Les Fleurs du Mal

[Luth]

OK, it's the right time... what are you waiting for?? GO HERE and buy the "Les Fleurs du Mal" now!!!!!  

What? A new album? When has it been recorded? Where has been it announced? That was my questioning when I saw, this Sunday, in Facebook, that some of my fav pages urged me to buy the newest Therion disc (Vickström's, Christofer's...   ). First thing I thought: BUY!!!!! Second thing I thought: WHAT THE HELL!! I didn't know anything about it! I know I'm not checking a lot Megatherion and TS, but...how could I miss that?

Ok, that was Sunday late. Monday early... no time to check due to some minor details (my first day at work after the month of vacations  ). But I had a moment to browse quickly for some information, and I entered a Spanish site where it said... WHAATT?! What's THAAAT!??! The site stated that this album would be the LAST THERION ALBUM, that gig, THE LAST THERION REGULAR GIG!!! I was tearing my robes, pulling out my hair, scratching my face, when I decided to check a little further the best reliable information on the net: TS. And light it was. :Pheeeeewwww:

That's not a secret, I guess, so I imagine there's no problem telling you that. Somebody asked Chris about that very same information on the net, and his answer is: that information looks like a poor translation of the official note about the album. They say this album will be the last one for some time, and this gig, the last gig together for some other time. That doesn't mean that Therion disappears (as looked like in that Spanish site!), but my heart, and the heart of some other fans, was racing fast in front of that possibility. All a misunderstandmend because a bad translation. And it seems other sites commited the same error...

Another important thing about the album: it's not made by Nuclear Blast. For whatever the reason, Chris prefered to release it by his own, and that means that there won't be the regular promotion, and it won't be bought in the usual shops: only in the concert or through Therion Store. I suppose it explains that nobody had known about it earlier... Btw... I've just read that's right during the gig: after the gig you will be able to buy the album in the usual store, only not by NB (and never ever before the gig!).

And, to end with the topic, another great thing (the only one info those sites didn't take wrong): Christofer will expend a lot of time (hours) in every city before each concert talking with all the fans, signing and whatever required. A good chance to shake hands with him if you have not  

AAAH! And the last thing: the release is on September 28th. ENJOY!

[Persephone]

I am really curious what it's going to sound like!

Thank You very much for the info update, Luthy
Did Christofer tell why is the band taking a break? I am just curious I guess family life for all!

[Luth]

The only reason he gives is that they'll focus on different projects for some time. I suppose that children can count as a project 

[Agnes]

Luth, the shipping is set on 15 OCTOBER now.. I guess you will have to buy another copy on the concert..

[Luth]

What!? I wanted to have it before the concert... it won't be possible now 

(no, I'm a great fan, but I won't buy a second copy of the same album  ).

[Agnes]

you can buy jewel case edition

[Agnes]

Guys, official statement is now online! http://megatherion.com/en/

Today I have some very important announcements to make.

 I normally don't reveal the future road map of Therion. Mostly because there usually isn't any, we just do things. This time, however, there are long-term plans.

 This is the short version:

 • We are working on a metal rock opera. It will take a couple of years to realize. Because of that there won't be a regular Therion album for quite a few years. 5 years? 10? Who knows…

 • I am, (with the help of the Band), making an art project to celebrate the 25-year anniversary of the Band. Releasing a CD is a part of the project and it will initially only be available for purchase from the Band (at live concerts and via the Therion Store) in the form of a special edition. Distribution and licensing will follow of the regular editions.

 • We won't be doing any regular touring for many years.

 • There will be a meet and greet with me (and any other members that want to come along) at all European shows. When possible, I will be hanging at the merchandise booth for several hours every day.

  

 For you who want more details, here's the longer version:

 Ten years ago or something I started to work on an opera, but I never managed to finish it. I wrote most of the highlights (the hit parts), but I never managed to write the bridges between them, the "boring" parts needed to glue it all together and just serve as a background for the singers to sing and act the play. Some years ago it suddenly struck my mind; "why not just do what you do best? Re-arrange the opera stuff you've written and do it as opera metal instead." I already borrowed parts from the opera for Blood of Kingu earlier, so why not go all the way and make the worlds first REAL rock opera. What is otherwise referred to with that expression is rather some sort of rock musical, let's do a rock/metal opera with only opera singing, with a synopsis, and perform it like that (with pre-recorded orchestra if needed for financial reasons).

 However, completing this rather gigantic project that involved writing music, synopsis/lyrics and designing scenery, clothing etc., will be taking quite some time. Years probably. I don't want to work under pressure, things should grow naturally.

 Meanwhile, to entertain the fans and to do something I wanted to do for several years, there will be an art project in the spirit of celebrating our 25-year anniversary. Fact is this art project was already started in secret some time ago. It will be introduced right before the tour or on the day of the first show.

 The art project is mainly focused around music, but it also contains visual art and certain acts of art. As for the music, it will be released on a CD that will initially only be sold directly from the Band. It will be available at the concerts and put into retail later. For those of you not being able to attend the shows, the Therion Store will offer it.

  

Flowers of evil tour

 The concept of this tour is for it to be a bit of everything:

 - Presenting the new project with a few tracks.

 - Doing several massive songs like Land of Canaan, Via Nocturna etc. Many of these songs don't make sense without a keyboard player, so as this time we have one with us, it's a great opportunity to have a special focus on those type of tracks.

 - Playing some never before played old songs. A new Therion concert should never be predictable.

 - Doing a bunch of Therion all time classics of course!

 This will be the last regular tour we do in a while, as we will be working on the rock (metal) opera and we will only do performances related to the art project (if there's interest for it), the rock (metal) opera when it is ready, and maybe some acoustic shows, we have been talking about that for a while. We'll of course play some festivals from time to time where we do regular (but much shorter) sets, but as there won't be any new regular album, there won't be any regular tours. Not until we have finished the rock (metal) opera, performed it live as much as we can, taken a break and then put together a regular album again. That will take a couple of years for sure. So we are closing an era and opening a new period that will be quite different.

 Also, to celebrate the 25-year anniversary I would really like to meet properly with you guys who made it possible to get this far. I am normally quite shy and have tons of stuff do to on the laptop and rather hide in the tour bus or backstage most of the time (except in Latin America where we always have a tight schedule). Not this time around. I will be trying to hang at the merch booth as much as possible. So mostly there will be no organized 1-hour lined up meet and greet/signing session. I’d rather hang there for several hours every day, so that everyone who wants to can get a personally dedicated CD, a photo and a chat without any stress. Ever wanted to ask something, complain about something, give congratulations for something or just drink a beer with someone who made music that meant something to you? There will be time for all that on this tour.

  

Les Fleurs du Mal CD

 The CD has 15 tracks, but the edition sold at the concerts will have a bonus track and you will get a small poster with it. My aim is to sign and personally dedicate every single one of them at the shows.

 The CD itself is fully financed by me. Nuclear Blast thought it was a bit too spectacular and we have totally different visions about how we should work on such a project. I've had a fantastic relationship with that wonderful label over the years. I've had total artistic freedom and much patience from them in a way that most other artists at our level only could dream of at many labels. So rather than having disagreements and make compromises, I suggested I release it by myself instead and they generously gave me their blessings for it. So our relation has never been better than now.

 Financing a full Therion audio production mixing at ToyTown with the fantastic Stefan Glaumann, paying for orchestra and the Band members and many, many other things isn't cheap. To be more precise, it cost 75.000 euro. On top of that I also carried costs for video clips, photo session and the costs for creating the art and stuff for the CD. I don't have that kind of cash lying around in a drawer at home, so I had to go to the Bank and take a loan. I have always bragged about how I never compromise and am ready to risk everything with each release.  It's easier to say that when you have a record label being a bank for you. This time I had to put my money where my mouth is. So if you buy the CD, you don't just buy a record with music, you buy a share of an idea, the idea and concept of art where the artist really risks everything to be able to bring out what he wants. Some of you will like the CD, some maybe not. But if you feel that I've done something worth raising a toast to over the years, there will be no better way of  showing your appreciation than buying this CD.  It will be sold at 15 euros and I hope the majority of those going to the shows will walk home with it after the shows.

 I've been called risky and more crazy than usual with my ideas for this art project, by some of those very few who have been initiated into the mysteries of it. Even within the Band there has been quite some strong feelings about it. And clearly the record label didn't think they had a smash hit in their hands. This pretty much reminds me about the feeling when Theli was recorded. I recall the record label saying: "Do you really think we can sell this? What will your fans say?". But they didn't have much other choice than releasing it and hope for the best. They had just invested more money in the sound production than with any other Band in the history of the label - on a Band that didn't sell many records. But there were people at the label who really liked it too and carefully believed in it. Like the boss Marcus Steiger. But in the Band the atmosphere was really bad. The bass player Lars hated it to the core. "Fucking opera shit!!".  The guitarist Jonas didn't like it either, it was "too much classical stuff and opera, should have been just some small elements of it as a spice". Drummer Piotr kind of liked it, but thought it as kind of odd and didn't have too much hope for it (just like myself, who thought it would flop too). But it turned out to be the album that made Therion a big band.

 This time at least half of the Band thinks it's great stuff and believe in it. But now I'm risking my own money and not the record labels. When I took the decision of borrowing money and release it myself, I was officially declared out of order in the head by some people familiar with the matter. Well, we will see about that. When a fan buy a CD directly from a band it counts as if they bought 10 CD's at the store released via a record label. With loyal fans buying many CD's at the concerts, a big part of the production costs will be recovered.

  

Snowy will work on his own stuff meanwhile

 Out of all session vocalists that Therion has worked with over the years, no one has come as close to the band as Snowy, who has been a vital part of our records and live shows for the last number of years. Now when Therion is going into another phase and Snowy did not feel the same enthusiasm as we do for making this art project and rock opera, he has decided to work with his own projects instead. He did a smaller contribution to "Les Fleurs du Mal" which sounds awesome and we're happy for that, but if he don't feel this is what he is supposed to do, then we think his decision is the right thing and he has our full support. We are sure he will create some really amazing stuff with his own project!

 However, we would like to stress the fact that there are no doors shut. When we are done with our projects in a number of years and call to arms for the next regular album, we will see where things stand and what Snowy is up to at the moment. If he's available and we feel inspired together, he is more than welcome to continue where we left. If not, we feel we had a great round off with him through our long co-operation with the 25 year Anniversary tour we did in Latin America earlier this year and hope he will be successful with his own projects.

  

  

 Here is a comment from Snowy him self on the matter as well:

  

 "What can I say, I'm truly grateful for the years I had with Therion where I've had the pleasure of touring the four corners of the world as a singer and frontman and meeting and making tons of new fans and friends for life, but over the last few years the urge to move on and do my own thing has become increasingly stronger and so far in my life I've always followed my heart and what makes me happy and I see no reason why I should stop now."  

  

 Christofer Johnsson, September 2012

[Persephone]

Thanks for posting it, Agnes, I do not watch the websites regulary

Hm, after reading Christofer's post I think I will buy the CD on the show rather then from the online store...
I wanted to visit the show anyway - not matter if I do not know the new album or I do, like it or not. So let's see. Now I just have to get the tickets :-)

[Gevurah]

Hi guys


looks like Snowy won't be joining this tour..  ... i'm really sad especially I wanted to hear LoC with his part so much ...  what a loss for this to be the  last chance to see them..and not to see Snowy ..

[Ignacio]

I celebrate Christofers enthusiasm on the metal-opera project. I'm sure all of us will be waiting for it to emerge.

[TheOFFman]

Chris announced this album in TS in August last year but this is the first time he didn't give us ANY info!

I had some feeling from the beginning what this might be, I'll share that with you once the album is out.

Markus, what about not listening the album before release? I mean people will put it online after the concert, so i assume that will be in 5 days and there is no reason to preorder it cause I'll be in Budapest October 17th and they will ship CD 15th. Please I need you help on this one. Don't know if Chris intended to listen new songs live first cause I could avoid it for 20 days (which would be horrible) but I can't avoid people. I am going to Ensiferum concert in Zagreb and I will be staying at a friend's place and a lot of her and my friends will be with us (everybody listen Therion and will talk about that and I am talking about 10-20 people).

[blake]

well, Christofer already did a song from  "the flowers....." but it was a cover: Tristesse de la lune

But cant await to hear this release !!!

Best wishes from austria
Blake

[Persephone]

What is the official release date?

You know, I really hate that idea that I cannot get used to the music before the show I like to know the rythms already so I can enjoy my favs and such.

[TheOFFman]

What is the official release date?

Today 

[Agnes]

setlist from the Eindhoven show:


O Fortuna
(Carl Orff cover)
Poupée de Cire, Poupée de Son
Son of the Sun
Via Nocturna
The Flight of the Lord of Flies
J'ai Le Mal de Toi
Abraxas
Vanaheim
Gothic Kabbalah
The Siren of the Woods
Ginnungagap
Land of Canaan
Wine of Aluqah
The Rise of Sodom and Gomorrah
The Khlysti Evangelist
Une Fleur Dans le Cour
Son of the Staves of Time
Wonderous World of Punt
The Blood of Kingu
Encore:
To Mega Therion

[Luth]

Thanks Agnes!!

Here I post the new video... what do you think?  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_6zI8gmv10

I suppose this video is not characteristic of all the album... I mean... Was "Din" very related with "Land of Canaan"? Even so, according with the name of the album, I guess it won't be "the only flower of evil" in the album  

PS. O FORTUNAAA!!!!! OH YEAAAAAAH!HHHHH!!!!!! (and so other more, like "Siren of the Woods", "To Mega Therion"...   )

PS. Anyone knows how long the other two bands play? Doors at Barcelona open at 6.30, but I'd like to know if I can enter at 8.30 or I must be before...  

[Agnes]

indeed! But I like the new album!

[Luth]

Agnes, you were faster than me. I edited my previous post while you were writing the new post 

[Agnes]

what can I say I can't wait to see Therion live again..

[TheOFFman]

Ah, trying to avoid set list is not so easy, guess you won't see me here till after the concert