''Gothic Kabbalah'' is the thirteenth 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 ...

group Therion. It was released in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

on 12 January 2007. The album was mixed by Stefan Glaumann, who also contributed to bands such as

Rammstein Rammstein (, "ramming stone") is a German Neue Deutsche Härte band formed in Berlin in 1994. The band's lineup—consisting of lead vocalist Till Lindemann, lead guitarist Richard Kruspe, rhythm guitarist Paul Landers, bassist Oliver Riedel, ...

Evergrey Evergrey is a Swedish progressive metal band from Gothenburg. History Evergrey was formed in 1995 in Gothenburg, Sweden as a progressive power metal band, in contrast to the melodic death metal that Gothenburg is known for. Since then, the band ...

and

Def Leppard Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1976 in Sheffield. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Allen (drums, backing vocals), Phil Collen (guitar, backing vocals), a ...

. The main line-up has been slightly changed since previous studio albums (''

Lemuria Lemuria (), or Limuria, was a continent proposed in 1864 by zoologist Philip Sclater, theorized to have sunk beneath the Indian Ocean, later appropriated by occultists in supposed accounts of human origins. The theory was discredited with the di ...

'' and ''

Sirius B Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. Its name is derived from the Greek word , or , meaning 'glowing' or 'scorching'. The star is designated α Canis Majoris, Latinized to Alpha Canis Majoris, and abbreviated Alpha CMa ...

''): Petter Karlsson returned to play drums, having already played with the band during ''Lemuria'' / ''Sirius B'' tour during the period of 2004–2006. Since

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 ...

announced in 2006 he is retiring from singing, vocals on ''Gothic Kabbalah'' were performed by

Mats Levén Mats Leven is a Swedish singer. Some of his most notable collaborations have been with guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen, symphonic metallers Therion and doom metallers Candlemass. In 2011, due to family issues on the part of Firewind's lead singer A ...

, as well as

Snowy Shaw Snowy Shaw (born Tommie Mike Christer Helgesson on 25 July 1968) is a Swedish heavy metal musician (primarily a drummer) based in the port city of Gothenburg in the west coast of Sweden. He has played with many heavy metal bands, like King Dia ...

and three female singers: Katarina Lilja, Anna Nyhlin and Hannah Holgersson. The album is based on concepts from the life of 17th-century esoteric scholar

Johannes Bureus Johannes Thomae Bureus Agrivillensis (born Johan Bure; 1568–1652) was a Swedish polymath, antiquarian, mystic, royal librarian, poet, and tutor and adviser of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. He is a well-known exponent of Gothicism. Life an ...

Track listing

All lyrics by

Thomas Karlsson Thomas Karlsson (born 1972) is a Swedish occultist and esoteric writer, with a PhD in the History of Religions from Stockholm University. (Thomas Karlsson's PhD thesis, in Swedish) In 1989 he founded Dragon Rouge, a Left-hand path and right-ha ...

. Music as indicated:

Vinyl release

''Gothic Kabbalah'' has been also released as limited edition double LP vinyl (180

gram The gram (originally gramme; SI unit symbol g) is a Physical unit, unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI) equal to one one thousandth of a kilogram. Originally defined as of 1795 as "the absolute weight of a volume of pure wate ...

; 33⅓

rpm Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

). It features colored vinyl,

gatefold A gatefold cover or gatefold LP is a form of packaging for LP records that became popular in the mid-1960s. A gatefold cover, when folded, is the same size as a standard LP cover (i.e., a 12½ inch, or 32.7 centimetre square). The larger gatefo ...

cover and it has been released in 1000 hand-numbered copies.

Reception

The album has received generally good reviews from critics, including Chronicles of Chaos and

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

hailing it as "the first truly great rock opera of the 21st century". The album was the band's first to enter the Swedish Albums Chart.

Chart positions

Personnel

–

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, programming,

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

Kristian Niemann Kristian Niemann (born 26 October 1971) is a Swedish guitarist who has performed for bands such as Therion, Lithium, and Demonoid. He is the brother of Johan Niemann Johan Wilhelm Niemann (born 26 June 1977) is a Swedish musician best kno ...

–

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

and

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

s, keyboards *

Johan Niemann Johan Wilhelm Niemann (born 26 June 1977) is a Swedish musician best known as the current bassist of Evergrey and for co-founding the band Mind's Eye. He was also a member of Swedish heavy metal band Therion and Scandinavian metal band Evil Ma ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, guitar,

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

* Petter Karlsson –

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

s, guitar, keyboards, solo ("Chain of Minerva", "T.O.F. - The Trinity") and choral vocals,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

Guest musicians

– lead vocals ("Der Mitternachtslöwe" (choir), "Gothic Kabbalah", "Perennial Sophia", "Son of the Staves of Time", "Close up the Streams", "Three Treasures", "T.O.F. - Trinity", "Adulruna Rediviva"), guitar *

– lead vocals ("Der Mitternachtslöwe" (choir), "Perennial Sophia" (choir), "Wisdom and the Cage", "Tuna 1613", "Trul" (choir), "Close up the Streams" (choir), "Wand of Abaris", "Three Treasures", "Adulruna Rediviva") * Katarina Lilja – vocals ("Gothic Kabbalah", "Perennial Sophia", "Trul", "Close up the Streams", "The Falling Stone", "Chain of Minerva") * Hannah Holgersson – vocals,

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

("Der Mitternachtslöwe", "Wisdom and the Cage", "Son of the Staves of Time", "Trul" (choir), "Wand of Abaris" (choir), "T.O.F. - Trinity", "Chain of Minerva", "Adulruna Rediviva") * Jonas Samuelsson–Nerbe –

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

("Tuna 1613", "Path to Arcady", "Adulruna Rediviva") * Anna Nyhlin – solo soprano on "The Falling Stone" and "Path to Arcady" * Karin Fjellander – choral soprano *

Ken Hensley Kenneth William David Hensley (24 August 1945 – 4 November 2020) was an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, best known for his work with Uriah Heep during the 1970s. He wrote or co-wrote the majority of Uriah ...

–

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

* Joakim Svalberg – Hammond organ * Rolf Pilotti – solo

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

on "Gothic Kabbalah" and "Trul" * Stefan Glaumann –

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

Others

* Sanken Sandqvist – engineering * Thomas Ewerhard – design

Singles

Notes

External links

Information about album at the official website

at Nuclear Blast USA
Stream previews
at Nuclear Blast Europe * * ''Gothic Kabbalah'' at

MusicBrainz MusicBrainz is a MetaBrainz project that aims to create a collaborative music database that is similar to the freedb project. MusicBrainz was founded in response to the restrictions placed on the Compact Disc Database (CDDB), a database for sof ...

disc one
{{Authority control 2007 albums Therion (band) albums Nuclear Blast albums