Following 2018's three-disc rock opera
Beloved Antichrist,
Therion sought to return to its roots. Founder
Christofer Johnsson announced the
Leviathan trilogy in 2020. He explained it would serve as a kind of retrospective of various styles and sonics employed across the band's history -- with all new material. 2021's
Leviathan flashed back to the earliest death and doom metal incarnation of
Therion. 2022's
Leviathan II showcased their embrace of prog, keyboards, operatic choirs, and symphonic charts.
Johnsson predicted
Leviathan III would likely not be received as well as its predecessors, as its songs were "leftovers" from the marathon recording sessions and didn't fit either of the first two volumes.
Opener "Ninkigal," a charging, sinister, operatic prog metal jam, is a highlight. Its overdriven guitar riffs, galloping drums, layered keyboards, chorales, and strings frame
Lori Lewis' glorious, dramatic soprano. "Ruler of Tanag" commences with an acoustic guitar introducing
Lewis. The band joins her on the second verse with a chugging twin guitar vamp from
Johnsson, dissonant lead from
Christian Vidal, and a layered male vocal chorus led by
Thomas Vikstroem as
Lewis soars, weaving in and out of the lyric melody. "Maleficium" showcases
Therion's command of symphonic metal with clashing sonorities and dynamics moving from lush to menacing, with contrapuntal chorales, blastbeats, and soaring lead vocals from
Lewis and
Vikstroem; they either dialogue in call-and-response or entwine like battling angels. Shockingly, it's only three-and-a-half minutes long. "Ayahuasca," the set's longest cut at over seven minutes, lands as the album's centerpiece.
Piotr Wawrzeniuk, the band's former drummer, joins the vocalists, adding a recitative framed by a massive choir. The track encompasses two distinct halves. The first is grounded by jagged midtempo guitar riffs and swinging drums before it transitions with a nearly gauzy bassline; first
Lewis, then
Wawrzeniuk alternate croon in what almost amounts to a ceremonial chant. A church organ and Mellotron dominate the tune's body atop the drum kit; time signatures and backdrops shift and change before droning to a close. "Baccanale," a charging prog metal jam, contains glorious singing from
Lewis and guest
Susanne Sundfor. "Midsommarblot" is almost anthemic, with a speedy guitar chug tempered under choral vocals and drums before
Vidal delivers a stinging solo and the mellifluous choir carries it out over
Johnsson's jagged guitar fills. "Duende" is introduced, appropriately, with a nuevo flamenco guitar intro before the classically trained Spanish flamenco singer (and recent
Therion member)
Rosalia Sairem rises above the crunchy two-chord vamp to deliver her show-stopping cante flamenco vocal performance supported by
Vikstroem. Closer "Twilight of the Gods" offers the bounty of
Therion's dramatic tension with its dark, gloomy, and even Gothic elements as
Vikstroem growls and
Lewis soars above stirring choirs before orchestration, a dueling lead guitar break, and stop-and-start exchanges with the orchestral elements rise above to create a breathtaking finale.
Leviathan III may take another listen to fully grasp its ambitious scope, but the listener would be rewarded as this is easily one of
Therion's most diverse, dramatic, and dynamic recordings yet. ~ Thom Jurek
