THERION — Of Darkness... (review)

THERION — Of Darkness... album cover Album · 1991 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
UMUR
"Of Darkness..." is the debut full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Therion. The album was released through Deaf Records in February 1991. Since forming in 1987 under the Blitzkrieg monicker, and shortly working under the Megatherion monicker in 1988, before changing their name to the current one, Therion released three demos and the 1990 "Time Shall Tell" EP, until being signed by Deaf Records for the release of "Of Darkness...".

All 8 tracks on the 39:29 have appeared on the early releases by the band. The 4 tracks from "Time Shall Tell" (1990) are featured here in re-recorded versions. "Morbid Reality" and "The Return" are culled from the April 1989 "Paroxysmal Holocaust" demo, "Megalomania" are taken from the November 1989 "Beyond the Darkest Veils of Inner Wickedness" demo, and finally "Genocidal Raids" first appeared on the 1990 "Rehearsal" demo.

So there isn´t anything new here if you own the previous releases, but the versions of the songs on "Of Darkness..." are all re-recorded tracks, recorded in August–September 1990 at Sunlight Studio, Stockholm with producer Tomas Skogsberg. Although it doesn´t beat some of the earliest Swedish death metal albums in terms of release date (albums like "Dark Recollections" by Carnage and "Left Hand Path" by Entombed were both released in early- to mid 1990), it is still one of the early Swedish death metal releases, and considering that Therion formed as far back as 1987, they were arguably quite an influential part of the early Swedish death metal scene.

Although the sound production and the musicianship are decent enough, "Of Darkness..." falls a little short in the songwriting department. Re-recording demo material that wasn´t that great to begin with maybe wasn´t the best choice that Therion could have made, but that´s what they opted to do on "Of Darkness...", and as a consequence it´s not a particularly strong death metal release. There are too many unremarkable tracks and sections and not many tracks leave a lasting impression either. So it sums up to a decent but not great release, and a 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Rot Stink Rip Death Metal
TOMBSTONER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Human Rosin Melodic Metalcore
HATE BREEDER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Through The Hell Hardcore Punk
ENEMY 906
Buy this album from MMA partners
Lightmatter: Rebirth Deathcore
EARTHGAZER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Eye Of Horus (Lightmatter EP Pt. 2) Deathcore
EARTHGAZER
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Agremorta - Adrocitas (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 5 days ago
Agremorta - Ploratus Umbra (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 5 days ago
Agremorta - Vertex Membrana (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 5 days ago
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR - The Temple Of Curved Space (Official Track Stream)
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR
adg211288· 5 days ago
In Sulfur - The Gate (OFFICIAL VIDEO) 2022
IN SULFUR
Bosh66· 6 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed