Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus Review

Candlemass Epicus Doomicus Metallicus

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Tracklist:
1. Solitude
2. Demon's Gate
3. Crystal Ball
4. Black Stone Wielder
5. Under The Oak
6. A Sorcerer's Pledge

Release Date: 1986

user rating

4.3
superb

Chart.

other reviews

Shredzilla (5)
An amazing album that remains an absolute classic and helped mark the beginning for Doom Metal....

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5.0
classic

Arrakakaka USER (31 Reviews)

2005-09-22 | 66 comments | 2,391 views

4 of 4 thought this review was well written

A sharp pain enters your spine. You have just woken up, unaware of what just happened to you. You can only see pitch black darkness. Nothing. A small stream of light passes through a now-visible window, showing you where you are. You are stuck in a stone torture chamber, chained to a wall. A faint sound swells in the distance. A depressing sound, getting louder and louder. It intensifies. Closer.. Closer.. And closer. This is Epicus Doomicus Metallicus. A beast that could tear you apart like a chainsaw.

The godfathers of doom metal, Candlemass, break into the metal gates with their debut album, Epicus Doomicus Metallicus. The title says it all. Slow, crunching guitars. Driving drumming and pounding bass. And a vocalist who could take on any vocalist in his time. There aren't many predessesors to this album in the metal world. Even Candlemass can't surpass this album themselves. It's darker than anything that Sabbath ever released. It's even slower than them in some moments. But even heavier. Candlemass is obviously influenced by Black Sabbath, but aren't rip-off artists like some other doom metal bands. The lyrics are very much like power metal. Just more despairful. Mostly the main topics in the album are; Hell, darkness, death, despair, hate, pain, depression, demons, wizards. Sounds corny? Think again.

Even the instrumentation does not lack. The instruments are downtuned throught this album to D#/Eb. There is not a lack of progression, as the songs flow on way past the point of radio. There is alot of double-bass scattered around each track, thrown in with some very interesting fills. The guitars don't fail either. The riffage isn't the most technical shreddage ever, but the solos fit the song. Not virtuso solos, but mostly melodic and fitting solos. Not to mention, their bassist doesn't fail to please either. He throws in interesting licks here and there (Demon's Gate for example), but it's usually rhythm. Not drowned out either, he is still a driving force. Everything has a part, like a jigsaw puzzle. All important, vital parts.

The copy I have is remastered 2003 (with the live disk that I'm not reviewing :p), but the production is superb. Every instrument is at level with each other, even the vocals. It's all set perfectly and leveled off at a nice tone. Not allways a slow album, it does pick up the pace with the double bass. Mostly slow songs, but spritz of medium tempo riffage.

A very interesting thing about Candlemass is Johan's vocals. His voice is hard to describe. It almost is a half-shout, melodically blowing your mind away. He has a great range of lower vocals, to an almost Bruce Dickinson/Tom Araya hellish screech. Johan can sometimes sound like Bruce Dickinson, especially in the last few tracks. He has that type of snarl that Bruce sometimes has, but in his own way.

I've listened to this masterpiece over and over again, yet I fail to find many flaws. The lyrics sometimes aren't very great, but mostly good. It may bore some listeners, especially listeners who like fast-paced music. The riffs sometimes sound forced, but not all of the time. It's still classic.

Epicus Doomicus Metallicus gets a 5/5 from my view.

Songs To Download;
"Solitude"
"Demon's Gate"
"Crystal Ball"
"Under The Oak"

Dang, that was hard to pick reccomended downloads. I mean, all of the songs are awesome in their own way, but these were stand-outs.

Attention all doom metal fans (like me), purchase this now. It is a very essential album to you doomies, or even any metalhead.

Line-up;
Leif Edling - Bass
Mats Björkman - Guitar
Matz Ekström - Drums
Johan Langquist - Vocals
Klas Bergwall - Lead Guitar

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