Candlemass

Only heard the album once so far but I like it a lot.
Has more in common with King of the Grey Islands rather than Epicus Doomicus Metallicus at first listen
Second listen starting now
 
Had my maiden listen of the new album earlier today.

First impressions:
-Johan Längquist sounds good. His voice has gotten a lot grittier, but there are a few moments that could've taken directly from Epicus (most notably "Bridge of the Blind").
-"Bridge of the Blind" is a fully acoustic track - who would've thought? Reminds me of "The Whispering" from Leif's The Doomsday Kingdom-project.
-The album overall picks up right where Death Magic Doom and Psalms for the Dead left off.
-Highlights for me so far are "Splendor Demon Majesty", "Astorolus", "Bridge of the Blind" and "House of Doom".
 
"Astorolus" being probably the best one, the sequence of "Death's Wheel" / "Black Trinity" / "House of Doom" works really well (and yes, "House of Doom" is the best of the three).
 
Astorolus & House of Doom are the ones I listened to so far and enjoy them both. Really cool Iommi played! Perfect match with Candlemass. Messiah was the singer when I heard my 1st Candlemass cd (Tales of Creation) so it was not until recently I discovered he was not their 1st singer. Cool they got the original singer back.

They haven't played USA in over 10 years so hopefully a promoter can bring them over. Would love to see them live.
 
Normally that's what I use when I research bands, but I because a Candlemass fan in late 80s with Ancient Dreams & TOC but just never got around to 1st cd, until later with Amazon Music Unlimited
 
A local club just announced Candlemass on April 18th however it is not on the band's website. If this is true, it will be their first US show (outside of a cruise ship) in a long time! Hope it is a legit announcement...
 
Got my Candlemass tix last month for the upcoming show in April here in Houston; YES! Their return to the states after a decade!

BTW, they will release an EP of songs left over from the last sessions soon:

 
Hell of an album... Up there with Death Magic Doom and of course some levels below Epicus (it's normal... (Epicus is Epicus!)
 
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Listened to The Pendulum today... the impression I get is that the riffs from the title track and Snakes Of Goliath are too derivative of early Sabbath's more doomy stuff like Electric Funeral or Symptom Of The Universe (you'll spot the similitude for sure). Good but not on the same level of the best tracks from The Door To Doom. As for the demos, Porcelain Skull is a great tune but the other are just two acoustic guitar and one distorted bass interludes clocking slightly above 1 minute mark... meh! They might as only discarded these 3 tracks. Other than this is always cool to have 3 more songs from Candlemass.
 
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I was looking for some autumnal creepiness (other than Opeth, Horror Show, and Ghost) and ended up listening to the first two Candlemass albums yesterday. Really good stuff!

EDIT: On second listen, the first album is just amazing. Second album is solid, but I do not like Messiah's voice as much as the first guy. Onto Ancient Dreams now.
 
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I have Ancient Dreams, Tales of Creation and Nightfall. Messiah is the singer in all of them, so I just assumed he had always been. I love his vocal theatrics. especially on Incantation of evil. At least I think that's it. When he sings, "into the night, we will goooo, into the NIIIGHT, we will gooooooooooooo." with a bit of up and down. Great stuff.
 
After listening to the first four albums, I greatly enjoy it all. However, there is a continual downward trend in quality with each album. Everything I’ve heard is good, but it becomes less memorable and more traditionally “doomy” with each record.

I still am not in love with Messiah’s vocals and I eagerly await the next vocalist. He just has so many operatic tendencies and such aggressive vibrato. A good vocalist, sure, but not my bag

The debut album remains my favorite and it basically slides down from there.
 
The current vocalist is good, and their latest received favorable reviews.
The current singer is none other than Johan Lanqvist, their first lead vocalist and the one that recorded the genre defining masterpiece that is Epicus Doomicus Metallicus. BTW I never also never liked Messiah's voice and, although featuring some good songs, I think the Nightfall to Tales Of Creation era is hugely overrated. On the other hand the ex Solitude Aeternus Robert Lowe albums were really good, especially Death Magic Doom. The dude can REALLY sing (just listen to the Ashes To Ashes live album). Other than that I would strongly recommend Dactylis Glomerata (by far their most underrated album) and their latest Door To Doom (again with Lanqvist) is also a killer record.
 
The current singer is none other than Johan Lanqvist, their first lead vocalist and the one that recorded the genre defining masterpiece that is Epicus Doomicus Metallicus. BTW I never also never liked Messiah's voice and, although featuring some good songs, I think the Nightfall to Tales Of Creation era is hugely overrated. On the other hand the ex Solitude Aeternus Robert Lowe albums were really good, especially Death Magic Doom. The dude can REALLY sing (just listen to the Ashes To Ashes live album). Other than that I would strongly recommend Dactylis Glomerata (by far their most underrated album) and their latest Door To Doom (again with Lanqvist) is also a killer record.
Right, yes, I forgot about that - I'm not that familiar with them. Edling talked about the reunion on stage though when I saw them on a cruise a year or so ago. It was a good gig. Also saw them at Sweden Rock Festival a few years back (half the set or so) with Levén on vocals.
 
After listening to the first four albums, I greatly enjoy it all. However, there is a continual downward trend in quality with each album. Everything I’ve heard is good, but it becomes less memorable and more traditionally “doomy” with each record.

I still am not in love with Messiah’s vocals and I eagerly await the next vocalist. He just has so many operatic tendencies and such aggressive vibrato. A good vocalist, sure, but not my bag

The debut album remains my favorite and it basically slides down from there.

I'd recommend "King of the Grey Islands", their first album with Robert Lowe on vocals (their ninth studio album, I think, if you're doing them chronologically). It's definitely their heaviest record, and while they fired Lowe later on due to some bad live performances, he might have the best voice, out of all the Candlemass-singers. In any case, "King of the Grey Islands" share the top spot with "Epicus" and "Nightfall" as the very best of Candlemass for me.
 
Chapter VI - An interesting twist of style, as I would classify this as more of a traditional metal album. Far more uptempo than the previous album or two. I really like the music on this one. I'm honestly glad to see Messiah gone, even if this guy (who I think is only here for one album?) is not amazing. He's fine. Solid record, I'd probably rank it somewhere equal or slightly above the previous two albums.
 
After listening to the first four albums, I greatly enjoy it all. However, there is a continual downward trend in quality with each album. Everything I’ve heard is good, but it becomes less memorable and more traditionally “doomy” with each record.

I still am not in love with Messiah’s vocals and I eagerly await the next vocalist. He just has so many operatic tendencies and such aggressive vibrato. A good vocalist, sure, but not my bag

The debut album remains my favorite and it basically slides down from there.
I'd recommend "King of the Grey Islands", their first album with Robert Lowe on vocals (their ninth studio album, I think, if you're doing them chronologically). It's definitely their heaviest record, and while they fired Lowe later on due to some bad live performances, he might have the best voice, out of all the Candlemass-singers. In any case, "King of the Grey Islands" share the top spot with "Epicus" and "Nightfall" as the very best of Candlemass for me.
Totally agree with you gentlemen. Epicus is still the best Candlemass album for me - being the first one I ever heard might have an influence admittedly - closely followed by King... .
I never learned to appreciate Marcolin*'s vocals (actually him, Blaze in Maiden, and the guy on the third Sabbat album are examples of singers that have really made it very hard for me to like the releases they were singing on); nevertheless, there's some very good music on the albums mentioned by @Onhell ,


*Messiah, for me, is a Mayhem vocalist.
 
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