In the depths of Upplands Väsby – a suburb of Sweden’s picturesque capital city Stockholm – in 1984, songwriter/bandleader Leif Edling and drummer Matz Ekström formed what would become one of the world’s seminal doom metal bands, CANDLEMASS. The band have gone on to have a glistening 40 year career and alongside the legendary BLACK SABBATH no less, they have had a defining influence on the doom metal genre. Labelled as epic doom metal, CANDLEMASS’s sound combines semi-operatic vocals with thunderous BLACK SABBATH-esque riffs. Debuting in 1986 with their genre defining album Epicus Doomicus Metallicus, they have since being hailed as one of the “big four of doom metal” along with PENTAGRAM, SAINT VITUS, and TROUBLE.
Before becoming CANDLEMASS the band were known as NEMESIS (1982-1984). When that band broke up bassist Leif Edling started CANDLEMASS with vocalist Johan Längqvist, – who was a session member at that time – drummer Matz Ekström, guitarist Mats “Mappe” Björkman and Klas Bergwall. This initial lineup would see the release of the band’s most influential album Epicus Doomicus Metallicus – which is dog latin translation rendering of “Epic Doom Metal” and is the name of the genre they helped pioneer.
Ironically, the band were dropped from their label Black Dragon Records after the album was released on 10th June 1986. However, it gained a cult status with Eduardo Rivadavia of the online music database AllMusic referred to the album as “a pillar of classic ’80s metal” offering “the strongest, most consistent songwriting of the band’s career”, although it “was let down by vocalist Johan Längqvist, whose performance failed to deliver with the power and command of his immediate successor Messiah Marcolin.”
With Epicus Doomicus Metallicus almost instantly securing their status in 1986, original vocalist Längqvist was replaced as vocalist by larger than life Messiah Marcolin (a.k.a. Eddie Marcolin). This would be the start of a revolving door of band members. When CANDLEMASS were he adding to the studio to record their second effort, Nightfall, in 1987, Bergwall and Ekström had left the band. Upon the completion of Nightfall, the gaps on the drums and guitars were filled by Jan Lindh and Lars Johansson respectively. The band released two more albums; Ancient Dreams (1988) and Tales of Creation (1989) alongside one live album simply called Live.
As 1991 rolled around, there was a dispute between the band members which lead to the departure of vocalist Marcolin. CANDLEMASS recruited Thomas Vikström to replace Marcolin to record they fifth studio album Chapter VI in 1992. However the album was unsuccessful and the band called it quits in 1994 after a turbulent initial run. With Edling starting another experimental project ABSTRAKT ALGEBRA.
Ultimately though, ABSTRAKT ALGEBRA was unsuccessful so Edling suddenly recruited a new line-up under the CANDLEMASS name and recorded the album Dactylis Glomerata (1998). The album was a combination of songs for a new ABSTRAKT ALGEBRA album alongside some new material. A year later the completely new line up released a second album From the 13th Sun, both featured vocals by Bjorn Flodqvist. After these two seemingly rushed but well received albums, in 2002 Edling reunited with and old school CANDLEMASS lineup including; Johansson, Björkman, Lindh and most noticeably Marcolin – differences has been put aside it seems.
This lineup played several live shows to the delight of fans and recorded a second live album. Alongside remasters for four of their albums and a documentary DVD being released called Documents of Doom. However, while the band were looking for a record deal to release their new material differences struck again and the band disbanded. The reunited again in 2005 and won a Swedish Grammy for their new self-titled album. In 2006 the band announced another album was being written and in 2007 it was announced Marcolin was out of CANDLEMASS for good.
From 2007 onwards CANDLEMASS have had significantly more stability with vocalists in two separate eras – one with Robert Lowe (2007-2012) and the other with Mats Levén (2012-2018). During the Lowe era the band would release King of the Grey Islands (2007), Death Magic Doom (2009), and Psalms of the Dead (2012) – the latter being released via Napalm Records and was slated to be their last studio album. Lowe would leave in 2012 and would be replaced by Levén, who didn’t feature on any new music.
In January 2013, CANDLEMASS were give the title of greatest Swedish hard rock/metal band of all time by the writers of Sweden Rock Magazine, Scandinavia’s biggest hard rock magazine. Despite the earlier claims that Psalms for the Dead would be their final album, bassist Edling stated that he was open to recording new music again.
In 2018 the band would release their twelfth album; The Door to Doom after reuniting Längqvist who had been out of the band for 32 years. The band stated “We wanted to find our way back to the roots of CANDLEMASS, back to the soul and essence of the band. Johan Längqvist is back and we hope this will give us some new energy and kickstart the heart of doom again”. The additional surprise with this album is that BLACK SABBATH‘s Tony Iommi, contributes to a guitar solo to one of the album’s tracks Astorolus – The Great Octopus. The band released their thirteenth album Sweet Evil Sun in November 2022.
CANDLEMASS have had a turbulent history over the last 40 years, yet their story is a testament to perseverance. While Edling is the consistent driving force of the band, the revolving door of band members has been a blessing and a curse as they have been able to adapt continuously but lacked consistently. Even so, the band have had a cult following since their inception and the seminal nature of Epicus Doomicus Metallicus has meant that they have stayed at the top of the doom scene despite the perpetual turbulence. Now they’re stronger than ever and continue to prove why they’re one of doom metal’s Big 4.
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