During my years as a metal fan(atic) I've been to many gigs; enough to form a quite solid opinion on what is impressive, original, mind blowing, or in the case of some bands utterly stupid and boring (and for some reason bands like that opened for IRON MAIDEN in their last few visits - I just had to mention that). As far as impressive and awe inspiring goes, THERION have managed to maintain the top spot in my list and instead of declining over the years they just spread the distance from the rest.
I didn't know what to expect quite frankly. With Christopher's decision to never grunt again, many of my favorite songs ended up in the set list trashcan and even though different, their latest album, with a few amazing exceptions, didn't camp in my playlist like all of their previous releases.

The gig took place at the usual place, Gagarin 205 and to my surprise it wasn't sold out. It wasn't all that bad of course; more breathing room for the 800 people who were there and everyone went crazy as the best THERION line-up I've ever seen showed up on stage right on time.

Besides Chris, the Niemann brothers, Petter Karlsson and Mats Levin, there were new people since the last time they visited Greece. Snowy Shaw, Katarina Lilja and Lori Lewis raised the bar even higher. I consider this a privilege for any band to have all these people on stage and a big misfortune for everyone that missed what went on that night.

Their presence has evolved beyond the typical choir standing in the back; theatrical, emotional, awe inspiring, every element was there to make this a totally different experience than anything you may have seen before. Everyone was constantly moving and performing on stage, not just singing. Snowy's presence was amazing, sometimes reading lyrics from a book, acting all crazy on scene and definitely having fun; his drum duel with Mats and Petter was awesome and it was really funny when he got carried away while head banging and he demolished part of their set while running back to his microphone trying not to lose his part of the song.

Katarina and Lori's voices were probably the same thing that drove people mad and made them jump off their ships to follow that sound; two sirens of the modern age that completely captivated us with their beautiful vocals. Mats Levin was perfect as always, the capabilities of this guy are unbelievable. Seriously, words fail to describe what was going on with all these people on stage; it was a completely out-of-this-world experience.

The sound was great overall, the crowd was amazing once again and everyone knew that something special was taking place. The set list was mainly based on their latest release Gothic Kabbalah with older songs appearing from their previous releases, back to Theli.

The gig lasted 2 hours and 20 minutes, showing that they respect their fans and it was so great that it seemed as if it lasted half an hour. Their tradition on playing a cover as the last song wasn't broken and the place went nuts when they played MANOWAR 's Thor. Some people even rushed outside to buy some baby oil, shaving equipment and fur thongs in honor of this song.

Nah, I just made this part up.

The complete set list was Der Mitternachtlowe, Schwarzalbenheim, The Blood Of Kingu, The Falling Stone, Seven Secrets Of The Sphynx, An Arrow From The Sun, Deggial, The Wine Of Aluqah, The Khlysti Evangelist, The Perennial Sophia, Son Of The Sun, Son Of The Staves Of Time, Birth Of Venus Illegitima, Tuna 1613, Muspelheim, The Rise Of Sodom And Gomorrah, Ginnungagap Grand Finale's Postludium , Lemuria, The Wand Of Abaris, Nightside Of Eden, To Mega THERION, Cults Of The Shadow and MANOWAR 's Thor.
THERION will take a break during the next year and there is a chance that they will not tour until 2009-2010. If you haven't seen them and they're playing close to you, don't miss the chance, whether you're a fan or not. This is something that will imprint itself on your memory, forever.

Many thanks to Elina, THERION's future vocalist and to Orpheus for the great pictures.