Therion - Time Shall Tell
Review: As a band matures, much as a person does, it grows into those limbs that seem ridiculous and too large or gangly; so was the case with Therion, who blasted through three demos of cerebral and doomy grinding death, eventually on "Time Shall Tell" developing the aesthetic that would enable their subsequent album to wrap its dark sound in mysticism and contemplation instead of absurd bursts of energy followed by vigilante riffs which like nightstalkers close in for a combat so absolute it necessitates rapid change the instant its spell of shock and terror lifts.
Production is messier and the band has just begun to fully utilize the enigmatic partial phrases fading into harmony without conclusion that distinguished lead guitar on "...Of Darkness." Most interestingly, rhythms are uptempo with a degree of complexity achieved by assimilating the subordinate counterpoint to a dominant rhythmic theme into a core of internally divided patterns like a spiral staircase descending into a dungeon. These songs are most of the way to the final versions heard on the album, but are more rock 'n roll in tempo and as of yet have not adopted the subtleties of transition that made the album both mysterious and familiar.