Gothic Kabbalah

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.

Gothic Kabbalah
Studio album by Therion
Released	12 January 2007
Recorded	July–September 2006 Stockholm, Sweden
Genre	Symphonic gothic metal, progressive metal[1]
Length	83:29
Label	Nuclear Blast NB 1780-0
Producer	Stefan Glaumann
Therion chronology
Celebrators of Becoming (2006) Gothic Kabbalah (2007) Live Gothic (2008)

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.	Title	Music	Length
1.	"Der Mitternachtslöwe"	Christofer Johnsson, Mats Levén	5:38
2.	"Gothic Kabbalah"	Petter Karlsson	4:33
3.	"The Perennial Sophia"	Johan Niemann, Levén, P. Karlsson	4:54
4.	"Wisdom and the Cage"	Kristian Niemann, P. Karlsson	5:01
5.	"Son of the Staves of Time"	Levén	4:47
6.	"Tuna 1613"	P. Karlsson, Snowy Shaw	4:23
7.	"Trul"	P. Karlsson	5:11
8.	"Close Up the Streams"	Johnsson, Levén	3:55

Disc two

No.	Title	Music	Length
1.	"The Wand of Abaris"	Johnsson, K. Niemann	5:51
2.	"Three Treasures"	Johnsson	5:20
3.	"Path to Arcady"	K. Niemann, P. Karlsson	3:54
4.	"TOF – The Trinity"	K. Niemann, Levén, P. Karlsson	6:18
5.	"Chain of Minerva"	J. Niemann, Levén, P. Karlsson	5:21
6.	"The Falling Stone"	P. Karlsson	4:46
7.	"Adulruna Rediviva"	Johnsson, K. Niemann	13:37
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.

Vinyl release track listing
Side A "Der Mitternachtslöwe" "Gothic Kabbalah" "The Perennial Sophia" "Wisdom and the Cage" Side B "Son of the Staves of Time" "Tuna 1613" "Trul" "Close Up the Streams" Side C "The Wand of Abaris" "Three Treasures" "Path to Arcady" "TOF – The Trinity" Side D "Chain of Minerva" "The Falling Stone" "Adulruna Rediviva"

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
PopMatters	link
Chronicles of Chaos	link
Metal Invader	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

• Christofer Johnsson – keyboards, programming, guitar
• Kristian Niemann – lead and rhythm guitars, keyboards
• Johan Niemann – bass guitar, guitar, acoustic guitar
• Petter Karlsson – drums, guitar, keyboards, solo ("Chain of Minerva", "T.O.F. - The Trinity") and choral vocals, percussion
• Mats Levén – lead vocals ("Der Mitternachtslöwe" (choir), "Gothic Kabbalah", "Perennial Sophia", "Son of the Staves of Time", "Close up the Streams", "Three Treasures", "T.O.F. - Trinity", "Adulruna Rediviva"), guitar

Guest musicians

• Snowy Shaw – lead vocals ("Der Mitternachtslöwe" (choir), "Perennial Sophia" (choir), "Wisdom and the Cage", "Tuna 1613", "Trul" (choir), "Close up the Streams" (choir), "Wand of Abaris", "Three Treasures", "Adulruna Rediviva")
• Katarina Lilja – vocals ("Gothic Kabbalah", "Perennial Sophia", "Trul", "Close up the Streams", "The Falling Stone", "Chain of Minerva")
• Hannah Holgersson – vocals, soprano ("Der Mitternachtslöwe", "Wisdom and the Cage", "Son of the Staves of Time", "Trul" (choir), "Wand of Abaris" (choir), "T.O.F. - Trinity", "Chain of Minerva", "Adulruna Rediviva")
• Jonas Samuelsson–Nerbe – tenor ("Tuna 1613", "Path to Arcady", "Adulruna Rediviva")
• Anna Nyhlin – solo soprano on "The Falling Stone" and "Path to Arcady"
• Karin Fjellander – choral soprano
• Ken Hensley – Hammond organ
• Joakim Svalberg – Hammond organ
• Rolf Pilotti – solo flute on "Gothic Kabbalah" and "Trul"
• Stefan Glaumann – tambourine

Others

• Sanken Sandqvist – engineering
• Thomas Ewerhard – design

Singles

Wand of Abaris

• Released: 15 December 2006
• Label: Nuclear Blast
• Tracks:
  

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

The Wand of Abaris / Path to Arcady

• Released: 2007
• Label: Nuclear Blast
• Tracks:
  

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