Originating as a death metal band in 1987, Therion (or Megatherion as they were first called) took their name both from the Celtic Frost album To Mega Therion and the Greek word for "wild beast".
Acheiving some success in their home country of Sweden, the band began to take a new direction, inspired both by Cristofer Jonnsson's desire to experiment, and various lineup changes. The change in sound was fully realised by their third album Symphony Masses: Ho Drakon Ho Megas, a death metal album featuring many elements of jazz, classical and folk music. In the traditional death metal scene of Scandinavia at the time, this was tantamount to popular suicide.
Indeed, Therion did lose a lot of casual fans, but amazingly, a core of dedicated listeners lapped up the new style, urging Cris and the rest of the band into more progressive styles of music.
The next three albums saw Therion gradually move away from their death metal roots into the realm of power metal. By the release of Deggial their se...more
