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Therion: Sitra Ahra Tour 2010 - Rock Cafe, Tallinn, Estonia, 02.12.2010


Event: Therion: Sitra Ahra Tour 2010
Written by: Ivor
Published: 12.12.2010

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Therion - Rock Cafe, Tallinn, Estonia, 02.12.2010 by Ivor (27)


When a band rotates most of the line-up at some point, you are bound to wonder whether it was a good move and if the band will survive this change. Moreover, it makes you wonder how it will affect the live performances. In Therion's case, changing members is nothing extraordinary. Been there, done that, so to say. However, I still approached their gig with a fairly guarded feeling. I mean, Therion shined with that previous line-up, which can easily be confirmed if you take a look at Live Gothic DVD. Needless to say, I was happy to be wrong being reserved about it.



The warm-up act for the evening was Ukrainian death doom band Apostate. I'm not particularly fond of such death doom bands mostly because of the vocals. Given decent music to begin with, the vocal performance kind of ruins it for me. It is a rare and welcome occasion when it's the other way around. Unfortunately, this was not one of those rare occasions. The music was generally fine, and instrumentally I'd have enjoyed it even though there was still something fresh missing. A friend of mine described it as being more or less early Paradise Lost. Another one said that they could really use female vocals. I'm having a feeling he has no clue how right he might be in this regard. In the end Apostate amounted to being just kind of forgettable warm-up act, nothing more.





When Therion came on stage with "Sitra Ahra" I was pleased to find that their live vocal line-up has been kept for most part. On this tour you'll hear Snowy Shaw, Katarina Lilja, Lori Lewis, and joining them now Thomas Vikström. Somehow this reassured me that this particular gig will be a success. I mean, since seeing Therion for the first time at Hellfest in 2007 I've come to associate Snowy Shaw, Katarina and Lori with Therion's vocal cast. Of course, back then Mats Levén was still present but Thomas Vikström does a good job in his stead. Between them they have more or less everything covered. True, they fall short of a proper choir but they do come damn close when needed.



The instrumental cast also seems to be feeling quite comfortable for the moment. Christian Vidal does well on guitars, and Waldemar Sorychta on bass. However, Christoffer Johnsson still manages to steal the focus dressing himself up and wearing a black suit, black round sunglasses and a top hat. Classy, theatrical, and admittedly fitting. For, as you might already know, a Therion performance is a fair deal theatrical on the whole, as far as singers and some operatic songs are concerned.



Pulling off a Therion song live with all its intricacies is surely no easy feat. That is actually one thing to be reserved about when you go see them live. Although I'm reasonably happy with the result, I do have an issue with the sound balance. This time the drums were way too prominent and were at some points drowning either vocals or guitar leads. It wasn't really bad but it did get annoying from time to time.



As you might expect, most of the songs played range from the newest Sitra Ahra album all the way back to Theli, covering 15 years of creative output. It sure is a huge amount of music and no wonder it formed into an almost two hour set. Which is by no means a bad thing, the longer the set, the more you get to hear. And while you get some of the awesome favourite songs, some are bound to be left unperformed. It's as if the band are saying "Thank you, come see us again!" Which I for one, definitely will, given the opportunity.



Set list:
1. Sitra Ahra (Sitra Ahra)
2. Wine Of Aluqah (Vovin)
3. Typhon (Lemuria)
4. The Perennial Sophia (Gothic Kabbalah)
5. Hellequin (Sitra Ahra)
6. Nifelheim (Secret Of The Runes)
7. The Siren Of The Woods (Theli)
8. Voyage Of Gurdjieff (The Fourth Way) (Sirius B)
9. Ljusalfheim (Secret Of The Runes)
10. Dies Irae (Mozart)
11. Ginnungagap (Secret Of The Runes)
12. Kali Yuga Part 3: Autumn Of The Aeons (Sitra Ahra)
13. Call Of Dragon (Sirius B)
14. Clavicula Nox (Vovin)
15. Enter Vril-Ya (Deggial)
16. Blood Of Kingu (Sirius B)
17. Lemuria (Lemuria)
18. Abraxas (Lemuria)
19. Unguentum Sabbati (Sitra Ahra)
Encore:
20. The Rise Of Sodom And Gomorrah (Vovin)
21. To Mega Therion (Theli)



During a Therion performance time flies. There are times when a two hour gig can seem like a drag, even if almost everything falls into place. With Therion, two hours pass almost in a blink of an eye. Blink... and it's already time for the encore and final applause. Can't really blame the band for that, now can you? Live Therion is even better than on the albums because you can actually see how it's done. And the crowd loves it. I'm already wishing I could go see them again.



Apostate: Homepage http://apostate.com.ua, MySpace
Therion: Homepage http://www.megatherion.com, MySpace






Written on 12.12.2010 by I shoot people.

Sometimes, I also write about it.

And one day I'm going to start a band. We're going to be playing pun-rock.


Comments

Comments: 6   Visited by: 164 users
12.12.2010 - 08:29
nb

Christoffer with short hair and the hat looks like Tom Petty.
Sounds like a nice performance with nice songs. I still wonder how the new guitar player
handles the intricate solos from Christian Niemann.
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12.12.2010 - 20:49
Baz Anderson

This blue image at the bottom left is amazing.
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13.12.2010 - 12:20
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Awsome reweiw and I would say I prefere see more Apostate how Therion, since Apostate is awesome band ... I wish Therion would play more from detah metal era live seems they never do it nowdays
----
Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
apos;'
[image]
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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13.12.2010 - 23:11
Ernis
狼獾
Thank you for the wonderful pictures and a fine article. Hope to seem Therion again soon and I really wish this particular lineup to last for a long time. Their stage shows of last years have been brilliant as was this particular one here...
Now to see Therion and Aesma Daeva on tour together during one evening would be the ultimate combo...
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17.12.2010 - 15:38
Ivor
Staff
Thanks all! The gig was great. As for photos - that blue one of Snowy Shaw did indeed turn out well. I'm happy with it as well.

I.
----
No friends for playing games
No foes who scorn my name
Computerized machines of steel and rust
/---/
No friends in my house on Mars
No foes in my house on Mars
I was born in my house on Mars
I will die in my house on Mars
-- Ayreon - My House on Mars
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19.12.2010 - 18:16
Jon

@Bad English, shortly after recording Sirus B/ Lemuria, Christopher Johnson actually announced that he would retire from using death growls at all. So the reason they don't play those songs is it would mean getting a death metal vocalist in.
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A mythology is a religion different enough from your own for it's absurdity to be obvious.
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