Therion, Luciferian Light Orchestra, Ego Fall and Imperial Age – London Islington Academy 13/1/16

We normally get Therion over just before Xmas in fact you could say that for some of us it is our annual pantomime. This time around they chose to appear in the New Year to regale us and they brought some interesting supports from all sorts of far-flung places to entertain too. First of these at the early time of 6.15 were Imperial Age from Russia. As they had come so far it would have been a bit rude not to go and catch them. This was powerful, operatic and bombastic stuff with plenty of vocal variations, all of them of the optic shattering range. Lead singer Alexandra would have been more than enough for most bands but the keyboardists Aor and Corn on either side of the stage joined up with her in the middle and sung along too. The combined effect of the three of them along with the instrumental symphonic clamour was more than enough to blow you away (and very nearly off your feet). Naturally there is a certain amount of pomposity and theatricality about the display but those wandering in seemed to quickly get in the swing of things and the group’s dynamics are hard not to find invigorating. I wondered how big this lot are on their home turf. It may have been a bit thin on the ground here but they were getting fists pumping and some sampled traditional pipes helped drive things along too. A ballad came a bit close to Disney fairy-tale histrionics but that goes with the territory and the heroic thunder of the last number with the drummer not far off blasting away was a final charge that impressed no end.

As I said things were versatile but nobody really would have guessed they would end up watching a Mongolian band with sampled horse hair fiddles and throat singing playing a brand of in the face metalcore. That is just what we got though with Ego Fall and it proved a compulsive culture shock and a half. This was a case of tradition meeting modern metal headlong and the players were well and truly in their element clearly overjoyed to be playing London even if it was far from capacity and a cold wet and miserable night. Dreadlocked singer Sun Bori was a blur of motion, charging around with his old style radio mic he reminded a bit of Tomi from Amorphis. The musical Mongol metal was shredded out in a fast and furious fashion and successfully turned the place into full on party mode, people who had not checked out the band prior to the show no doubt wondering just what the hell they had walked in on. There are obvious comparisons to Tengger Cavalry to be made here with the galloping tundra flavour on display but there were times that I found myself thinking of the likes of bands such as Deftones as well. One thing is for sure this lot would make one hell of a festival band. There were also some slow, brooding electronic parts and even a bit of dub before the final explosive thrust and even with most of the traditional parts sampled the vocalist’s rabid yells got a fist pumping reaction and the band certainly made some new friends tonight. They were more than happy to chat to all comers over at the merch stall for the rest of the night too. Band merch of the night a Therion board game, anyone?

The sinister sounding Luciferian Light Orchestra is a side project by Therion maestro Christofer Johnsson formed partly to move down more retro rock paths than he does in his metallic day job. Naturally this was going to be of high interest and the band looked more than a little intriguing as they took to the stage. There is an air of mystery and a sinuous beguilement about lead singer Mari Karhunen and the masks and matching shirts of the players add to the mystique. Musically as they set in to songs like Church Of Carmel there were no shortage of the aforementioned retro rock vibes with some underlying swirls of prog. Unfortunately I found little in the way of spark about it and indeed this was a dull light overall. There is no real flair and the vocals really lacked in passion, with the songs plodding along with little about them to maintain any semblance of memorability. Basically this was bog standard stuff with clichéd songs about the devil who would probably have been wrapped up comfortably in bed with a cup of cocoa if exposed to them. There are far too many out there jumping on the occult rock bandwagon and LLO seriously struck as being yet another and felt like little more than a vanity project. If Johnsson wasn’t in them I probably would have wondered off well before the set culminated with ‘Dante And Diabaulus’ but I kept wanting to find myself proved wrong, alas it was not to be.

You know you are up for something epic when the set-list fills up two whole sheets of paper and that’s exactly what we got from a 2 hour set tonight with Therion. As Thomas Vikström informs us, there is no new material, nothing to prove, just all the hits! The only odd thing about it was the fact that only 300 advance tickets had been sold and there was no sudden surge through the doors, I guess everyone is in hibernation mode and like me riddled with man-flu but those that decided against coming certainly missed out. From the opening charge of ‘Ginnungagap’ the band had us eating out their hands. I mentioned pantomime earlier but this was much more about the music than that. I guess without the presence of Snowy Shaw and his eccentric costumes that quality was missing but this was no bad thing and it was down to the artists to give us a much more serious show tonight. There was no shortage of things to look on as far as the stage was concerned with the seven players all moving around and at first it was near impossible to choose what to focus on while headbanging to the swaggering riffs and be caught up in the fantastic choral vocals and austere parts from the singers. Vikström every bit the frontman with his cyberpunk get-up casts the runes on the first few numbers and the jagged riffs from Johnnson and Vidal come thick and fast. This time around female vocals see the addition of Italian Chiara Malvestiti to the band and she is excellent in her parts. Eyes cannot fail to fall on pink haired and spiky bra wearing daddy’s girl Linnéa Vikström either. She adds a massive impetus to the band and really has developed into a formidable vocalist and front-woman, giving a youthful exuberance to the performance. Both are completely spot on with their parts and are a joy to watch when they interact.

The songs come thick and fast and take us through the ages. No doubt everyone has their favourites and even with the huge amount of material at the band’s expense, the chances are you were going to get a few of them tonight. Fists are pumped and air guitars are played, thankfully nobody really tried to sing along, we are but mere mortals compared to the vocal talent on stage. ‘Cults Of The Shadow’ was instantly recognisable with its infectious keyboard peel and had us bouncing around as the music galloped away. Lights beamed out glaringly giving us a complete sensory overload and the vocals gelled with breath-taking clarity. Everyone suddenly faces the stage and watches as Johan Koleberg pumps out a massive flurry from behind the drum kit, not quite a solo but a cracking moment. Linnéa beguiles and plays the part of ‘The Siren Of The Woods’ gorgeously getting the centre spot and owning it. This gave us a bit of breathing space before Vovin’s ‘Wine Of Aluqua had us drinking deep to the giddy guitar work. Apparently Johnnson always told Vikström no when he kept nagging him about doing ‘Black Fairy’ but he finally relented on this tour much to all our pleasure. That was a right blast from the past and as ‘metal’ as it got. At the other complete end of the spectrum is Mon Amour, Mon Ami from the last album Les Fleurs Du Mal. I bought the album last time the band played here but it really failed to gel. Tonight with Mari Karhunen back singing the Marie Laforêt song it failed to ignite any passion and I have to wonder if that album is Therion’s cold lake, a bit of a folly. Luckily later with the likes of Lemuria in the set we could really allow them the one slight aberration on proceedings. It was a long show but one that did not bore in the slightest. There was no leaving early either as everyone was aware what was coming in the encore ‘The Rise Of Sodom And Gomorrah and To Mega Therion and if that double whammy isn’t designed to bring any house down I don’t know what is. If I don’t see a set that tops this in 2016 I doubt I’m going to feel short changed. Therion proved a spectacular spectacle tonight and we can only wait on tenterhooks to see what they deliver in the studio next time around.

(Review and photos © Pete Woods)