Therion, without a doubt, have been one of the most influential and brilliant acts in metal, in music. Even from the early death metal years, it was apparent that they were no generic play-brutal-for-fun headbangers: Of Darkness, Beyond Sanctorum and Symphony Masses: Ho Drakon Ho Megas are some of the most intelligent and challenging works ever to come out of death metal. Lepaca Kliffoth was the smooth transition, and then they gave us what many consider to be the album of the decade: Theli broke new ground in terms of incorporating classical music into the rigid stylings of heavy metal. With full choirs and orchestrated passages, it literally redefines what metal is, as of today. Vovin continues the progression, with an even greater classical side and more complexity of arrangement. We manage to get hold of the great mastermind, Christofer Johnsson, on the information superhighway and request him to park awhile for a brief interview:

SSMT: Hello, Christofer! How's life, there in Sweden? Have Therion finished touring yet?

Christofer Johnsson: I have plenty of work as always. I recently returned from Germany where we have recorded tracks for a new MCD. We came back from the tour at the end of October last year.

SSMT: After Blitzkrieg, what did the young Therion set out to play? Was there a musical vision, a certain style that you were interested in and aiming for?

Christofer: We started playing in the vein of early Slayer/Metallica for a month or two, then we decided to do something new, with Celtic Frost as a main influence.

SSMT: Therion have always had very good album covers, always relevant to the musical content. Could you perhaps explain the choice of album cover art? And how they were created?

Christofer: Of Darkness was just created by the supervision of record company we were signed to at that time and we didn't see it before the album was printed. Beyond Sanctorum was created by Kristian Wahlin, and he had pretty much free hands to do what he wanted with this one. I just told him some lyrical concepts. Ho Drakon Ho Megas was also done by Kristian, but this time I told him how I wanted it to look like. Besides there is a Dragon, which has a big relation to the lyrics, the picture is just a nice picture. Lepaca Kliffoth is a sevenheaded red Dragon, also painted by Kristian. It symbolizes the lyrics totally regarding what such a dragon means in the occult symbolism and even in religious history. The Theli cover was done by a guy called Peter Gron and it is a cyber version of the egyptian god Set, which I thought would fit in. My main thought was also that the cover should be a bit spectacular. Many people thought it was ugly, but at least everyone noticed it and people talked about it (the cover with the "satanic dog"), so we had the reaction I wanted. A'arab Zaraq Lucid Dreaming is another Peter Gron creation. I gave him free hands on this one, I only told him to do something that looks ancient. The Vovin cover was done by some graphic studentes that just left school, but under the supervision of me and with some advices from our manager. It symbolize nothing on the front, it is just a nice piece of art that suit the musical atmosphere. The symbol at the back (called "Clavicula Nox") was created by me though, and it is used as a gateway to astral and qliphothic travel among advanced Dragon Rouge members.

SSMT: What are the different languages and themes that occur throughout your albums?

Christofer: Akkadic, Lathin, Hebréw, ancient Egyptian, old Greek and Enochian.

SSMT: Which other bands of today would you consider to be good and visionary, and how do you think Therion is contributing to the genre today? Would you like to or do you expect to see bands doing albums in the style of Theli? What do you think of the death/black metal scene today?

Christofer: Amorphis, Tiamat and The Gathering are creative bands that I enjoy that are being innovative. There are a few other good bands as well, but to be honest with you, I don't know too much of today's scene, I listen mainly to bands from the 70's and some bands from the 80's that I grew up with (Accept, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest etc).

I think Therion has contributed with something extraordinary and original and by that opened the doors for young bands that want to have success with innovative creations. So far I have heard no other band do what we do and I doubt that too many bands would get such a budget that is needed to record such albums. A "normal" band can record two or even three albums with the amount of money that we spent on Vovin. I don't know much of black/metal scene in the last 4-5 years. I like Covenent though. Dimmu Borgir is not really my cup of tea, but they are doing what they do very well.

SSMT: Stupid question [sorry!], but I have to ask this: will Therion ever do a death metal album again?

Christofer: No. That has already been done.

SSMT: What are the musical, artistic, and literary works that have influenced you in the past? The Celtic Frost influence is rather obvious, but I've heard that you've been influenced by even the Scorpions? Is that true?

Christofer: Scorpions in the 70's (with Uli Roth on guitar) has definitely influnced my way of playing guitar harmonies. A pity that Scorpions turned into shit in the 80's (and into elevator music in the 90's). I don't really have too many definitive influnces and never had any besides Celtic Frost in the early years. What I like and listen to is one thing, but that doesn't mean that I get influenced by it. Also, when I do get influenced, it is just parts of what I am doing that has that influence, so it would be hard for a listener to hear that. For example, I have been influenced by Uli Jon Roth's solo albums, but I doubt that anyone can hear that. My biggest influnces today is abstract symphonic music from the 70's, most bands people never heard of.

SSMT: Also interesting are a lot of Oriental and Arabic elements to your music. Therion is probably the only band ever to combine these aspects with metal! Where did ideas for those come from?

Christofer: It is actually more Persian than Arabic, as we don't use the charecteristic quarter-notes that the Arabic scales contain. I always liked Persian folk music as it is very atmospheric and suitable for meditation and deeper esoteric work. I just wrote songs that contained such notes spontaneously one day, don't know why. But it fit the whole concept well I think.

SSMT: Is the "Dragon Rouge" a part of Therion/inspirational to its music?

Christofer: It has definitely influenced my mood to reach the inspiration that has driven me the last 8 years and lyric-wise it is the major influence.

SSMT: What exactly is this organisation, and how is it relevant to the themes and concepts you use in your music?

Christofer: The concepts are identical so it couldn't be more relevant. For info on the organization, please look at http://www.grave.com/~mega/DR/ [The Dragon Rouge official website]

SSMT: How do you compose the incredibly complex music on Theli and Vovin? Do you sit down with all the involved people and instruct them to do this and this, or do you get bursts of inspiration in the middle of the night and quickly pick up a guitar/keyboard in order to capture that melody? It must be pretty difficult to bring together all the different elements of Therion's music!

Christofer: I compose alone, [in the] night time and put everything to notes, from which the choir and orchestra play from in the studio. But I also do a demo version in my own studio first, so the producer and the other musicians in the band can hear how it is supposed to sound.

SSMT: Are you satisfied with Vovin? Many consider it to be Therion's best - you agree, right? With the huge album sales, you can probably get any orchestra or choir in this world to play/sing for you!

Christofer: My aim is that every new studio album shall be better than the previous ones (in my own opinion, what others think is less important actually), so if I didn't consider Vovin our best album, it would never have been released. Still there are some things that could have been better, but I will always say that about every album I do (in the future as well). What is perfect today is not [necessarily so] tomorrow!

SSMT: Going from the way Therion have progressed over the years - curiously, no two Therion albums can be said to be stylistically similar - can we expect an entirely classical release in the near future? How do you guys plan to take it from here on (in terms of musical progression)? Any side projects/guest performances planned?

Christofer: I never reveal what I will do next, but I can say that I have no intentions of breaking the tradition of always doing something new. An entirely classic release would not be a Therion release. It would (like my soundtrack that was a bonus on the A'arab Zaraq release) be a solo thing from me. At this moment there are no such plans.

SSMT: Can we expect a new album soon? Something big signifying the end of the millenium/beginning of a new one, perhaps?

Christofer: There's an MCD (will also be released as full length edition with some live-tracks on it and tentatively entitled Crowning Of Atlantis) coming out this summer and we will record the next full-length album this autumn (a release should be early 2000 or something).

[There is also a re-release planned of the first two albums with bonus tracks from the Time Shall Tell EP later this year.]

Christofer enjoys the following releases and recommends them to all of us (caution! they may not sound anything like Therion, so be advised):

Klaatu "Hope"
Pavlov's Dog "Pampered Menial"
Pink Floyd "Atom Heart Mother"
Uli Jon Roth "Beyond The Astral Skies"
Eloy "Dawn", "Power and the Passion"
Voivod "Phobos"
The Gathering "Nighttime Birds"
Amorphis "Elegy"

©Satan Stole My Teddybear 1997-2001