Ever since I can remember, Therion have stood for quality with a huge Q. To say that Celebrators Of Becoming was highly anticipated from my side ever since Christofer Johnsson mentioned he would be doing a DVD release, is therefore something of an understatement. And to make it clear from the start, this box-set might just be the most essential Metal release of the year and easily classifies as one of the most extensive live documents EVER released.
The amount of content that Christofer Johnsson & Co. managed to fit into this package is simply amazing. From the very early days of the band, straight to their most recent offerings, Celebrators Of Becoming pretty much covers everything you could possibly ask for as a Therion fan. But just to make sure you actually understand how much material we are dealing with here, let's quickly summarize what you can expect on this six disc monster.
Disc 1 is obviously the center piece of the package and contains a 2 hour live show recorded in Mexico, in 2004. Sound and audio are of the highest caliber and in contrary to many other music DVDs, the editing spares you the annoyance caused by quirky cuts and spastic camera movements. It is a well-shot and hugely enjoyable piece of work, with a superb setlist and a band that is obviously enjoying itself without end, and that is putting on an absolutely top performance.
Disc 2 covers the period between 2004 and 2005 and gives an excellent impression of Therion in a variety of different countries. Presented as a huge world map from which you can separately select each clip on offer, the quality is of course a lot less than on DISC 1. Most of what is on offer here is obviously bootleg quality, filmed with handheld cameras and the likes, but nonetheless really enjoyable and worth watching. Apart from their own songs, you get to enjoy a number of special surprises, including the band performing a variety of covers.
DISC 3 is probably the most diverse of the package. Presented here are Therion's video clips, a really good recording of their gig at the 2001 Wacken Open Air festival, various studio reports from the Sirius B/Lemuria sessions and even the entire Golden Embrace art movie, for which the A'Arab A Zaraq Lucid Dreaming album was the soundtrack. Again, nothing but top notch stuff on offer here.
DISC 4 ultimately concludes the visual part of the box by taking us through the band's history, starting with their Demo days in 1989 and ending in 2001 with the tour for the Secret Of The Runes album. Again, not everything that is included here might be of impeccable quality due to the fact that it stems from bootleg recordings, but it is great to be able to witness Therion even in it's early days on some of their very first performances ever! The clips are accompanied by a moderator function which shows some fun info and facts about the song/recording in question at the bottom of the screen.
The two remaining discs in the package are the audio discs from the Mexican show and thus sound great. It might not be absolutely essential to have the same show that is also featured on the first disc in its audio form as well, but nonetheless it is a nice gesture to have it included in the same package, as opposed to what a lot of other bands dare to do these days by releasing them separately and bleeding their fans' wallets dry a second time.
As you might gather, there is an absolutely huge amount of content to sit through. With Celebrators Of Becoming, Therion not only raises the bar for future DVD and Box-set releases by other artists but at the same time show how fan-friendly exactly they are. Not only is the entire package of high quality (both artwork, booklet, as well as the disc menus are top), but it is also offered for a more than reasonable price, and this in contrary to a lot of other discs on the market which feature nothing but a 90 minute show with zero extras and retail for at least 20 euro or more. Nothing but praise from me thus, and as a result, the band and box-set get my highest recommendations, five out of five, although I fear that even this score might not be enough to really do justice to this work of art. An absolute must-buy for anyone even slightly interested in Heavy Metal and the standard by which every other artist's DVD releases will be measured by for years to come!