Therion - Live in Midgard (2002)

Some albums, I admit, didn't quite got my approval on first listening. Live in Midgard is probably the best example for this. I bought it around its release back in 2002 or '03, put it into my CD player, and didn't touch it again for years.

I can't tell for sure why, maybe I was just looking for something else around that time, or the music did simply overwhelm me (more about that later). Fact is that I discovered the song Wine of Aluqah on a gothic metal compilation, instantly liked it, recognized the name of the band, got the album - and wasn't impressed.

Anyway, what ever led to my initial rejection, I can't relate to it anymore and today Live in Midgard is amongst my favourites of the genre.

The album was recorded in 2001 during their Secret of the Runes-Tour and features a variety of different concert venues in Colombia, Germany and Hungary. While this could have resulted in a bit of a disjointed experience, the opposite is the case really. The whole album is a coherent and organic thunderstorm of sound that is just spectacular. Such power and dynamic! It combines the rawness of metal perfectly with the sensibility of classical instruments and vocals. I can't really name any other recording that deserves the term symphonic metal more than this.
Ironically though, compared to other bands of the genre, Therion remains at the same time probably the least accessible. Their songs are not really written for the charts, like say Nightwish does and therefore usually don't have singles-quality. And maybe that's just the reason why I value them so highly. Its so easy in the genre to fall into the trap of kitsch, Isn't it?

As much as I like their songwriting, I find Therion's studio-albums often a bit sterile and overproduced. Everything sounds pitch perfect and tidy, but the spirit of the moment just refuses to show itself. Not this record though. It is very well produced, but also keeps the dirt and the immediate dynamic of a live performance alive and definitely kicking.

Despite the norse-mythology-related title (and the title of the tour), Live in Midgard doesn't features overwhelmingly many songs from their 2001 album Secret of the Runes, but a healthy mixture of tracks from their past as well. The setlist reaches as back as their earliest, death/doom metal material, like A Black Rose, Beauty in Black, Wings of the Hydra and ("the fucking") Riders of Theli and includes the song Seawinds, a relatively obscure title from Accept. There is even some ABBA thrown in with the song Summer Night City. Believe it or not!

This said, the album isn't the most diverse, Therion stays Therion - and that means epic, relatively complex metal. And plenty of that. It is very much an all-out attack on the senses, with just a few breathers in between. Maybe it was this intensity, that kept me away from it initially. You certainly have to be in the right mood to enjoy this album in its entirety.

All in all, Live in Midgard is truly an experience. A dense and compelling tour de force. A operatic thunderstorm that leaves the listener saturated with sound. Not an easy listen for sure and probably not really recommendable for newbies, but highly enjoyable if you like epic symphonic metal that is maybe a bit edgier than what you usually get.