The Album Reader Reviews:

	Title: Deggial Artist: Therion Label: Nuclear Blast Release Date: 3/7/00	There are currently 2 Reader Reviews of this album. Average Rating: 3.5 Go to Judgment Committee Reviews of this Album
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Submitted by Jeff Forbes (2/19/02):
Therion fans generally fit into two different categories - those who like their early music, which is decidedly black/thrash metal, and those that like the music from Theli on more. I fit into the second category myself. Note that I also listen to a huge range of music, about 20% of my collection being classical, second to metal of various kinds, which makes about a quarter of my collection.
Deggial is my favorite Therion album. I have all of their post 1997 albums, and a few of their previous ones, which I don't care for. Deggial, when taken as a whole, has a generally dark, slow, methodic sound, with occasional 80's hair band outbreaks. It is an excellent mood setter, but won't offer all that much for the headbanging type (I reccomend Theli for them). Compared to most metal, Therion offers a rich, deep, lush, and dark soundscape, although simplistic in comparison with a lot of classical music with its vocals in particular, which can be rather one-dimensional at times.
The most beautiful soung on the album, in my opinion, is "Ship of Luna." It starts with a beautiful chorus against a backdrop of strings, and slowly progresses into something heavier and more powerful. I particularly like the use of trumpets here. Also, the acoustic guitar can be reminiscent of something on Vovin that escapes my mind. The end of the song, with the major chord by the strings, brings a beautiful counterpoint to the rest of the song. My favorite song on the disc, and at times the most powerful, is "Via Nocturne, part II." It starts off with a lone organ, albeit not terribly reminiscent of Bach by any means, it sets the stage well for the strings and piano, which eventually melds into a slowish, galloping, very powerful guitar riff with powerful choral vocals behind it. I feel the guitar is the driving force in the music through this part of the song, and this is definitely music to be cranked up loud :). It then changes to a very dark, somewhat dissonant sounding mess of vocals (which I enjoy) untill about four minutes into the song, where there is a drastic change, and I again really like it. It goes from a big, full sound to something more minimalist, with the flute and strings, and some vocals to play with them, and simple bassline. The rest of the song is excellent, but will get boring to describe, so I will move on.
"Eternal Return" is another excellent song, and it has a less dark sound then most of the other songs on this album, particularly with the strings and vocals from halfway into the song and more, despite still being in minor chords, and works into a nifty oboe solo with guitar blaring away. Not to overlook the other songs, which are very good, but it would take a few too many more paragraps to describe them :).
To summarize, I would reccomend Deggial for anyone who is either very open minded, or likes classical music and metal, and would like to see them combined. Most people I have played it to have either loved it or hated it, and from this review you can probably figure out whether it is for you or not.

Submitted by Chris Ayers (10/15/00):
Metallica may have lost even more fans with last year's collaboration with the San Francisco Symphony on S&M than they did with 1996's Load, but Sweden's Therion takes that formula and adds a full choir that causes Deggial to resemble more of a Broadway musical than melodic metal. Founder Christofer Johnsson has presented a different line-up on nearly ten Therion records, with the last truly good one being 1995's Lepaca Kliffoth. Since then, Johnsson has spiraled his band into utter goth mediocrity - like a wimpier cross between Moonspell and Evereve - and hasn't allowed any band configuration to gel solidly, hindered by his revolving-door policy. "Seven Secrets Of The Sphinx" is probably the heaviest tune, and the classical strings whine in "Eternal Return" before breaking into a more aggressive passage with, yep, a woodwind solo. "Ship Of Luna" is quieter, like Rush's "Tears" (from 2112). By the time "The Invincible" rolls around, visions of cathedrals are already dancing in your head, furthered by the album's closer, a metal rendition of Carl Orff's "O Fortuna" (part of the famous "Carmina Burana"). If the next trend in metal is classical music combined with heavy guitars, then please count me out.

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