|
User
Reviews 1
Approval 100%
Soundoffs 29
News Articles 1
Band Edits + Tags 1
Album Edits 2
Album Ratings 1030
Objectivity 85%
Last Active 02-11-21 10:35 pm
Joined 04-25-18
Review Comments 7,380
| Candlemass Ranked (odd but new official rank)
These guys are my first introduction to doom metal of any sort. I've been jamming metal in general since I was as young as I can remember, but never had much intrigue in this genre. I must say, throughout the course of this discog run, not only did they get me a new 5, but they also became one of my favorite bands. Here's my odd, but new official, ranking of every Candlemass LP. | | 12 |  | Candlemass
Dactylis Glomerata
puke
1.5/5 | | 11 |  | Candlemass
From the 13th Sun
God damn this album falls apart after Elephant Star. Aggressively boring, bar one song, after the first three tracks. And even those were nothing overly special
Top tracks:
1. Droid 2.Tot 3. Elephant Star
2.2/5 | | 10 |  | Candlemass
The Door To Doom
The (not so) triumphant return of Johan. He delivered my favorite C'mass vocal performance on Epicus, but he pales in comparison here. I'm not saying he's poor by any stretch, he does actually sound good, it's just not comparable to Epicus is all. As with their prior album, Psalms, they tease the listener extravagantly with the sheer quality of the opener and never find that gold again throughout the album. Although, Astorolus made a valiant effort (Iommi solo rules btw) and, as last time, every song is at least decent. This one is pretty much toe-to-toe tied with Psalms
Top tracks:
1. Splendor Demon Majesty 2. Astorolus - The Great Octopus 3. Death's Wheel
3.2/5 | | 9 |  | Candlemass
Psalms For The Dead
Prophet starts this album up remarkably, with a memorable hook, great Rob performance, and face-smashing instrumentation. Sadly, this album just never reaches that height again. That's not to say the album is bad, but it has very few memorable characteristics, coming off somewhat bland too often. Especially when stacked up to their body of work. Also, not a huge fan of the keyboards. All of these songs are at least decent, however. For whatever that's worth.
Top tracks:
1. Prophet 2. The Lights of Thebe 3. Siren Song
3.2/5 | | 8 |  | Candlemass
King of the Grey Islands
First album with Robert, and while the opener really kicks off the album on a positive note, I cant help but feel the vocals, while not poor by any metric, seem more limited than I would like on a Candlemass record, or as if they just dont always mesh, which is something that persists throughout the runtime. Now, if I understand the situation correctly, it's because the album was written with Messiah on mind (correct me if I'm wrong), but that doesn't stop it from holding the album back a bit. Still, this is a collection of quality headbangers
Top tracks:
1. Embracing the Styx 2. Emperor of the Void 3. Of Stars and Smoke
3.7/5 | | 7 |  | Candlemass
Ancient Dreams
The highs of this album are about as good as Nightfall's (especially A Cry From The Crypt), but the last two tracks just really hold this album back, straight-up threw an anchor in the sand. That, and, like with Nightfall, Messiah's vocal inflections are occasionally a tad irritating. I'm willing to chock it up to some production issues here, though, as it wasn't always the greatest in general
Top tracks:
1. A Cry From The Crypt 2. Mirror Mirror 3. Darkness in Paradise
3.9/5 | | 6 |  | Candlemass
Candlemass
This record starts off with a mighty roar of an opener and, mostly, keeps up the quality throughout. I do wish Messiah was brought just a tad more to the forefront in the mix, though. Still, very nice to have this after the two back-to-back disasters of Dactylis Glomerate and From the 13th Sun
Top tracks:
1. The Day and the Night 2. Black Dwarf 3. Witches
4/5 | | 5 |  | Candlemass
Death Magic Doom
My favorite Rob performance of the three records he's on. Also, this is my favorite comeback-era album. The first three tracks delivery back-to-back-to-back haymakers of top-tier Candlemass tuneage. The album never quite recaptures that glory on the remaining 5 songs, but they placed a mighty high bar to follow. One that, if met, could have potentially landed this record in the top 3. Instead, what we're left with is still another remarkably solid Candlemass release to add to their catalogue, which is more than okay with me.
Top tracks:
1. Hammer of Doom 2. The Bleeding Baroness 3. If I Ever Die
4.1/5 | | 4 |  | Candlemass
Nightfall
While I thoroughly enjoy Messiah on Tales of Creation, he does occasionally bother me on this album, though, admittedly, not to a major degree. Also, Mourner's Lament is the first boring track they put out imo, aside from the guitar solo section from 3:34-4:12, which is nice. Those reasons are what holds this album back from being at a higher spot.
Top tracks:
1. At The Gallows End 1. Dark Are The Veils of Death 1. The Well of Souls
4.2/5 | | 3 |  | Candlemass
Chapter VI
The aggregate reception of this record on Sputnik is just bewildering to me. No, this doesn't have the atmosphere or doom qualities of Epicus or Nightfall (although I would argue this record DOES have some of it's own great atmosphere that I thoroughly enjoy), but, man, does it have RIFFS. Now, obviously most Candlemass albums come chock full of great riffs, but never have I been so in love with an album's collective riffs since my first time hearing Down - NOLA. Which, to be fair, was only like 8 months ago, but my point still stands. The ones on display here are just truly stupendous to my ears. Not from a technical standpoint at all, but from the catchiness and memorability that oozes out of them, plus how well they sound just simply in conjunction with Thomas' voice. They get stuck in my head to an absurd degree. On top of that, he delivers my third favorite Candlemass vocal performance overall. This album feels tailor made for his voice in the best way possible.
Top tracks:
1. The Dying Illusion 1. Julie Laughs No More 1. The Temple of the Dead
4.5/5 | | 2 |  | Candlemass
Tales of Creation
This is the closest they came to recapturing the feeling/atmosphere of Epicus. Tales is also home to my favorite Messiah performance and has absolutely stellar production.
Top tracks:
1. Dark Reflections 1. Tears 1. A Tale of Creation
4.7/5 | | 1 |  | Candlemass
Epicus Doomicus Metallicus
The album that introduced me to C'mass. I wasn't head over hills for this record at first (probably because I was on an upper and this is mf slow), but I, thankfully, revisited this several times over the following year and a half and it grew on me each time. Johan sounds absolutely impeccable here. Some wonderful evil sorcerer bs. The songs are brooding, the production is gothic, the instrumentation is menacing and memorable (especially those riffs omfg), the atmosphere is creepy--I really cant adequately explain enough my love for this record and why it all works as well as it does. This is easily Candlemass' best record. While it is somewhat unfortunate that they released their best one first, they still had oodles of vigor and quality up through 2009, and I would certainly say their entire LP discography is worth a peep (even the less than stellar ones at least once)
Top tracks:
1. Whole tracklist; listening to just one is a crime
5/5 | |
SymbolicInTime
06.11.19 | Hey, everybody! This has been a few weeks in the making (listening to all of these included in that time), so I'm glad to finally have my ranked list together. (:
If you notice any spelling errors or anything, please let me know. I typed this up on my phone over the course of the last few days here and there, so I may have used repeat words/phrases a lot unknowingly, or just made general mistakes.
Looking forward to some discussion hopefully! Let me know how bad my rank is! | StrikeOfTheBeast
06.11.19 | Very interesting ranking. 4 is my fave, but I'm glad to see some love for 3. | budgie
06.11.19 | yeah bearer of pain on ancient dreams kind of brings it down. cut off a couple tracks from the hour long album and it could be a 5/5 for me | Pikazilla
06.12.19 | 1 is 1. Awesome band, glad you took the time to check out their whole discography. My ranking is different to yours, but I agree that the first eight are all great. | SymbolicInTime
06.12.19 | @strike yeah I can definitely understand why people would like 4 most
@budgie if the couple blemishes were chopped, I'd put it right below Nightfall
@Pika yeah they were fun as hell to work through. They will definitely be staying in my listening rotation. And glad we can at least agree on some base level lol | Alastor
06.12.19 | interesting. Need to relisten to 2 and 3, it's been a long time. | SymbolicInTime
06.12.19 | Would highly recommend lol
So any of my friends that are into metal I have been asking to check out these guys, and so far they've all really enjoyed what I showed them off Chapter VI, sometimes even moreso than anything else I show. It's nice to know I'm not the only one that can glean joy from that one lol. I was surprised to see even RYM has it a decent amount higher than us | Alastor
06.12.19 | haha, those bonus tracks for Chapter VI on Spotify are hilarious. | SymbolicInTime
06.12.19 | FOR REAL. Listened to them once and just thought to myself "never again" | rockandmetaljunkie
06.13.19 | Nice list, but i would never rank anything above their first 4 albums. You should check their first live album and their ep's for some original material and a few interesting covers. | SymbolicInTime
06.13.19 | That's fair. And noted! I'll probably peep some of that whenever I happen to fall into a c'mass mood next | rockandmetaljunkie
06.13.19 | That Dactylis Glomerata album has always been a misunderstood album. Edling never really wanted to release it as a C'mass record. It was intended to be a separate project. But the record company refused to sell it under the name of Abstract Algebra. So, to be fair, you have to approach it as a non-c'mass record. Still, it's not the best album ever, although i do need to check it out again to verify my view on it. | SymbolicInTime
06.13.19 | That fact is the only reason why I gave it higher than a 1 actually lol | SymbolicInTime
06.22.19 | So the only albums I've listened to of theirs since making this is Tears and Chapter VI, and yet, Hammer of Doom off Death Magic Doom has been consistently stuck in my head. Such a mf wicked track | rockandmetaljunkie
06.22.19 | DMD is almost a classic in my book. Their best since Tales. Very solid record. | StrikeOfTheBeast
06.22.19 | 4 and 2 are some of the best doom ever made. | SymbolicInTime
06.22.19 | I really need to dive into the genre more. Have only peeped these guys, Solitude Aeturnus, and Cathedral | rockandmetaljunkie
06.22.19 | Dude, i gave you a list :p
Take notice | rockandmetaljunkie
06.22.19 | And don't be afraid to delve deeper into these guys | SymbolicInTime
06.22.19 | I know. I just meant moreso that I haven't been in the mood lately. That, and I've been on vacation with my wife this week and she isn't particularly fond of that music so I've been spinning stuff we both like. | rockandmetaljunkie
06.22.19 | Nice, taking a break from your music always helps re-igniting your interest.
Many wishes for a happy holiday. |
|
