siLLy puPPy Although LEPACA KLIFFOTH is often deemed the transition album in THERION’s sound to the fully formed progressive symphonic metal on “Theli” that launched them into the world’s attention, THERION actually always took a more experimental approach even at their very beginning. While their early albums were clearly rooted in death metal with a hardcore punk attitude, they were still using occasional clean vocals and keyboards albeit more for embellishments than as a major component in the aggressiveness. Another step in their sound came on “Symphony Masses” which added elements of jazz, industrial, chants and more traditional sounds of metal. LEPACA KLIFFOTH (referring to the Qliphoth, the representation of evil forces in Jewish mysticism) simply changes the balance of the elements hitherto presented and adds some new twists and turns to advance their evolution into the symphonic metal of “Theli” and beyond.

While this album begins as rather straight death ’n’ roll with occasional symphonic embellishments, by the time we get to the third track, the short and sweet “Arrival Of The Darkest Queen” we get a fully fledged folky symphonic sound that ushers in the band’s first ever single “The Beauty In Black” which began their experiments with a sound more reminiscent of “Theli” with the emphasis on the symphonic elements that includes a female soprano, a male baritone and also on the melodic development rather than the aggressive chugga chug of the guitar riffage, so i would say this song is the true final metamorphosis of their sound. However, the next track gets cold feet and retreats back to a more death metal rooted sound. Thus the very nature of this one step ahead and two steps back approach on LEPACA KLIFFOTH is what makes this seem like a very scattered and uneven album.

Despite the dominance of the death metal sound, other influences find their way into the mix including Persian ethnic music, a much wider vocal approach as well as keyboards becoming more prominent. Some tracks like “Black” actually tie the past to the future with a beauty-and-the-beast approach that mixes death metal vocals with the female soprano. It also includes a Celtic Frost cover “Sorrows Of The Moon.” I find the most interesting tracks to be the last two. The title track has a melancholic guitar intro that builds up into a heavy rocker that incorporates some of the strangest vocals on the album. The progressiveness also displays interesting technical drumming patterns with highly melodic guitar riffs. The tempo varies substantially and time sig changes are abundant and i love the metal chants of the ending. “Evocation Of Vovin” is an energetic little symphonic keyboard number that is probably the most “Theli-like” track on the album. This is an all-over-the-place album which as a cohesive album is pretty weak, but there are plenty of excellent individual tracks on here making it a worthy listen.

Warthur With vocals more diverse than the grunts and growls that came before, musical influences ranging from the electronic end of progressive rock to the most aggressive thrash metal, and much less death metal than previous releases, except for fleeting glimpses of the death and roll style of bands like Entombed, Lepaca Kliffoth finds Therion in the midst of a transition from the symphonic death metal mayhem of the preceding album to the more esoteric prog-goth direction they would take in the post-Theli era. It's their first album to fully emerge from the shadow of their death metal roots, but simultaneously feels a little tame and aimless as a result. Still, it paved the way to the career highlight of Theli, and as a result if you are keen on Therion it's worth listening to at least once, even if it doesn't hit the top tier of their back catalogue.

bonnek The first half of the 90's saw the rise of doom-death. A style of slow-paced doom metal with gruff vocals that combined the power chords of Black Sabbath, the slow dirge and nihilism of the industrial new wave band Swans and the zombie type of vocals that you used to scare your little sister with.

Anathema, My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost are best known but also Sweden (of course) had its exponents, such as Therion, be it without entirely fulfilling their promise yet on this album. It is decent, but it is the sound of a death metal band that realized they weren't heavy nor skilled enough to hold their ground in this normally very technical scene. So they compensated their disadvantage by experimenting, by finding creative solutions and by trying out new things on the unsuspecting audiences. An approach that often leads to great things.

This transitional album is mostly straightforward 'doom death & roll' with occasional experiments with choirs and violins. Their next album would reveal all the potential of this fertile marriage. Lepaca Kliffoth will probably only appeal to you if you want to seek out where Therion came from and if you can stomach the gruff vocals. I’ve found myself quite liking it, but never enough to motivate me to explore the Therion history any further back then this one.