Candlemass - Nightfall (1987)

Few bands can truly conjure despair through their music. But against all odds, Sweden's premiere gothic doom outfit, beneath the operatic vocals of Messiah Marcolin and the superb songwriting of Leif Edling, were one of the first bands to succeed. Overwhelmingly. In 1987, you didn't have today's widespread genres of drone, doom, funeral doom, and the like. You had Black Sabbath, Witchfinder General, St. Vitus, and a few other founders and contemporaries. The Candlemass sound embraces the heavier riffing style of Tony Iommi ("Symptom of the Universe", etc) and marries it with gothic lyrics of hopelessness.

Nightfall is their masterpiece, a flawless slab of crushing sadness drenched in Edling's archaic Christian lyrics. "Gothic Stone" is a short intro with some keyboards which perfectly sets up the grooving doom of "The Well of Souls". Immediately, the 'Mad Monk' Messiahs Marcolin's vocals offered a distinct alternative to basically ALL other metal music of the period with their operatic power. Yet these aren't calling at you from a theater balcony, but the walls of an abandoned castle, a decaying Medieval cathedral, or a roadside shrine in the Plague Years.

The instrumental "Codex Gigas" follows with its gorgeous gothic dirge, and after that comes one of the greatest doom songs ever written, one of the greatest METAL songs ever written. "At the Gallows Ends" begins with some sad acoustics under chords, then erupts into the best riff of its kind since "Symptom of the Universe". Jesus. When I first heard this song I was instantly hooked (I had picked up the single before the full-length). Marcolin's vocal line during the chorus is haunting, and the brief lead section near the close of the song is excellent. "Samarithan" is another beauty with its slow pace and story-driven lyrics. Chopin's "March Funebre" is covered with keyboards and guitars, and then the somewhat faster paced, groovy "Dark are the Veils of Death". "Mourners Lament", another slower song with some evil riffing. The last vocal track on the album is "Bewitched", one of their more popular numbers. And then "Black Candles" closes the epic, a haunting instrumental written by Mike Wead of Mercyful Fate.

The mix of the album was pretty much perfect for its day and it still sounds great to these ears. The band was a class act. This isn't a style of music where one expects any manner of virtuosity, but riff for riff it's one of the best albums of its type to date, if not THE best. The songs are perfect, even the instrumentals which may come off a little sappy. I hold the album as the standard for epic, crushing gothic metal, and the band's influence is still heard today as a landmark between Sabbath and most modern European doom.

Verdict: Epic Win (10/10) (ring, brother, ring for me)

http://www.candlemass.se/