Therion (SE)

About

Therion started out as a death metal band in Upplands Väsby, Sweden, but Christofer Johnsson gradually steered them toward something far more ambitious: full choirs, classical soloists, and eventually a complete orchestra on stage. That transformation made them genuine pioneers of symphonic metal, a genre they helped define long before it had a name. Their lyrics draw from occultism, ancient mythologies, and esoteric traditions, giving the music a conceptual depth that sets them apart from most metal acts. The band's name comes from the Greek word for beast, borrowed directly from the Celtic Frost album To Mega Therion. Their 1996 album Theli is often cited as the turning point, selling 20,000 copies in a month and earning widespread recognition as the moment Johnsson's orchestral vision fully clicked into place. They stayed with Nuclear Blast from 1994 through 2023, a long run that saw them release some of the most elaborate and theatrically ambitious records in metal.