''Of Darkness...'' is a debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

released in 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. The album was re-released on 27 November 2000 under

Nuclear Blast 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 ...

label as a part of ''

The Early Chapters of Revelation ''The Early Chapters of Revelation'' is the first box set by Swedish symphonic metal band Therion, released in 2000. Box-set contains remastered and rereleased first three albums of the official Therion's discography during their death metal era: ...

'' box-set. It contains remastered songs, as well as four bonus tracks.

Recording and production

After releasing the third demo record '' Time Shall Tell'' EP in 1990, Therion got attention from the British label

Deaf Records Deaf Records was a British record label, record sublabel of Peaceville Records, located in Dewsbury and focused on heavy metal music. Bands * Accidental Suicide * Agathocles (band), Agathocles * At the Gates * Banished (band), Banished * Drud ...

, a subsidiary of

Peaceville Records Peaceville Records is a British independent heavy metal record label. The label was founded by Paul "Hammy" Halmshaw (of the bands Instigators and Civilised Society) in Dewsbury, England in 1987, who was also a one-time drummer of Sore Throat ...

, and signed the band's first contract. ''Of Darkness...'' was recorded in Swedish studio

Sunlight Sunlight is a portion of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun, in particular infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light. On Earth, sunlight is scattered and filtered through Earth's atmosphere, and is obvious as daylight when t ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

from August to September 1990 and released in 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. The title track and the song "Dark Eternity" were not used from the recording session, but were instead taken from the 1990 EP recordings.

Songs, lyrical themes and influences

''Of Darkness...'' consists of songs

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 2006, ...

had written in the years of 1987–1989, many of which were available on the band's demo recordings. Musically, "Of Darkness..." could be described as a typical

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

release, though elements of

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...

are apparent as well. Unlike later albums, lyrically, many tracks on the album focus on political and social issues. 2000 re-release album contains original remastered songs, and four bonus tracks songs. Two of them are the 1990 versions from the "Time Shall Tell" EP. The other two are the unreleased versions from the "Of Darkness..." recording sessions.

Reception

The album reviews were mixed. ''Of Darkness...'' received a medium rating 2.5 of 5 at

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 ...

with "Morbid Reality" and "Megalomania" songs picked by its staff, and 3.02 of 5 at the

Rate Your Music Rate Your Music (often abbreviated to RYM) is an online collaborative database of music releases and films. Users can catalog items from their personal collection, review them, and assign ratings in a five-star rating system. The site also fea ...

community being only number 925 in its 1991 ranking.

Track listing

''All tracks were written and composed by

.''

Personnel

; Therion *

–

vocal The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production i ...

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 ...

*Peter Hansson –

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

, rhythm guitar *

Oskar Forss Oskar Forss was a co-founder and during the years of 1987–1992 drummer of Swedish then-death metal band Therion. Music career Oskar Forss was a drummer of a pre-Therion band called Blitzkrieg. Due to personal problems with Forss, band decided ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

*Erik Gustafsson –

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 ...

; Production *Tomas Skogsberg – engineer, producer *Gary Querns – cover art (based on Johan Losand and Rikard Olund's work)

Samples

Notes

External links

''Of Darkness...''
at the official website * * ; Audio samples
''Of Darkness...''
at

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{{Authority control 1991 debut albums Therion (band) albums Deaf Records albums Nuclear Blast albums