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Trollheart · 10-02-2013, 08:13 AM

Okay then, time to get this party started properly. And nothing shakes the house and brings out those air guitars better than .... Doom Metal??

Ancient dreams --- Candlemass --- 1986 (Active Records)

I had to wait almost a minute before my dealbreaker was decided: if the singer was a "growler" then I'm afraid you lovely people (except you there, third from the left, second row: you're damn ugly!) would be reading about a different band, and I'd be listening to a different album. I just can't stand growlers. Yeah yeah, we know, Trollheart! Stop going on about it! Well! Sorry for breathing, I'm sure!

Anyhoo, the music as I say goes on for about a minute into the first track before the vocalist comes in, and I really was hoping it would be a singer I could listen to, because I like the hard, grindy metal that I'm hearing, sort of my second only Doom Metal album if you don't count Sabbath. But when Messiah Marcolin begins to sing my fears are assuaged: he's no Ozzy but he's definitely easy enough on the ears, in a metal sense. To be honest he reminds me of Mac MacDonald from Threshold, God rest his soul. "Mirror mirror" gets the album underway with a track not as slow or plodding I'll admit as I had been led to expect from Doom Metal. Anyway it's powerful and heavy, but certainly following the Sabbath formula, with some fine soloing from Lars Johansson though I don't find the percussion as heavy as I might have expected, not on this opener anyway.

Slowing down even more then for "A cry from the crypt", with again a big snarly guitar opening which leads into a faster, galloping fretfest before slowing down again and taking us into the second minute when Marcolin establishes his control over the song with a strong vocal. There's an almost operatic sense about how he sings, and you wonder just how high are the notes he could hit if he wanted to. As in most if not all metal though it's the guitars that paint the scene and Johnasson and rhythm guitarist Mats Bjorkman do a fine job here, while Edling keeps the bass dark and heavy. From starting off slow and doomy the song has increased in tempo by the halfway point, where it slows down again.

"Darkness in Paradise" is good too, though so far I'm seeing these songs all as being basically quite similar, but we'll see how this develops. "Incarnation of evil" has a rather theatrical dark voice at the beginning, and "Bearer of pain" is okay but yeah, everything sounding quite the same now. Good though. Some really nice guitar work here, but I think Doom Metal is going to be hard for me to get really worked up over. Maybe that's the point. There's a great grindy start to the beginning of the title track, actually reminds me of Asia's "Time again" -- bet you never thought you'd hear Doom Metal and Asia mentioned in the same sentence, huh?

Song gets quite epic and dramatic with some lower-register choral vocals, it sounds like, and the guitars are nice and grindy too, while "The bells of Acheron" has an opening straight out of Iommi's playbook, though it does then kick into decent life then on the back of the percussion and chugging guitars. Good to get a little speed in the metal to shake things up a bit. "Epistle no. 81" then returns to the slow plodding style that mostly characterises this album, and for all I know this subgenre, with heavy guitars and doomy slow pounding drums, then there's nothing bad I can say about the Black Sabbath medley that closes the album, including such favourites as "Sweet leaf", "Sabbath bloody sabbath", "Electric funeral" and of course "Black Sabbath", the song that started it all, way back in 1970. Way to pay your dues!

TRACKLISTING

1. Mirror mirror
2. A cry from the crypt
3. Darkness in Paradise
4. Incarnation of evil
5. Bearer of pain
6. Ancient dreams
7. The bells of Acheron
8. Epistle no. 81
9. Black Sabbath medley

I think I became quite bored with this album fairly quickly, when it was made clear that the basic style and melody was really not going to change much. As I said, I know Candlemass are a respected leader in the Doom Metal subgenre, and if they're the best it has to offer I don't hold out too much hope that I will be impressed by others I'm going to look at here. But that doesn't mean it's bad music, just not to my taste. I prefer a little more variety in my metal. Still, for what they do, as I so often say, Candlemass do it very well. They've certainly stood the test of time, still around after nearly thirty years, only a decade less than their heroes.

Further information on Candlemass here Candlemass - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

10-02-2013, 08:13 AM	#1904 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Okay then, time to get this party started properly. And nothing shakes the house and brings out those air guitars better than .... *Doom Metal??* Ancient dreams --- Candlemass --- 1986 (Active Records) I had to wait almost a minute before my dealbreaker was decided: if the singer was a "growler" then I'm afraid you lovely people (except you there, third from the left, second row: you're damn ugly!) would be reading about a different band, and I'd be listening to a different album. I just can't stand growlers. Yeah yeah, we know, Trollheart! Stop going on about it! Well! Sorry for breathing, I'm sure! Anyhoo, the music as I say goes on for about a minute into the first track before the vocalist comes in, and I really was hoping it would be a singer I could listen to, because I like the hard, grindy metal that I'm hearing, sort of my second only Doom Metal album if you don't count Sabbath. But when Messiah Marcolin begins to sing my fears are assuaged: he's no Ozzy but he's definitely easy enough on the ears, in a metal sense. To be honest he reminds me of Mac MacDonald from Threshold, God rest his soul. "Mirror mirror" gets the album underway with a track not as slow or plodding I'll admit as I had been led to expect from Doom Metal. Anyway it's powerful and heavy, but certainly following the Sabbath formula, with some fine soloing from Lars Johansson though I don't find the percussion as heavy as I might have expected, not on this opener anyway. Slowing down even more then for "A cry from the crypt", with again a big snarly guitar opening which leads into a faster, galloping fretfest before slowing down again and taking us into the second minute when Marcolin establishes his control over the song with a strong vocal. There's an almost operatic sense about how he sings, and you wonder just how high are the notes he could hit if he wanted to. As in most if not all metal though it's the guitars that paint the scene and Johnasson and rhythm guitarist Mats Bjorkman do a fine job here, while Edling keeps the bass dark and heavy. From starting off slow and doomy the song has increased in tempo by the halfway point, where it slows down again. "Darkness in Paradise" is good too, though so far I'm seeing these songs all as being basically quite similar, but we'll see how this develops. "Incarnation of evil" has a rather theatrical dark voice at the beginning, and "Bearer of pain" is okay but yeah, everything sounding quite the same now. Good though. Some really nice guitar work here, but I think Doom Metal is going to be hard for me to get really worked up over. Maybe that's the point. There's a great grindy start to the beginning of the title track, actually reminds me of Asia's "Time again" -- bet you never thought you'd hear Doom Metal and Asia mentioned in the same sentence, huh? Song gets quite epic and dramatic with some lower-register choral vocals, it sounds like, and the guitars are nice and grindy too, while "The bells of Acheron" has an opening straight out of Iommi's playbook, though it does then kick into decent life then on the back of the percussion and chugging guitars. Good to get a little speed in the metal to shake things up a bit. "Epistle no. 81" then returns to the slow plodding style that mostly characterises this album, and for all I know this subgenre, with heavy guitars and doomy slow pounding drums, then there's nothing bad I can say about the Black Sabbath medley that closes the album, including such favourites as "Sweet leaf", "Sabbath bloody sabbath", "Electric funeral" and of course "Black Sabbath", the song that started it all, way back in 1970. Way to pay your dues! TRACKLISTING 1. Mirror mirror 2. A cry from the crypt 3. Darkness in Paradise 4. Incarnation of evil 5. Bearer of pain 6. Ancient dreams 7. The bells of Acheron 8. Epistle no. 81 9. Black Sabbath medley I think I became quite bored with this album fairly quickly, when it was made clear that the basic style and melody was really not going to change much. As I said, I know Candlemass are a respected leader in the Doom Metal subgenre, and if they're the best it has to offer I don't hold out too much hope that I will be impressed by others I'm going to look at here. But that doesn't mean it's bad music, just not to my taste. I prefer a little more variety in my metal. Still, for what they do, as I so often say, Candlemass do it very well. They've certainly stood the test of time, still around after nearly thirty years, only a decade less than their heroes. Further information on Candlemass here Candlemass - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018 Last edited by Trollheart; 10-22-2013 at 03:28 PM.