Death Magic Doom

Sweden’s heavy artillery called Candlemass is here again to deliver some Death, Magic, and some pure Doom metal. The second with the fantastic singer Robert Lowe! The bandleader, bassist and songwriter Leif Edling has stated that this is “the best Candlemass album since Nightfall”. A brave statement, and in my opinion not a statement that is spelled reality, but the fact still remains though that “Death Magic Doom” is a fantastic album. Exactly as expected on beforehand, they are continuing to swing the hammer of doom with ease.

Let me first just make it clear that the band is in top form, great performances all over! The heavy, hauling riffs from guitarist Mappe Björkman are lining up one after another, the shrieking guitarsolos from Lasse Johansson, the “Demon of the deep”-bassplayer, Leif does a solid work in the groundwork with his bass, and drummer Jan plays with great feeling as usual. On top of all this, we have the brightest star shining on this album, the before mentioned singer Robert Lowe! He did already on 2007’s “King of the Grey Islands” show that he was the absolutely right choice to take over after Messiah. I did then say that Robert is the best vocalist that have ever sung in this band. On this album, Robert is making it even more concrete. He can do so much with his voice, and still fit in perfectly with the music so frighteningly good. He’s singing with much variation, in all these variating songs and tempos, and is adding a spooky feeling in general to the whole album. One of his best works in his career!

But why isn’t this the best album since “Nightfall”, then? Everything seems to be in order, right? No, because sadly...this album contains one bad song. Yes, that’s actually true! It is titled “Dead Angel”. Sadly, that song is the worst song this band has done since at least the reunion, and I was surprised that Leif could write such a bad song nowadays. Fast, grinding verses (for being C-mass) that really doesn’t do anything, and a very melodic chorus with some cheese threwn in. This song is very diverse from the other ones on the album, and for being Candlemass too at all. It is the “ugly duckling” of the bunch...so it’s not a successful experiment from Leif. But except for that lowdown, at least 6 other doom-gems are delivered. “House of 1000 Voices” with it’s awesome creepy atmosphere, chorus and the album’s best guitar solo is also the best track on here. Almost 8 minutes of perfection. The variating and strong-chorused “The Bleeding Baroness”, the sinister “Demon of The Deep”, the slow and heavy as hell “Hammer of Doom”, the uptempo starter “If I Ever Die” with it’s great riffs and melodies, and the ending doom & gloom-song “My Funeral Dreams” are all awesome ones too. “Clouds of Dementia” is also a good one, but slightly weaker than the greater bunch.

The production is better than the hugely compressed sound of the last C-mass album, even if this one is also a bit compressed. But especially the drums sounds a lot better on here. The guitars also have a rawer and heavier sound, which makes it more pleasant to listen to this album production/sound-wise. But:

Despite that, the production, “Death Magic Doom” doesn’t really reach the same height as it’s dark predecessor (and their best album since the re-union), “King of the Grey Islands”. This album is not far away, but the song “Dead Angel” crushes the big picture a bit. But as i’ve said, this is still a awesome record, and has a strong chance to be the best album of 2009.

3 best songs: “House of 1000 Voices” - “The Bleeding Baroness” - “Hammer of Doom”