Therion

Crowning of Atlantis (Nuclear Blast)
by Scott Hefflon

It must be in Therion‘s contract that they release semi-crappy, thrown-together records with a couple new songs, a few covers, and few live cuts between glorious full-length opuses. Crowning of Atlantis opens with a chug Maiden would’ve used back on Powerslave, complete with dorky lyrics you luckily can’t understand cuz there’re choirs screeching and warbling instead of ol’ Bruce belting it out to the heavens with his foot on the monitor. And the other new songs are not quite up to par either. Not that they’re bad, but Therion has the potential to amaze, so it’s always kind of a letdown when they merely suffice. Covers this time out include Loudness’ “Crazy Nights” (now that it’s done, it’s surprising no one did it before. And I’d like to thank everyone for that), Manowar’s “Thor” (like it’s never been heard before), and Accept’s beautiful “Seawinds” (still waiting for someone to cover “Princess of the Dawn”). The CD ends with live version of three of the best Therion tracks.
(PO Box 43618 Philadelphia, PA 19106)