The first Therion CD that I heard was Lepaca Kliffoth, a work somewhere between their early “death metal” period and the later symphonic CDs. I definitely wasn’t impressed. But then came Theli and a series of masterpieces that literally blew my mind. Therion’s style changed from raw death metal to symphonic metal in the grandest proportions.

It’s hard to choose from so many true masterpieces, but in my opinion, mastermind Christofer Johnsson’s 2001 CD, Secrets of the Runes, make all other symphonic and epic metal CD’s pale in comparison.

This CD is about ancient Nordic tradition, and specifically talks about the nine worlds in nordic mythology that are located on Yggdrasil, the World Tree. The name of the CD, “The Secrets of the Runes” actually is “The Secret of the Secrets,” because the word “rune” (or “runa” as it is called in Swedish) means “secret.” This represents the secret hidden in the concept of runes -- that they are more than just letters to write with, they are also magical signs each of which has an esoteric meaning.

The mythological information one can get by listening to the lyrics is great, and it is introduced to you through the most melodic music I’ve ever heard from a metal band. This is a very dark, and very symphonic CD, but I personally think there really isn’t much metal, it is more symphony and classically based. And it has choirs and angelic (perhaps I should say “Valkyrie”!) operatic style vocals.

The album starts with song “Ginnungagap,” which is the name of the old void from which everything came out and is destined to return. This one of my favorite songs on the CD.

The next two songs are “Midgard,” the world of man; “Asgard,” the land of the gods. The latter song is wonderful, due to the majestic "Wagnerian" singing by the choir.

Then comes “Jotunheim,” which is the home of the ancient giants. This is a very powerful song, and it is succeeded by “Schwarzalbenheim,” which is sung in German. It talks about the dwarf and elven blacksmiths.

Next come “Ljusalfheim,” about the Elves of the light, and “Muspelheim,” a powerful song in Swedish that talks about the fire-giants.

After that is “Nifelheim,” again in Swedish, and it is about the land of the ice-giants. I like this melodic song's beautiful choir orchestration. I also like “Vanaheim,” a song that is about Frey and Freya of the Vanir, the gods of magic and fertility.

“Helheim” (Yet again in Swedish!) is about the land of Hel, the goddess of Death. This is a very dark song, and it depicts very accurately the darkness.

Last comes the “Secret of the Runes,” the title song of the album. It talks about the 18 runes that were revealed to Odin, after he sacrificed his own body to himself.

After the “Secret of the Runes” follow two bonus cover songs, “Summernight City” by ABBA and “Crying Days” by the Scorpions. These songs might sound kind of out of place at first, but Therion manages to perform these songs in same style as the rest of their music…

All in all, this album made to me a very good impression and I highly recommend it to any fans of Therion or of truly melodic music. It’s solid, musically aggressive, and brilliantly written. To make a long story short, Therion’s symphonic opera metal is always a joy to listen to, but this time, I'd say that they’ve really done it. My last words: go get Secret Of The Runes immediately!