Therion - Symphony Masses: Ho Draken Ho Megas

While not quite as adventurous as either Lepaca Kliffoth or Theli, Symphony Masses does tend to stir things up quite a bit. Christofer Johnsson still keeps his death vocals through most of the recording, but there is a huge emphasis on keyboards and orchestration here. I hear a lot of Iron Maiden in the guitar work, which rides on top of the death riffs and overall feel of the album. There is a lot of really cool stuff going on at once, but never alienating the listener. The musicianship is demanding here, and everyone involved seems competent enough. The bass especially stands out for me on a few tracks. Some of the later songs on the album sound pretty industrial doomy, as in Laibach and Test Dept. Another interesting album from Therion, this is actually the first one (it seems to me) where they started to really branch out stylistically. This is also the heaviest of their three experimental albums (SM, LK and Theli).