Of Darkness...

After releasing the third demo record Time Shall Tell EP in 1990, Therion got attention from the British label Deaf Records, a subsidiary of Peaceville Records, and signed the band's first contract. Of Darkness... was recorded in Swedish studio Sunlight in Stockholm from August to September 1990 and released in February 1991. The initial line-up has not been changed since its last production. The album was produced by Tomas Skogsberg and the band itself.

The title track and the song "Dark Eternity" were not used from the recording session, but were instead taken from the 1990 EP recordings.

Of Darkness... consists of songs Christofer Johnsson had written in the years of 1987–1989, many of which were available on the band's demo recordings.{{cite web|last1=Johnsson|first1=Christofer|title=Of Darkness...|url=http://therion.se/discography/of-darkness/|website=Therion}} Musically, "Of Darkness…" could be described as a typical death metal release, though elements of thrash metal are apparent as well.

Unlike later albums, lyrically, many tracks on the album focus on political and social issues.

2000 re-release album contains original remastered songs, and four bonus tracks songs. Two of them are the 1990 versions from the "Time Shall Tell" EP. The other two are the unreleased versions from the "Of Darkness…" recording sessions.

{{Album ratings

|rev1 = Allmusic

|rev1score = {{Rating|2.5|5}}

}}

The album reviews were mixed. Of Darkness… received a medium rating 2.5 of 5 at Allmusic with "Morbid Reality" and "Megalomania" songs picked by its staff,{{cite web

|url = {{AllMusic|class=album|id=r175549|pure_url=yes}}

|title = Of Darkness

|work = Allmusic

|access-date = 2008-02-05}} and 3.02 of 5 at the Rate Your Music community being only number 925 in its 1991 ranking.{{cite web

|url = http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/therion/of_darkness___/

|title = Of Darkness...

|work = Rate Your Music

|access-date = 2008-02-05}}

All tracks were written and composed by Christofer Johnsson.

{{tracklist

| title1 = The Return

| length1 = 5:15

| title2 = Asphyxiate with Fear

| length2 = 4:00

| title3 = Morbid Reality

| length3 = 6:05

| title4 = Megalomania

| length4 = 4:10

| title5 = A Suburb to Hell

| length5 = 4:47

| title6 = Genocidal Raids

| length6 = 5:15

| title7 = Time Shall Tell

| length7 = 5:07

| title8 = Dark Eternity

| length8 = 4:45

| total_length = 39:25

}}

{{tracklist

| headline = 2000 re-release bonus tracks

| title9 = A Suburb to Hell

| note9 = demo version

| length9 = 5:19

| title10 = Asphyxiate with Fear

| note10 = demo version

| length10 = 4:41

| title11 = Time Shall Tell

| note11 = unreleased version

| length11 = 4:06

| title12 = Dark Eternity

| note12 = unreleased version

| length12 = 4:19

}}

; Therion

• Christofer Johnsson – vocals, rhythm guitar
• Peter Hansson – lead guitar
• Oskar Forss – drums
• Erik Gustafsson – bass guitar

; Production

• Tomas Skogsberg – engineer, producer
• Gary Querns – cover art (based on Johan Losand and Rikard Olund's work)

{{see also|#External links|l1=External links (section)}}

{{Listen|filename=Therion_-_asphyxiate_with_fear.ogg|title=Asphyxiate with Fear|description=|format=Ogg}}

• Scandinavian death metal

{{reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070310234833/http://main.megatherion.com/Albums/Of_Darkness....xhtml Of Darkness...] at the official website
• {{MusicBrainz release|mbid=baf87e8c-8bba-4336-b0dc-98ec9a478c9e|name=Of Darkness...}}
• {{discogs release|name=Of Darkness...|id=675463}}

; Audio samples

• [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000056P4W Of Darkness...] at Amazon.com

{{Therion}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1991 debut albums

Category:Therion (band) albums

Category:Deaf Records albums

Category:Nuclear Blast albums