Of Darkness...
| Of Darkness... | ||||
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| File:Therion-of darkness.jpg | ||||
| Studio album by Therion | ||||
| Released | February 1991 | |||
| Recorded | August–September 1990 Sunlight Studio, Stockholm |
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| Genre | Death metal, Technical death metal | |||
| Length | 39:25 | |||
| Label | Deaf DEAF 6 CD Nuclear Blast (reedition) NB 0580 |
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| Producer | Tomas Skogsberg, Therion | |||
| Therion chronology | ||||
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| Alternative cover | ||||
| The Early Chapters of Revelation reedition cover
The Early Chapters of Revelation reedition cover
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Of Darkness... is a debut studio album released on February 1991 by the Swedish band Therion and it contains songs written in the early years of the band, during the 1980s. The album is indicated by the band itself as an end of its first era.[1]
The album was re-released on 27 November 2000 under Nuclear Blast label as a part of The Early Chapters of Revelation box-set. It contains remastered songs, as well as four bonus tracks.
Contents
Recording and production
After releasing the third demo record Time Shall Tell EP in 1990, Therion got attention from the British label Deaf Records, a subsidiary of Peaceville Records, and signed the band's first contract.[1] Of Darkness... was recorded in Swedish studio Sunlight in Stockholm from August to September 1990 and released on February 1991. The initial line-up has not been changed since its last production. The album was produced by Tomas Skogsberg and the band itself.
Songs, lyrical themes and influences
Of Darkness... consists of songs Christofer Johnsson had written in the years of 1987–1989.[2] Despite having newer songs, the band opted to save them for their next full release. The album can be seen as a progressive death metal album in that it contained mainly influences that were not standard to death metal at the time. The album was influenced especially by the Celtic Frost's thrash metal album Into the Pandemonium.[1] Its sound was compared to Dismember (melody), Suffocation and Morpheus (rhythm), Entombed, Napalm Death, Repulsion, Bolt Thrower (guitars), Carcass and other extreme thrash metal and grindcore bands of those days.
The lyrics were very political, in the vein of Nuclear Assault, Napalm Death and other late-1980s hardcore punk bands.[1] Lyrical themes defames pollution and negative politics.
2000 re-release album contains original remastered songs, and four bonus demo and previously unreleased songs.
Reception
| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    [3] |
The album reviews were mixed. Of Darkness... received a medium rating 2.5 of 5 at Allmusic with "Morbid Reality" and "Megalomania" songs picked by its staff,[3] and 3.02 of 5 at the Rate Your Music community being only number 925 in its 1991 ranking.[4]
Track listing
All tracks were written and composed by Christofer Johnsson.
- "The Return" – 5:15
- "Asphyxiate with Fear" – 4:00 Audio file "Therion_-_asphyxiate_with_fear.ogg" not found
- "Morbid Reality" – 6:05
- "Megalomania" – 4:10
- "A Suburb to Hell" – 4:47
- "Genocidal Raids" – 5:15
- "Time Shall Tell" – 5:07
- "Dark Eternity" – 4:45
Re-release
2000 re-release version contains following bonus tracks:
- "A Suburb to Hell" (demo version) – 5:19
- "Asphyxiate with Fear" (demo version) – 4:41
- "Time Shall Tell" (unreleased version) – 4:06
- "Dark Eternity" (unreleased version) – 4:19
Personnel
- Therion
- Christofer Johnsson – vocals, rhythm guitar
- Peter Hansson – lead guitar, rhythm guitar
- Oskar Forss – drums
- Erik Gustafsson – bass guitar
- Production
- Tomas Skogsberg – engineer, producer
- Gary Querns – cover art (based on Johan Losand and Rikard Olund's work)
Samples
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See also
Notes
External links
- Of Darkness... at the official website
- Of Darkness... at MusicBrainz
- Of Darkness... at Discogs
- Audio samples
