recruited after their 20th Anniversary tour in 2007.

The line-up which recorded impressive new album Sitra Ahra also did the tour, minus new bassist Nalle Påhlsson, replaced for this tour only by Grip Inc./Enemy of The Sun guitarist Waldemar Sorychta, who provided some extra guitar work on the disc. Support came from Norwegian progressive band Leprous and Swedish outfit Loch Vostok.

Due to the combination of traditional Sunday early finishes in London, Therion’s long set, and two support bands, Loch Vostok had to start quite early, and subsequently played to very few people. They had obviously seen this coming, as they played a set almost entirely taken from their forthcoming album, which has yet to be recorded. The Swedes had clearly assumed very few people in the audience would be familiar with previous albums, drawing just one song from 2009′s Reveal No Secrets. However, their aggressive prog metal proved popular with those who arrived early and, despite some initial technical difficulties, they delivered a lively set, the new material indicating another step towards less aggression and more progressive passages.

Leprous also included new music in their set, but didn’t completely abandon debut album Tall Poppy Syndrome to do it. Looking a little trite-indie-band in their colour-coordinated stage outfits they delivered a suitably high-energy set of their own showing off their versatility and unique style well. They may have left out the songs from the album with the heaviest jazz influence (such is the variety in their music), but there was still no shortage of wonderful sweeps between hard and soft styles in the songs they did choose, and despite being confined to his keyboard, Einar Solberg, who handled most of the vocals, showed he could easily be a front-man with his energy and enthusiasm.

Therion are one of those bands who don’t do bad performances. With a show that can be as choreographed as Therion’s things can sometimes become unwittingly pedestrian – going through the motions, so to speak – but Therion never seem to fall into that trap. The singers chosen for this tour were the same as the anniversary tour, reuniting the newly permanent Thomas Vikström with Snowy Shaw, American soprano Lori Lewis, and Katarina Lilja, and although their unusual stage set-up was not as effective as perhaps it had appeared at the design stage, essentially being three curves of scaffolding with canvas coverings for the singers to stand behind, adding nothing to the spectacle of the show at all, that didn’t seem to prevent it from being as awe-inspiring as any show with lavish production values.

The setlist followed a now-familiar pattern. Stick mostly to the songs which have proven most popular on preceding tours (Typhon, The Perennial Sophia, Lemuria, The Blood of Kingu), the all-time classics (To Mega Therion, Ginnungagap, The Siren of The Woods) and a smattering of songs from the new album, and throw in the odd surprise for the die-hards. This is a tried and tested technique which is most likely to keep everyone happy, and this night it worked perfectly.

Bringing in rarely-played tracks like Voyage of Gurdjieff (The Fourth Way), Enter Vril-Ya, Clavicula Nox and Ljusalfheim surprised the biggest fans and gave them something new to enjoy amongst the songs they heard last time out, and choice cuts from Sitra Ahra, including the obvious choice of the title track to open. The quartet of singers, probably the most popular vocal line-up for the band of all time, showed exactly why they are just that, and the new band gelled as well around Johnsson just as the well-liked previous line-up had done.

Therion put on a typically grand showing as they always do, and the impact of their performance really illustrates that an impressive stage set, which this one certainly was not, is really a secondary factor compared to first class performer at the top of their game.

“ awe-inspiring ”

Loch Vostok Setlist: Dystopium / Absence / A Mission Undivined / Navigator / Repeat Offender / Energy Taboo

Leprous Setlist: ?? / Phantom Pain / Dare You / White / ?? / Passing

Therion Setlist: Sitra Ahra / Wine of Aluqah / Typhon / The Perennial Sophia / Hellequin / Nifelheim / The Siren of The Woods / Voyage of Gurdjieff (The Fourth Way) / Ljusalfheim / Dies Irae / Ginnungagap / Kali Yuga, Part 3 / Call of Dagon / Clavicula Nox / Enter Vril-Ya / The Blood of Kingu / Lemuria / Abraxas / Unguentum Sabbati // The Rise of Sodom and Gomorrah / To Mega Therion

Written by Andy Lye
More: Gigs, Progressive, Therion