siLLy puPPy Following the breakthrough success of “Theli,” the moment when once and for all THERION ditched its death metal roots and became one of the world’s first and foremost pioneers of orchestral symphonic metal that adopted full choirs and classical arrangements which found massive orchestras for live performances, THERION decided to release an odd album as a followup. Having been a member of the Dragon Rouge occult group, founder and band leader Christofer Johnsson never missed an opportunity to intertwine an esoteric meaning into his works. The following year in 1997, THERION released A’ARAB ZARAQ LUCID DREAMING, the first part of the title referring to the Qliphah which corresponds to the Sephirah Netzach on the Kabbalah’s tree of life. The second part of the title adds a little humor as the fans probably thought they were dreaming when they put this album on for the first time.

This is not a new album of material by any means but rather a collection of leftover tracks, cover songs from other artists as well as the unreleased soundtrack to “The Golden Embrace” that appears solely under the Christofer Johnsson moniker. The leftover tracks were culled from the unused sessions of the “Theli” album while the cover songs are from the Scorpions, Iron Maiden, Running Wild and Judas Priest. “Symphony Of The Dead” is a new instrumental version of the track that appeared on the “Beyond Sanctorum” only castrated of all its death metal prowess and adapted to the new world of THERION’s symphonic metal sound. The selling point on this one was that it was released for the 10th anniversary of THERION’s formation but we all know that it’s basically a wink and a nod for cashing in on the band’s much deserved success.

Like many grab bags of such material, A’ARAB ZARAQ LUCID DREAMING should be considered supplemental THERION material rather than an essential cornerstone of its diverse canon. Personally i could live without the cover tunes with Iron Maiden’s “Children Of The Damned” being a considerably weak example of a classic cover song ruined but there are many fine tunes to be found on here as well. “Black Fairy” offers a unique songwriting technique that creates an intricately designed methodology from morphing from verse to completely unrelated chorus and the bouncy, keyboard stab rich “Enter Transcendental Sleep” sounds like something that really should have been found on “Theli” as some sort of extended interlude. Also of high quality are “The Quiet Desert,” “Down The Qliphothic Tunnel” and “Up to Netzach / Floating Back” which are as good as anything from THERION’s actual albums.

The last seven tracks are from “The Golden Embrace” soundtrack for the short 19 minute indie film that was the one-man project from Christofer Johnsson himself. While of high quality, these tracks ditch the metal altogether and instead display a more restrained mix of dark ambient and symphonic orchestral sounds which are more in the realms of chamber music than anything resembling rock. Along with the classical music workouts are the operatic vocals with extra emphasis on the synthesized keyboards which play the role of the “busy” parts that normally would be fulfilled by the metal guitar, bass and drums in THERION. These tracks are credited to Johnsson exclusively but are hauntingly beautiful and in all honesty are worth the price of admission alone.

If the soundtrack part was released as an EP it would easily be a four star album and likewise with the extra odds and sods of loose fodder from the “Theli” sessions. That album easily could have featured an extra disc of such bonus material and made it all the better. Of all the tracks on this one i really could live without the Iron Maiden and Running Wild cover tunes but the Scorpions’ “Fly To The Rainbow” and Judas Priest’s “Here Comes Tears” aren’t that bad at all. Likewise the opening “In Remembrance” is a weak track and the worst to begin the album with which possible has turned many off. All in all this is an interesting collection of material and a must for THERION fans but a miss for those who don’t want to dig so deep. After all, as good as the extra material is, there’s nothing substantially different than what one could experience on “Theli,” “Vovin” or “Secret Of The Runes” for that matter so this is a just above good addition but not absolutely essential either and in case it’s not obvious, you really gotta love choral music and classical in general for this to gel in any way!