Therion "Secrets Of The Runes"

Secret of the Runes is the tenth full-length musical album by Swedish symphonic metal band Therion. It's a concept album based on Norse mythology, where each song describes one of the nine worlds. Cover artwork was made by Thomas Ewerhard, it features nine Scandinavian runes, each corresponding to a certain mythological world.

Album also includes two cover versions as bonus tracks. A music video was filmed for the Summer Night City cover.

Track listing

All songs written by Christofer Johnsson.

1. "Ginnungagap" - 6:10
2. "Midgård" - 5:04
3. "Asgård" - 4:07  
4. "Jotunheim" - 3:43
5. "Schwarzalbenheim" - 5:18
6. "Ljusalfheim" - 3:53
7. "Muspelheim" - 2:13
8. "Nifelheim" - 4:33
9. "Vanaheim" - 4:02
10. "Helheim" - 3:18
11. "Secret of the Runes" - 4:30

Digipak edition

Digipak contains two bonus tracks:

1. "Crying Days" (Scorpions cover) - 4:32
2. "Summer Night City" (ABBA cover) - 4:55

Runes shown on the front cover (and also in the booklet) are Nordic runes with the Elder Futhark alphabet. On the back cover every song has its own rune character:

This album was also included in a paper folder in the back of a German limited edition of the book Uthark: Nightside of the Runes, written by Thomas Karlsson, which discusses the occult Uthark theory first advocated by the Swedish professor Sigurd Agrell in the 1930's. The theory posits that there was a deeper, darker, secret, magic meaning behind the runes that only the runemaster knew about. The theory is not accepted by mainstream runeologists.

Recording information:

Recorded during Spring 2001 at Modern Art Studio in Stockholm, Sweden.

Mixed and mastered on June & July 2001 at Finnvox Studio in Helsinki, Finland.