Released By : Napalm Records
Genre : Doom Metal
Link : http://www.candlemass.se
Lineup:
Robert Lowe – Vocals
Mats Bjorkman – Guitar
Lars Johansson – Guitars
Leif Edling – Bass
Jan Lindh – Drums
Tracklist:
01. Prophet
02. The Sound Of Dying Demons
03. Dancing In The Temple (Of The Mad Queen Bee)
04. Waterwitch
05. The Lights Of Thebe
06. Psalms For The Dead
07. The Killing Of The Sun
08. Siren Song
09. Black As Time
Hmmm…. Doom Metal. It’s one genre of metal that I just never really managed to get into as much as I would have liked to. I, like a lot of people have found most of the music in this genre to be a little too boring and slow in general. But there are a couple of exceptions to this too. Especially when it comes to CANDLEMASS, who are easily by favorite Doom band by a long mile and regardless of my general disinterest in the genre itself, I have always closely followed the movements of this band over their career. Over the years they have had plenty of member changes, a few changes and then back-changes in musical style, a couple of pure classic albums and even a couple of dud ones too. Now though, with the release of PSALMS FOR THE DEAD, the band have announced that there will be no more studio albums in their future. Yes we’ve heard a similar thing a couple of times in the past, but this time there’s something about the things members of the band have been saying that really do make this release feel like the full-stop ending to a magnificent story.
I tried my hardest to not let the end of the band cloud my judgement while listening to this new record, but it was really, really hard not to get sentimental, and I actually found myself diving through the band’s back-catalog and revisiting some of their albums that I haven’t listened to in way too long. I’m not too sure how to stack this one up in comparison to the rest of the band’s discography, but I guess I would say that while it won’t rival the classic albums, it’s definitely a very high quality record that is a fitting swansong for the band and one that all fans and followers will enjoy.
As the band have done many times before there is a very keen sense of melody instilled into this disc, and while there’s plenty of droning, doomy, stoner guitar riffs, there’s also some faster paced metal moments that keep things interesting. I also think that vocally this is probably the most impressive overall release from the four album long Robert Lowe era. Maybe it would have been nice to have a had a guest vocal spot from Messiah Marcolin to signify the closing chapter, but that being said, Lowe does a very, very impressive job here. I like the production that the band has been using over the last couple of albums too, which is once again revisited on PSALMS FOR THE DEAD. It still allows the band to sound deep, epic and purely evil, but there’s a certain sharpness and clarity to the sound that just makes it so much easier on the ears than most releases in the genre.
I will truly miss CANDLEMASS, and can only hope that the members of the band bring us some new music in the near future, but at least the band were good enough to leave us with a great album on their way out.
Written By ZeeZee
Rating 8/10
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