Candlemass
Ancient Dreams / Nightfall \ Tales of Creation
Metal Blade Records
Dark God Metal symphonies. Listening to these apocalyptic sounds, visions of dark skies, sounds of rumbling thunder, & ominous shapes fill the mind. Messiah Marcolin, the Swedish band's diaphram artist, pours forth his operatic expertise to the very heavy & powerful "Doom Metal", manifested in gothic glory.
Commendably, Candlemass is also aware of the importance of visual imagery. Marcolin performs on stage in a black friar's robe, which helps to create the illusion of the arcane.
Each album features fantastic cover art, taken from rennaissance masterpieces. Ancient Dreams displays a ghostly apparition of paradise, Nightfall shows a painting of a death angel escorting a man across the lake of death {maybe Styx}. BY far, the most enchanting piece thereon is Bewitched, followed by the haunting piece Black Candles.
Tales of Creation presents a jehovic deity standing upon cumulus clouds, enacting the tales of genesis. Ogling the jackets themselves is like perusing an art gallery.
Nightfall contains a remake of Chopin's classic Marche Funebre. Tales of Creation features brilliant guitar work by Lars Johansson & Mats Bjorkman. Like living in the gothic period with electricity. Ancient Dreams is like a mythological, sonic tapestry.
The Candlemass experience is like being in the world of the gods of olde. It is art. A melancholy, morose, & morbid shadow of a "Pagan Mass." If oblivion was musick, it would sound like this...
Nightfall I. Gothic Stone / The Well of Souls / Codex Gigas / Samarithan
II. Marche Funebre / Dark Are The Veils of Death / Mourner's Lament / Bewitched / Black Candles
Tales of Creation I. The Prophesy / Dark Reflections / Voices in the Wind / Under the Oak / Tears / Into The Unfathomed Tower
II. The Edge of Heaven / Somewhere In Nowhere / Through The Infinite Halls of Death / Dawn / A Tale of Creation
Ancient Dreams I. Mirror, Mirror / A Cry From The Crypt / Darkness In Paradise / Incarnation of Evil
II. Bearer of Pain / Ancient Dreams / The Bells of Acheron / Epistle No. 81
Nemesis