Therion - Les Fleurs du Mal
CD Info
2012
Self Released
15 or 16 Tracks
French Lyrics
Therion is one of the biggest names in the Nuclear Blast stable, has been for a long time. So WTF is going on here? Well, there’s a lot out there on this effort, some from the band, some from other sources. I keep trying to get the info straight from band members but they don’t talk to people like me so, what can I say. I deny everything, it’s a guess, believe me or don’t, I’m doing the best I can with what I have to work with. I’ll try to keep it honest but that’s tough with this one. My French is nonexistent for the most part and I think pretty much all of this is in French. But, Therion has long been a band of interest to me, I’ve written the last 5 reviews on this site so I like to think I know a little about them. And, musically, this is as good as anything, IMO.
Well, here’s what they say. As many of you know, Therion is big enough to make a lot of their own decisions. And, in this instance, they have. This release is not being handled by Nuclear Blast, it’s being self-produced and will be released by Christofer Johnsson himself. You buy the CD from their website or you get it from Christofer himself at live performances where he suggests he’ll be hanging around the merchandise counter to sign the product personally. If you choose the latter option, you also get a nice poster, again, signed. The production issue was addressed by Johnsson on the website, "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." Pretty cool, huh? The production is intended to celebrate the band’s 25th Anniversary. It’s part of a bigger effort that includes art exhibits and a tour, at least, I think I have that right. Beyond this, the band, well, Johnsson anyway, is working on a massive opera, metal opera that is. Might take a few years, might take a century, but, that’s what they’re doing. So, if you like Therion, this is it for a while, at least until the opera comes out sometime before the turn of the century, the next century.
And, now, on to the music. Well, things starts out with Poupée de cire, Poupée de son. And if this video doesn’t work for you, head on over to the Beiber channel. I mean, metal, sex, drugs, violence, vomit and a killer vocal. What’s left to desire? I’m there, we can quit here far as I’m concerned. Certainly one of the top music videos I’ve ever seen, drunk or sober. A fooking classic ain’a. Reminds me of more than one biker bar of my acquaintance, with better music. And ya gotta love Vikstrom hitting the hookah pipe. Man after my own heart. I’m sure there’s something terribly relevant to this video in the lyrics but it’s damn sure beyond me. Interestingly enough, the party in this video seems to carry on to another track Je n'ai besoin que de tendresse where we add a little sadomasochism just to spice things up. Can’t come much closer to perfection in my world, ain’a.
‘Nother thing to keep in mind, this music comes from all over the place. I think some of it was written for the Lincoln inauguration, the French part of it. There are 15 tracks, unless you get the one at the concerts which has 16. Most are not particularly long, as opposed to some previous Therion material which can take you directly to old age. So, you’re getting French material written for a variety of French singers, much of it from back in the 60s. But, of course, Therion places their own trademark on the material with a variety of performers doing the vocal as well as the instrumental work. The main vocal work is again done by Lori Lewis, an American for those of you not familiar with her, and Thomas Vikstrom. There’s a couple that feature Snowy Shaw who’s another long term Therion vocalist. But, as is often the case with Therion, there are numerous guest musicians. Now much of this music is classically oriented, there’s no death metal here, no hip hop, no boy band sounds. That’s not to say there isn’t some variety, there is. After that lead off rocker, we get a softer title, Une fleur dans le cœur which demonstrates the male / female interplay. I think the blond in the video here is Vikstrom’s daughter, Linnea. Course, it could be the Prime Minister of France too, anything’s possible with this crew. Initials BB take us to an even more pronounced French musical direction. This one was originally composed and performed by Serge Gainsbourg and, unless you were unborn or partially dead during the second half of the 20th Century, the initials stand for Brigitte Bardot, the French sex goddess of the era.
A lot of the songs on this CD seem to have been originally recorded by French singer France Gall. France Gall (born Isabelle Geneviève Marie Anne Gall on 9 October 1947 in Paris, France) was a popular French yé-yé singer. She was married to, and had a successful singing career in partnership with, French singer-songwriter Michel Berger. She performed during the 60s and 70s from what I understand, I don’t remember her, I was too busy trying to watch Brigitte Bardot. But, these are important details if you want to sound like you know what you’re talking about here, being as how I can’t understand a word of the lyrics. And neither can you I suspect, so, having these details certainly can improve on our dreadful lack of verbal acuity. But, one of those Gall tracks is Les sucettes which is the "extra track" you get on the concert release. It provides a glimpse into the style of music from the era, although I doubt you got the throbbing guitars that Therion provides here.
Léonie is another performer who seems to have inspired a number of tracks on the CD. Couldn’t find out much about this artist but there is a feel to each of the tracks that suggest a particular style of music. En Alabama is one of these and, no, it ain’t a cover of Sweet Home Alabama done in French, much to my disappointment.
You get some really interesting instrumental work on this one. Synths, mellotron and percusion are provided by guest musician Mattias Olsson and they provide a different feel to this track, one that I wish was a bit longer. We get a nice introduction. . . and then it quits, way too early.
Well, if you’re into French chansons and are willing to listen to yet another metamorphosis in the sound of this multitalented band, without reservations. . . .this one will work nicely. It’s clearly an Art Project, and it’s clearly another presentation of the style of beautiful music Therion has become famous for in these last few releases. And, it’s quite a transformation for a band that started out as a death metal project. More importantly, it’s the first Therion release where I haven’t spent half the review discussing the lyrics which are generally the strength of the material. I’m not saying they’re not here but I just don’t know. Probably not since this material is relatively old and they didn’t do a lot of music about Kabbalah back in the day. But, assuming you can get your hands on a copy, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. And, you won’t have anything else from the band for a while, maybe a long while. Which certainly makes a purchase a good idea. So that would be my suggestion, that and study up on your French. Et se renseigner sur Brigitte Bardot, vous ne serez pas déçus.
10 / 10
