Gothic Kabbalah

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Gothic Kabbalah
Gothic Kabbalah.jpg
Studio album by
Therion
Released12 January 2007
RecordedJuly–September 2006
Stockholm, Sweden
Genre Symphonic gothic metal, progressive metal [1]
Length83:29
Label Nuclear Blast
NB 1780-0
Producer Stefan Glaumann
Therion chronology
Celebrators of Becoming
(2006)		Gothic Kabbalah
(2007)		 Live Gothic
(2008)

Gothic Kabbalah is the thirteenth studio album by Swedish symphonic metal band Therion. It was released in Europe on 12 January 2007. The album was mixed by Stefan Glaumann, who also contributed to bands such as Rammstein, Evergrey, Europe and Def Leppard. The main line-up has been slightly changed since previous studio albums ( Lemuria and Sirius B ): Petter Karlsson returned to play drums, having already played with the band during Lemuria / Sirius B tour during the period of 2004–2006. Since Christofer Johnsson announced in 2006 he is retiring from singing, [2] vocals on Gothic Kabbalah were performed by Mats Levén, as well as Snowy Shaw and three female singers: Katarina Lilja, Anna Nyhlin and Hannah Holgersson.

Contents

The album is based on concepts from the life of 17th-century esoteric scholar Johannes Bureus.

Track listing

All lyrics by Thomas Karlsson. Music as indicated:

Disc one
No.TitleMusicLength
1."Der Mitternachtslöwe" Christofer Johnsson, Mats Levén 5:38
2."Gothic Kabbalah"Petter Karlsson4:33
3."The Perennial Sophia" Johan Niemann, Levén, P. Karlsson4:54
4."Wisdom and the Cage" Kristian Niemann, P. Karlsson5:01
5."Son of the Staves of Time"Levén4:47
6."Tuna 1613"P. Karlsson, Snowy Shaw 4:23
7."Trul"P. Karlsson5:11
8."Close Up the Streams"Johnsson, Levén3:55
Disc two
No.TitleMusicLength
1."The Wand of Abaris"Johnsson, K. Niemann5:51
2."Three Treasures"Johnsson5:20
3."Path to Arcady"K. Niemann, P. Karlsson3:54
4."TOF – The Trinity"K. Niemann, Levén, P. Karlsson6:18
5."Chain of Minerva"J. Niemann, Levén, P. Karlsson5:21
6."The Falling Stone"P. Karlsson4:46
7."Adulruna Rediviva"Johnsson, K. Niemann13:37
8."Seven Secrets Of The Sphinx (Live)" (Bonus Track) 3:48
9."To Mega Therion (Live)" (Bonus Track) 6:45

Vinyl release

Gothic Kabbalah has been also released as limited edition double LP vinyl (180 gram; 33⅓ rpm). It features colored vinyl, gatefold cover and it has been released in 1000 hand-numbered copies.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg link
PopMatters Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg link
Chronicles of Chaos Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg link
Metal InvaderStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg link

The album has received generally good reviews from critics, including Chronicles of Chaos [3] and Allmusic hailing it as "the first truly great rock opera of the 21st century". [1]

The album was the band's first to enter the Swedish Albums Chart. [4]

Chart positions

Chart (2007)Peak
position
Greece [5] 5
Poland [5] 21
Sweden [6] 26
Netherlands [5] 55
France [7] 58
Germany [5] 59
Switzerland [8] 73
Hungary [5] 74
Belgium [5] 84
IndieHQ Independent Sales Chart [9] 156

Personnel

Guest musicians

Others

Singles

Wand of Abaris

  1. "The Wand of Abaris"
  2. "Path to Arcady"
  3. "TOF – The Trinity"

The Wand of Abaris / Path to Arcady

  1. "The Wand of Abaris"
  2. "Path to Arcady"

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References

  1. 1 2 Jurek, Thom. "Allmusic: Gothic Kabbalah Review" . Retrieved 2007-03-17.
  2. ↑ Johnsson, Christofer (2006-03-21). "My vocals + Metal Mania and ProgPower UK festivals". Archived from the original on 2010-05-16. Retrieved 2007-03-17.
  3. ↑ Smit, Jackie (2007-01-07). "Chronicles of Chaos : Therion - Gothic Kabbalah : Review" . Retrieved 2007-03-17.
  4. ↑ "swedishcharts.com - Discography Therion" . Retrieved 2007-03-17.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Therion discography". MusicMight. Archived from the original on 2016-08-11. Retrieved 2007-12-04.
  6. ↑ "swedishcharts.com - Therion - Gothic Kabbalah" . Retrieved 2007-03-17.
  7. ↑ "lescharts.com - Therion - Gothic Kabbalah" . Retrieved 2007-03-17.
  8. ↑ "Therion - Gothic Kabbalah - hitparade.ch" (in German). Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-03-17.
  9. ↑ "IndieHQ Independent Sales Chart 2-14-07". 2007-02-14. Archived from the original on 2007-02-19. Retrieved 2007-03-17.
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