The band was founded in 1987 by Christofer Johnsson and started off with recoding a few demos and the mini LP „Time Shall Tell“.
THERION’s debut “Of Darkness…“ was released in 1991 and was a huge success for the band within the underground Metal scene. THERION began as a very creative Death Metal band, pushing limits of the contemporary sound and grew beyond themselves. In the course of the years, the bands style developed in a quite unique way and between 1991 and 1996 THERION released groundbreaking records, one being more special than the other.
After a few lineup changes, making Christofer the only original member to remain, THERION released “Theli”, which would be the ultimate breakthrough for the band. At this time THERION turned towards a more opera-like, progressive and even orchestral sound. “Vovin”, the bestselling record to date (125 00 copies worldwide) came out in 1998. The development of sound saw a new peak, as for the first time ever THERION worked together with a real symphonic orchestra. Due to newly lineup issues, Christofer, with the help of a few studio musicians, recorded this record by himself and more or less considers “Vovin” as a solo record.
“Deggial“ is dominated by the new style of catchy symphonic opera metal Christofer invented. With new band members Kristian and Johann Niemann and THERION embark their first ever headline tour together with Voivod. A year later the band puts out “Secrets Of The Runes”, their first concept album, dealing with Nordic myths and influenced by Scandinavian Folk music.
In 2002 THERION celebrate their 15ths anniversary by recording the live album “Live In Midgard” and shortly after begin working on new material for the double record “Lemuria“/“Sirius B“. Hitting the German charts on #63, THERION went on an incredibly world tour, available to watch on the “Celebrators Of Becoming” DVD. During the last couple of years THERION engaged themselves with the recording of “Gothic Kabbalah” (2007), “Live Gothic” (2008) and “The Miskolc Experience” (2009).
After that Christofer decided it was time for a change: “Sitra Ahra” (2010) was done with a completely new lineup, among the new members was legendary Swedish vocalist Thomas Vikström (ex-CANDLEMASS), who has already been welcomed by the fans on the previous THERION live shows. ”Sitra Ahra“ is an inspiring creation, with cultural and religious topics and the yet again profound and fascinating lyrics of Thomas Karlsson. A blend of symphonic Metal, classical influences and timeless Rock structuring!
In 2014 the Deluxe Edition CD + DVD of their classic “Theli” as well as the 3DVD “Adulruna Redivia And Beyond” (the limited editions contains a third bonus DVD) will be released.
THERION have evolved from a mere death metal act into one of the first projects to take a trip towards the world of classical music, setting the initial standards to a style later known as symphonic metal. Therefore Christofer never knew any boundaries to his creativity and always challenged himself in terms of songwriting, even after being forced to take a break due to severe health issues with two spinal disc herniations in his neck. The result is a project that will go down in history as symphonic metal’s most ambitious release. »Beloved Antichrist« is a complete rock opera unveiling a sweeping story inspired by Vladímir Soloviov "A Short Tale Of The Antichrist".
Christofer Johnsson (guitars)
Christian Vidal (guitars)
Nalle Phalsson (bass)
Thomas Vikstrom (Vocals)
Johan Koleberg (Drums)
