Year Of Metal #080: Candlemass - Candlemass

This 2005 album from the highly successful Swedish metallers is our third or fourth sojourn into “epic doom”, I think, and for good and ill I feel like this one best captures the two moods as they overlap. That is to say: there are plenty of massive, stomping riffs and long, lumbering songs that I’m well into - but also a fair bit of operatic singing and general fantasy which I’m not nearly so keen on.

In keeping with my probably unfair view of Swedish music, they’re not the coolest bunch on the block. Opener “Black Dwarf” kicks off in promising if not especially thrilling fashion with a serviceable chuggy riff, but we slide a little too close to power metal once singer Messiah Marcolin steps up to the mic. He’s a technically gifted chap for sure, but there’s no sugar coating it - he is a goofy singer. He hops up for the high notes and does the cringey double of growling, then falsettoing, the word “dwarf”. That’s never going to be my metallic vibe, and the incredible polish over the whole thing doesn’t help me find my footing.

This is as dorky as it gets, though. “Seven Silver Keys” doesn’t quite reach the ominous levels it hopes for due again to the shiny production, but the beefy riff sounds amazing and I love the way this one’s put together. The choruses properly pop; here Marcolin’s showmanship is a boon, his sudden sense of flourish and performance a counterpoint to the relentlessness of the guitar’s lead line.

They’re able to go up a weight class when they fancy it, too. “Copernicus” is a standout, a lengthy but mostly stripped back cut. They’re much more doom than epic on this one, keeping things dead simple but all the more cutting and impactful for it. They’re not afraid to play out a good idea for a long while; I feel as though a lot of bands in the epic/power milieu would get the itch to mix things up a lot more and chuck in a load of changes. For the most part when Candlemass figure they’re onto a cool idea, they’ll ride it out all the way. There’s the odd solo here and there, but they’re not pissing around for the sake of it.

Maybe the album just gets me in the mood more as I go on, because by the time I’m listening to the pretty ridiculous “Born In A Tank”, I’m having a pretty good time. They up the tempo here and sling in some harmonised lead guitars, but despite the return to big daffy performances, I’m still into this one. Perhaps it’s because it lacks the sheen of “Black Dwarf” - an underdog power metaller feels a lot easier to stomach.

There are parts of this album I could do without and production and performance choices that aren’t my cup of tea, but I admire Candlemass for having their approach down to this degree. They’ve meshed together a couple of niches within an already fairly niche genre and committed wholeheartedly to the bit. And even for my grumpy tastes, more often than not it works. ```