CANDLEMASS: Sweet Evil Sun (DOOM): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Since four years, Candlemass has found its original singer, Johan Längqvist making his come back years after a legendary first album. But while everything should have been fine, this return has not benefited the band. The last album, "The Door To Doom", was shaky, with Längqvist seeming uncomfortable, and the EP that followed in early 2020 was quickly forgotten, not bringing much.

In fact, we can ask ourselves what to expect from "Sweet Evil Sun", the thirteenth album of a band carried by a valiant but sometimes uninspired Leif Edling. With 'Wizard Of The Wortex', Candlemass reassures. The title makes effect in a classic Doom, a Johan very at ease with an epic theatrical side and an nice acoustic final.

The record then plays the roller coaster with some very good and some banal. On the top level, there is the duo formed by 'Black Butterfly' and 'When Death Sighs'. Heavy and haunting, these tracks are filled with a Doom charm worthy of the band's great hours. The vocals are full of emphasis, tragic and tasty. The long instrumental parts give shivers as well as the final part of 'When Death Sighs' with Jenni Ann Smith from Avatarium as a guest vocalist. In a baroque, epic and heavy spirit, 'Devil Voodoo' has a fabulous chorus and a dark break. 'Goddess', heavy and majestic, sounds like a long funeral march, carried by a possessed Johan and by an instrumental part of an impeccable heaviness.

But all is not perfect for all that. The record shows some air holes, nothing bad in the absolute but making impression of filler, sounding sometimes like Black Sabbath without flavor, lacking sometimes of catchiness, sometimes of strength and originality.

In spite of these drawbacks, "Sweet Evil Sun" remains largely recommendable. What it offers is very good and shows that Candlemass is still alive it thanks to a convincing Längqvist. It will be interesting to see if the band will be able to confirm this beginning of improvement. - Official website

CANDLEMASS

SWEET EVIL SUN

NAPALM RECORDS

DOOM