Candlemass

Sorry Foro, can't tell you much about the nineties era.I only followed them up to Tales of Creation, then I suppose my Funeral Doom period took over.

I seem to have a habit of following bands intensely for a while and then ignoring them if I think something better has loomed on the horizon.I then need a bit of persuading to go back to them(if I ever do at all).

Electric Wizard are one band of whom I have purchased all of their material.You may want to check them out(particularly Dopethrone)

Also, if you haven't done so already, give Cathedral a listen.This is another band who have had a 'middle period' hiatus, so ,in my opinion, try the 1st 2 and last 2 albums.
 
Kopfanatic said:
I seem to have a habit of following bands intensely for a while and then ignoring them if I think something better has loomed on the horizon.I then need a bit of persuading to go back to them(if I ever do at all).
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I guess you came back to Maiden, it's not that difficult.
 
Kopfanatic said:
Also, if you haven't done so already, give Cathedral a listen.This is another band who have had a 'middle period' hiatus, so ,in my opinion, try the 1st 2 and last 2 albums.
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I agree, Cathedral is worth looking into.  Admitingly I only own two albums, but I enjoy them enough to suggest them to folks.

As for Candlemass, I LOVE "into the Unfathamable Tower" :D
 
I know Cathedral, saw them opening for My Dying Bride, when they did their Like Gods of Son-tour, back in 1996.
I loved that Iommi-kinda guitar sound they had.
 
Foro.Have you heard of Krux. Its Leif Edlings side project.I've just listened to them on their myspace site, and I'm impressed enough to check them out further
 
Yes I do! I own their second album, simply called Krux II. :)  The singer is pretty good, he worked for Therion in the past.

Productive man, Leif eh?
 
Foro.Try Las Cruces.I've picked them up from last.fm. very much like Candlemass/Cathedral.

Incidentally, did you manage to listen to anything by Evoken?
 
To be honest not much yet apart from some YouTube songs. It reminded me a bit of the darkest and slowest moments of MDB's second full length album Turn Loose The Swans.

I might hear more to judge them well but may I ask you what do you think that sets them apart?

I'll remember the name Las Cruces, but not sure if I will check them soon. I am in the midst of some music form which I dare not mention in this topic.

(jazz)
 
What sets Evoken apart?
I was heavily into Funeral Doom, loved the heaviness of it, but became bored with the repetitiveness of the material, bands like Catacombs, Funeral Orchestra etc.I also couldn't understand the point of the 'drone' element creeping into this type of music. For example there is a band called Asunder who are extremely heavy.One cd I have has 2 lengthy tracks on it, but one is wasted because even though it starts of brilliantly, the last 15 minutes of it just consists of electronic noises.What the fuck is the point of that!

However, with Evoken the tracks twist and turn all the time.By and large the tracks are monumentally heavy, but with moments of great emotion and a dark kind of beauty, as I've mentioned before, similar to earlier My Dying Bride, but darker, which suits my taste in music.

There's nothing wrong with Candlemass at all, I was into them a while ago, its just that with the way my musical tastes have developed over the years, I find their style a bit too 'clean' for this type of music,probably the same as a lot of people will hate the 'cookie monster' style of vocals with Evoken

I've also discovered Nick Orlando's(Evoken) other band Funebrarum which is a very dark, brutal death metal band.
 
Didn't feel like opening a new thread since there's this one with 3 pages (though it's 4 years old :P).

So, I have been getting into Candlemass in the past couple of days.
Their latest album, Psalms For The Dead is IMO pretty good, though I think the slower, more epic/doomy songs work much better than the faster one. The Lights Of Thebe is an amazing song.
Death Magic Doom is also very cool, but a bit less good than its successor. Dead Angel would be my favorite song.
King Of The Grey Islands - now this is what I expected from this band. Much darker album than the next 2 albums, just the way I like it, great atmosphere. Best songs: Emperor Of The Void, Demonia 6, Man Of Shadows.
 
Nightfall is pretty good. Again, I prefer this darker style to two last Candlemass albums. Messiah's vocals are hit and miss. Sometimes he overdramatizes some lines, but overall he's pretty good. I prefer Lowe, cause his voice is a bit rougher. But both are pretty good.
 
I'd say Messiah's singing is very bombastic. But very powerful and an enormous range. I have fond memories of a Candlemass gig with him. He was very enthusiastic, great energetic performance. Lots of fun. It feels quite odd that he left so soon afterwards.
 
Night Prowler said:
Nightfall is pretty good. Again, I prefer this darker style to two last Candlemass albums. Messiah's vocals are hit and miss. Sometimes he overdramatizes some lines, but overall he's pretty good. I prefer Lowe, cause his voice is a bit rougher. But both are pretty good.
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While on one of their "worst" albums this is one of my favorite Messiah's performances and just songs in general. Awesome mood. "Into the night we willl goooooooooo" We will indeed!

 
Forostar said:
I'd say Messiah's singing is very bombastic. But very powerful and an enormous range.
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Yes, "bombastic" is the right word :)

IMO: King > Psalms > DMD
Nightfall > Epicus
Still can't compare these two eras, they are very different.
I also listened to a different version of the King Of The Grey Islands album, with Mats Leven on vocals. It's also pretty good.

Any recommendations on which album I should listen next?
 
Those are usually considered most of their best works, but as for the next albums, I would suggest the next two (after the first two): Ancient Dreams and Tales of Creation.

Ancient Dreams being one of my favorite Candlemass albums.
 
Ancient Dreams has some of my favourite Candlemass songs. Darkness in Paradise(!) and Incarnation of Evil(!)) have unsurpassed atmosphere and compelling riffs and doomy passages. The chorus of Incarnation should really improve ideas on Messiah

....... Into the night we will gooooooooo .......



As a whole album I am not sure if I would put it as high as the other records with Messiah or the debut album. Tales is epic. That's really the word, I guess.

So next to Luke's advise I'd also recommend the debut album plus all albums with Messiah you have not tried yet! So also go for Epicus... (1986) and Candlemass (2005).
 
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I feel like thousand_suns when I post this because this "news" is almost one year old but still, it shows how big this name is:

Scandinavias biggest music magazine, Sweden Rock Magazine, have voted Candlemass Best Band in Sweden Ever! In issue 100 (release Jan 8th) 40 rock/metal journalists have voted on the best Swedish bands through time, and Candlemass came in as no.1!
- This is truly incredible says bassist Leif Edling. What an honour! After nearly 30 years of playing, we get this amazing award. I never expected it when they called me. I was totally taken by surprise and had to pinch myself. It could have been Opeth, In Flames, Europe or Entombed, but they choose us! I can’t believe it! We must have done something right

‘We recorded some classic albums in the 80’s, but other bands did that too. Maybe it is what we’ve done lately that gave us this award? The newer albums have all been very well received, so perhaps it is what tipped the scale over to our advantage when you look at the entire period? After 28 years in the business we still make great albums. This is an incredible honour that gives our career the ultimate reward!

- I feel fulfilled and proud, Leif smiles. Mappe, Jan, Lars and I have been busting our asses for so many years now, and it means everything to us, this award! We don’t have to do long tours anymore, we don’t have to release an album every year or so, we need no Grammy nominations. We have nothing more to prove! We are the best band in Sweden of all time, for god’s sake! We can relax now!!

- Well…lately the phone has been ringing like crazy, so there’s no time to rest just yet, hehe! We got lots of gigs coming up next year, the Sweden Rock Magazine party on Jan 25th plus a whole bunch of cool shows, including…hopefully…an Ancient Dreams special anniversary show in Stockholm next fall/winter. It would be great if we could do that!

So, a sincere and heartfelt thanks from Candlemass to all our fans that have stood by us all these years…all of you that bought our records and came to the shows..and of course all of the journalists that voted for us! We love you all!!


If anyone can find the whole top 100, please let me know, I am curious to see how high other names are on this list.
 
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