New Release Information uu February THERION Release Date Pre-Order Start Beloved Antichrist uu 02/02/2018 uu 20/12/2017 uu 3CD-Digi incl. 48 pages booklet uu 6LP Box incl. clear Vinyl, 3 x 2LP in Gatefold uu advertising in many important music magazines DEC/JAN 2018 uu album reviews, interviews in all important Metal magazines in Europe’s DEC/JAN 2018 issues uu song placements in European magazine compilations Price Code: CD12 uu spotify playlists in all European territories NB 3833-0 Digi (incl. 48p booklet) uu retail marketing campaigns uu instore decoration: flyers, poster A1 uu Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google+ organic promotion uu Facebook ads and promoted posts + Google ads in both the search and display networks, bing ads and gmail ads (tbc) uu Banner advertising on more than 60 most important Metal & Rock Price Code: CD16 websites all over Europe NB 3833-1 BOX uu additional booked ads on Metal Hammer Germany and UK, and in the (6LP clear vinyl Box, one 2LP Gatefold per act) Fixion network (mainly Blabbermouth) uu video and pre-roll ads on You tube uu ad campaigns on iPhones for iTunes and Google Play for Androids uu banners, featured items at the shop, header images and a background on nuclearblast.de and nuclearblast.com Territory: World uu features and banners in newsletters, as well as special mailings to targeted audiences in support of the release Style: Symphonic uu European Tour 01.02.2018 – 07.04.2018 Metal uu Tracklists: CD3 (Act III) 2LP (Act II) – 33 RPM 01. Shoot Them Down! Side A DIGI: 02. Beneath The Starry Skies 01. The Arrival Of Apollonius 02. Pledging Loyalty CD1 (Act I) 03. Forgive Me 04. The Wasteland Of My Heart 03. Night Reborn 01. Turn From Heaven 05. Burning The Palace 04. Dagger Of God 02. Where Will You Go? Side B 06. Prelude To War 03. Through Dust, Through Rain 01. Temple Of New Jerusalem 07. Day Of Wrath 04. Signs Are Here 02. The Lions Roar 08. Rise To War 05. Never Again 03. Bringing The Gospel 09. Time Has Come/Final Battle 06. Bring Her Home 04. Laudate Dominum 10. My Voyage Carries On 07. The Solid Black Beyond Side C 11. Striking Darkness 08. The Crowning Of Splendour 01. Remaining Silent 12. Seeds Of Time 09. Morning Has Broken 02. Behold Antichrist 13. To Shine Forever 03. Cursed By The Fallen 10. Garden Of Peace 14. Theme Of Antichrist 04. Resurrection 11. Our Destiny Side D 12. Anthem 6LP Box: 01. To Where I Weep 13. The Palace Ball 2LP (Act I) – 33 RPM 02. Astral Sophia 14. Jewels From Afar Side A 03. Thy Will Be Done! 15. Hail Caesar! 01. Turn From Heaven 16. What Is Wrong? 02. Where Will You Go? 2LP (Act III) – 33 RPM 17. Nothing But My Name 03. Through Dust, Through Rain Side A 04. Signs Are Here 01. Shoot Them Down! CD2 (Act II) Side B 02. Beneath The Starry Skies 01. The Arrival Of Apollonius 01. Never Again 03. Forgive Me 02. Pledging Loyalty 02. Bring Her Home 04. The Wasteland Of My Heart Side B 03. Night Reborn 03. The Solid Black Beyond 01. Burning The Palace 04. Dagger Of God 04. The Crowning Of Splendour 02. Prelude To War 05. Temple Of New Jerusalem 05. Morning Has Broken 03. Day Of Wrath 06. The Lions Roar Side C 04. Rise To War 07. Bringing The Gospel 01. Garden Of Peace Side C 08. Laudate Dominum 02. Our Destiny 01. Time Has Come/Final Battle 09. Remaining Silent 03. Anthem 02. My Voyage Carries On 10. Behold Antichrist 04. The Palace Ball 03. Striking Darkness 11. Cursed By The Fallen Side D 04. Seeds Of Time 12. Resurrection 01. Jewels From Afar 05. To Shine Forever 13. To Where I Weep 02. Hail Caesar! 06. Theme Of Antichrist 14. Astral Sophia 03. What Is Wrong? Side D 15. Thy Will Be Done! 04. Nothing But My Name -etched- www.megatherion.com · www.facebook.com/therion · www.nuclearblast.de/therion NUCLEAR BLAST Tonträger Produktions- und Vertriebs-GmbH · OESCHSTRASSE 40 · D-73072 DONZDORF · GERMANY · PHONE +49-7162-9280-13 / -20 / -25 · FAX +49-7162-24554 uu www.facebook.com/nuclearblasteurope · www.twitter.com/nuclearblasteu uu LINKS: uu Nuclear Blast Video Clips · Nuclear Blast Bands on Tour · Nuclear Blast albums in the Charts · New Songs on Spotify uu www.nuclearblast.de New Release Information uu February THERION CREATE THEIR OWN OPERA When 15 year old prodigy Christofer Johnsson founded THERION as a who is an Eastern magician and a collaborator of Antichrist. The rest of death metal band in 1987, little did he know that exactly 30 years later he the people I worked with on this project, were artists we got recommended would put the final touches to a project that will go down in history as sym- from people we trust and worked with before.” phonic metal’s most ambitious release. While ‘rock operas’ are no longer But the release of the 3-disc-oeuvre is only the beginning of the era of an unusual concept, this term will now receive a new meaning when the the Antichrist. While THERION will start their almost 3 month long tour in curtain opens for Johnsson’s lifelong creation: »Beloved Antichrist« is the February, they have way bigger live plans which consist of bringing the title of his spectacular brainchild, consisting of 3 full-length CDs. It is more entire project to the stage as soon as they have found a way to finance the than just a concept album; it’s a complete rock opera unveiling a sweeping larger-than-life-performance designed to be presented in selected opera story inspired by Vladímir Soloviov “A Short Tale Of The Antichrist”. houses. Therefore »Beloved Antichrist« should not be considered a regular “At the beginning it was 50% based on Soloviov’s work, but as the song- album, but seen as a performance that will also be available as an audio writing proceeded we changed the story more and more”, mastermind recording. Bringing massive technical innovation as well as never seen be- Christofer Johnsson explains. “I would now say it’s rather inspired and fore ideas that will soon be revealed, THERION aim for a revolutionary partly based on it. It is simply the main idea of the antichrist character that stage performance bringing together old and young opera connoisseurs. is very much based on the book. We have taken a great story by a classic THERION have evolved from a mere death metal act into one of the first Russian philosopher and modernised and perfected it into a great new projects to take a trip towards the world of classical music, setting the initial story that could make it worthwhile for a very broad audience.” standards to a style later known as symphonic metal. Therefore Christofer With an incredible total of 30 different roles and characters, who all re- never knew any boundaries to his creativity and always challenged himself quired a unique voice, THERION hired not only a big choir, but also multi- in terms of songwriting, even after being forced to take a break due to ple male and female soloists to bring the epic story to life. With long-time severe health issues with two spinal disc herniations in his neck. But after collaborators like Thomas Vikström, Lori Lewis and Chiara Malvestiti, fans a painful recovery, he is now back with this monumental project, daring to will hear the band’s classical vibe but also be able to drown in a magical walk unexplored paths: maelstrom of many new voices [see full singer list below]. “In all honestly, a huge part of our fan base is very open-minded, so I guess “In the book there were only male characters. So the first thing was to get a more than half of them will appreciate the full opera, even if it’s different.“ bit of balance in there. Both for musical reasons and to be able to improve the story. The main opponent of the Antichrist in the book is Elder John Below you can find the complete list of contributing singers and different and he has a limited role and is a boring old man. So instead, I invented roles: Johanna to take his place. She is like a Joan of Arc inspired character and has now the second most important role in the opera. To make things more Role Voice Act 1 Act 2 Act 3 Singer typically opera, she is the sister of the Antichrist’s wife (called Helena, also Antichrist Tenor x x x Thomas Vikström a person we invented), who is trapped between two loyalties.” Divided into 3 acts, the opera reaches a full length of three and a half hours Johanna Soprano x x x Chiara Malvestiti and is not divided into typical ‘songs’, but chapters and scenes, where Helena Soprano x x x Lori Lewis different storylines take place in various environments. Those following Agnes Mezzo x x x Ulrika Skarby THERION’s history during the past few years will be aware that Christofer’s Mare Soprano x x x Lydia Kjellberg vision of creating a rock opera has long time been haunting his mind and Sophia Soprano x x x Melissa Verlak can now be considered a true lifetime achievement: Appolonius Baryton x x Markus Jupiter “15 years ago I started to write a regular opera and got stuck. I can write the catchy highlights, but not the ‘boring’ stuff to fill out an opera with.