''Beloved Antichrist ''is the sixteenth full-length album by Swedish

symphonic metal Symphonic metal is a cross-generic style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guitar ...

band Therion. It is a

triple album A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording i ...

and was released on 9 February 2018 by

Nuclear Blast Records Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label mov ...

. The album is the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

to a

rock musical A rock musical is a musical theatre work with rock music. The genre of rock musical may overlap somewhat with album musicals, concept albums and song cycles, as they sometimes tell a story through the rock music, and some album musicals and concept ...

by the band, who are accompanied by a large orchestra and choir. The staging of the rock musical was delayed indefinitely due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Instead, the band started to work on the next regular album ''

Leviathan Leviathan (; he, לִוְיָתָן, ) is a sea serpent noted in theology and mythology. It is referenced in several books of the Hebrew Bible, including Psalms, the Book of Job, the Book of Isaiah, the Book of Amos, and, according to some ...

''. ''Beloved Antichrist'' was the band's first release of new original material since ''

Sitra Ahra In the Zohar, Lurianic Kabbalah and Hermetic Qabalah, the ''qliphoth/qlippoth/qlifot'' or ''kelipot'' ( ''qəlīpōṯ'', originally Aramaic: ''qəlīpīn'', plural of ''qəlīpā''; literally "peels", "shells", or "husks"), are the represen ...

'' in 2010. Group founder

Christofer Johnsson Christofer Johnsson (born 10 August 1972) is a Swedish musician and producer. He is a founding member and the guitarist for symphonic metal band Therion and was previously a member of Carbonized, Liers in Wait, Messiah, and Demonoid. In 200 ...

had toyed with the idea of writing an opera for 15 years and had finally decided to "do metal/rock music with opera" instead, citing his inability to write "the ‘boring’ stuff" like

recitative Recitative (, also known by its Italian name "''recitativo''" ()) is a style of delivery (much used in operas, oratorios, and cantatas) in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms and delivery of ordinary speech. Recitative does not repea ...

s. Thus, Beloved Antichrist features exclusively operatic singing combined with an orchestra and electric instruments typical of a rock band. The music was composed by Johnsson,

Thomas Vikström Sven Erik Herman Thomas Vikström (born 21 January 1969) is a Swedish singer best known for working with hard rock and heavy metal bands including doom metal bands Candlemass (during their initial final years, from 1991 to 1994) and power m ...

, Linnéa Vikström and Christian Vidal, the lyrics were written by Per Albinsson and the album cover was created by Thomas Ewerhart. The album consists of 46 songs and is inspired by and partly based on "A Short Tale of the Antichrist" by Vladímir Soloviov. Johnsson expanded the story to include 27 characters played by 15 vocalists.

Reception

''Beloved Antichrist'' has received generally favorable reviews. AllMusic said of the album: "taken as intended, as a whole, it is an exhausting, enthralling monolithic marvel." Another reviewer described that the album would be a challenge for new Therion fans, but also described it as "Christofer Johnsson’s masterpiece" which "takes everything that Therion has done to this point to a completely different level."

Track listing

Personnel

- guitars, keyboards, programming, Hammond organ, orchestral arrangement * Sami Karppinen - drums *

- lead vocals * Nalle "Grizzly" Påhlsson - bass * Christian Vidal - guitar *

Lori Lewis Lori Lewis is an American opera singer and soprano who is an official member of the Swedish symphonic metal band Therion. Lewis is also the former singer for Aesma Daeva, a band that toured as a supporting act with Therion in Canada and the ...

- vocals * Chiara Malvestiti - vocals

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beloved Antichrist 2018 albums Nuclear Blast albums Therion (band) albums