Review Summary: A classic worthy of its status.
Candlemass' debut album "Epicus Doomicus Metallicus" is seen by many as THE doom metal album, the one that one has to hear at least once in their lifetime if they are in fact a fan of the genre at all. Now let me say that I love "Epicus..." as much as anyone. I think that it was an ambitious and beautifully bleak record that kept me invested from start to finish and that I still play my copy requarely. Now while the album was undoubtedly great and its hype is justifiable, I am reluctant to declare it the "greatest doom metal album of all time". No I believe that Candlemass' second release "Nightfall" is a bit more deserving of that title as it not only improves and one-ups everything that "Epicus..." first displayed, it also is the album to introduce Messiah on vocals and put the band on the map.
Generally speaking, Candlemass' sound is woven through a slow paced mix of thick, meaty guitars, bombastic drumming, borderline operatic vocals and an overall dark and somber tone. This album's sound is accompanied by lyrics focussing on themes of religion, death, occultism, mourning and dark fantasy. Now as I said, in a lot of ways "Epicus..." first did this, but "Nightfall" improves it to a higher degree. Musiaclly the biggest difference is obviously the vocals. Johan Längquist was the main vocalist for "Epicus..." but did not stick around afterwards. After this the band went on the hunt for a new singer and Messiah, after relentless hounding to be given an audition was finally heard and recruited by Leif and company for the band, making his first debut here. To me this is an improvement. While some may disagree with me, I think that Längquist, while had a good sounding voice, went a little overboard in performance on the debut. While his voice had a genuine sorrowful vibe, it was a bit exaturated and at times, his highs were a bit too over the top. Mesiah has a much more powerful approach, in comparisons to Johan, putting out this high vibrato that sounds massive, almost operatic a lot of the time, and immediately comands the listener's attention. Where as Johan (in my opinion) had a tendency at times to sound flat or a bit exaturated, Messiah's voice is much tighter and a bit more passionate.
And the instrumental work on this album is just as powerful as the vocal performance. The guitar work is immensely heavy and thick, just pumping out one beefy riff after another coupled with some really memorable guitar solos that are catchy, melodic and above all crushing coupled with some massive and bombastic drum work on the part of Jan Lindh. All the performances all sound very tight and passionate, considerably more confident and refined than the debut as everything blends together greatly and is executed very seamlessly. Which brings me to Leif Edling who seems to have a natural talent for composing good music as each song is put together very well and succeeds in painting a very dark, brooding and gloomy atmosphere. This is made better by the fact that each song tells a different story, such as "The Well of Souls" about an occultist attempting to open a door to hell, "At the Gallows End" describing a man's last feelings and thoughts the night before his execution and "Mourners Lament" describing a parent's grief and inner turmoil following the death of his child. Each song is composed to fit the story it tells and does it very well.
To me, this is the go to the album for Candlemass. For someone who has never heard them before, I would say that this is the first one to check out. The songs are perfectly composed and just well executed, with every instrument balanced and mixed to a near perfect degree. All of which creates a nice moody atmosphere. The music itself is heavy, crushing and very dark but is also memorable, involving and leaves a deep and lasting impression. It's well worth the price to purchase. You won't be disappointed.
