Candlemass

Candlemass is a band that hails from Sweden. The band comprises of Robert (vocals), Leif (bass), Mats (guitar), Lars (lead guitar), and last but not least Jan (drums). Together all of the members of Candlemass play in perfect harmony; with their dark and mysterious instrumental and scratchy vocals the band members compliment each others’ talents.

The first track on this CD is titled “Prologue”. It is simply one of the two guitarists playing a riff to lead into the first song which is titled “Emperor of the Void”. This is the first chance that you get to hear the original vocal style of Robert. He uses his voice to create sort of a creepy feeling to the song; accompanied by the solo of Lars this song is a great opener for the album.

The fourth track on the CD is titled “Of Stars And Smoke”. In my own opinion this is without a doubt the best song on the album. The intro is so simple, yet sounds so pleasing to the ear – a simple beat on the drums and about six or seven different notes being played on the guitar. I can’t really find much of a hidden meaning in the lyrics to this song, so I will focus on the instrumental. Lars has a very intense guitar solo which leads up to my favourite part of the song, the bridge. This is the only interesting instrumental in the entire song but still most likely fairly easy to play. “Of Stars And Smoke” is a great track which defiantly deserves to be on this album.

The final song on King Of The Grey Islands is titled “Embracing The Styx”. This track is much like the rest of the disc; dark and mysterious instrumental (Jan using the double kick pedal for a very good effect). The vocals aren’t anything to scream about, however, Robert certainly gets it done. Lars decides to go all out on his guitar solo in this song, which makes me clearly understand why they decided to save this track for the end of the album, it shows a little bit more of his talent.

Overall Candlemass did an outstanding job creating appealing new music for their fans, both old and new! This is an album that I would recommend for people who are fans of good instrumental. Any guitarist can respect what Lars and Mats have done, they have unlimited talent and can only continue to get better. Great job guys! Hope to see more material very soon.  [ END ]
Track Listing:

01. Prologue
02. Emperor Of The Void
03. Devil Seed
04. Of Stars And Smoke
05. Demonia 6
06. Destroyer
07. Man Of Shadows
08. Clearsight
09. The Opal City
10. Embracing The Styx

Run Time: 52:00