Swedish progressive/experimental metallers Therion will take their upcoming rock opera on the road in Europe December. Support on the trek will come from Arkona, The Devil and Sound Storm.

Comments Therion mastermind Christofer Johnsson: "When announcing that we will be working on a rock opera for some years, we were met with many deep sighs as the original plan was to stay off touring completely and only do a few festivals once in a while (to not completely lose contact with the fans meanwhile). I've learnt over the years that it's better to focus on one thing and not interrupt it with a lot of other types of activities. I am, however, not unable to change my mind if there is a good reason for it.

"We are not supposed to start working properly on the rock opera until the autumn, but we have cheated a bit and already started a bit. We have discovered that the possible musical directions are many and after a while the idea to test them on an audience was born.

"Unlike a regular Therion album where we do what we wanna do and record buyers simply can like or not like it, this is a much larger project and we are dependent on making something that really appeal to people in a broader sense.

"The idea of spending several years on something that may not launch fully due to being too inaccessible vs. production expenses is not appealing at all. Also, after 25 years of doing whatever we wanted, it's a real challenge and a new experience to try to work in a certain direction intentionally. So we need guinea pigs to test the stuff on to see how we are doing. That's where you guys come in.

"So we will be doing a couple of shows where we will perform a few pieces of what we have so far and see the reactions, if we are going in the right direction or if we need to get back to the drawing desk again. We will also reveal the concept of the rock opera then.

"While being on the road with all the gear hooked up on stage, we will, of course, take the opportunity to blow off a set list with old classics at the same time."
Therion "rock opera" tour dates:

Dec. 06 - Studio - Krakow, Poland
Dec. 07 - Stodola - Warsaw, Poland
Dec. 08 - Eter - Wroclaw, Poland
Dec. 10 - Club 22 - Budapest, Hungary
Dec. 11 - Szene - Vienna, Austria
Dec. 12 - Fleda - Brno, Czech republic
Dec. 13 - F Haus - Jena, Germany
Dec. 14 - Effenaar - Eindhoven, Holland
Dec. 15 - Le Docks - Lausanne, Switzerland
Dec. 17 - RnR Arena - Romangnano, Italy
Dec. 18 - Z7 - Pratteln, Switzerland
Dec. 19 - Trabendo - Paris, France
Dec. 20 - Islington - London, Uk
Dec. 21 - Harmonie - Leeuwarden, Holland
Dec. 22 - Batschkapp - Frankfurt, Germany

Therion last year celebrated its 25th anniversary with the release of a new album, "Les Fleurs Du Mal". The band signed a licensing deal with End Of The Light Records to make the Cd available in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

The "Les Fleurs Du Mal" title refers to Charles Baudelaire's (French author and poet 1821 - 1867) famous poem collection "Flowers Of Evil" ("Les Fleurs Du Mal" in French) that caused such an upset of emotions in France that the author was brought to court and got fined for "insulting the public" with six of the poems, that remained forbidden in France until 1949 when the ban was finally lifted. The spirit of the project is a tribute to Baudelaire, and is imbued into both music and artwork.