Candlemass
Death Thy Lover

With this EP, consisting of only 4 tracks and lasting about 25 minutes, Candlemass celebrate 30 years of activity today.

They do it in the most fitting way, by playing that genre, Doom Metal, which has welcomed them as the absolute masters of the "Epic" sub-genre, which over time, thanks to masterpieces such as "Nightfall", has cemented their absolute value and a consistently loyal following of fans scattered across the globe.

There's no denying it.
When speaking or even thinking about Doom Metal, two bands come to mind considered, in a unanimous manner, indispensable. The Black Sabbath "Ozzy era", as precursors and primary inspirations (for the atmospheres), and, indeed, Candlemass.
Because Candlemass are "everything that sounds Doom today" in an absolute sense. There isn't a band in this genre that doesn't claim to be inspired by them. Pure heresy.
They are the band that, thanks to the genius of their bassist (and main composer) Leif Edling, put on staff paper songs like "At The Gallows End", "Solitude", "Bewitched", to name a few of the "classics among the classics".
They are also the band that managed to blend measured tempos and depressed, hypnotic atmospheres, simmering with tons of pure molten metal, with the most inspired lyricism and the highest and most dizzying levels of epicness.
Leif himself, endowed with inexhaustible and volcanic inspiration, plays or has played with bands he created himself, exploring different aspects of his personality, always, however, remaining firmly rooted in what is his cardinal principle: Doom Metal.
And just mentioning two of his projects, such as Krux, and more recently the immense Avatarium, gives an understanding of what is being discussed.

This long introduction serves to introduce what is the other fundamental aspect, more of a façade, if you will, the "flagbearer" that has always characterized Candlemass throughout their (now) long career.
The singers who have succeeded each other at the microphone in the band.
One in particular has remained in the memory of fans (and will hardly ever, alas, fade): Messiah Marcolin.
A man of massive stature who, under a cascade of curly hair and with a Guinness record belly, had a voice so inspired, lyrical, wide, baritone, and deep, that it could make the walls shake at home when the stereo was turned on, and "play" was pressed to start "The Well of Souls". Moreover, Marcolin, at concerts, usually wore a monk's robe, and thanks to his immense charisma, did half of what all the other members together did, and thus it will be reiterated once again why there was so much success over the years.

When Messiah Marcolin left, in disagreement with his bandmates, it seemed the end had come for Candlemass. And for a while, it indeed was.
After the unfortunate "Chapter VI" (with Thomas Vikström as a replacement singer), and its poor sales, the band found themselves even without a record label, and Edling decided to focus on other projects, perhaps convinced he should truly hold a funeral and bury, in every sense, the band that had brought him fame and glory up to that point.

After a few years, however, came another "golden throat": Robert Lowe, who had already demonstrated his singing capabilities with Solitude Aeternus.
The result was albums that revitalized and greatly polished the Candlemass brand.
Starting from the "first" album of the relaunch, "King of the Grey Islands", moving through "Death Magic Doom", and on to the "seventies-inspired" "Psalms of the Dead", the band seemed not to miss a beat, finally availing themselves of a solid combination between those who conceived, wrote, and played the songs (Edling), and those who had to imbue them with a soul entirely aimed at the epic and inherent class of the Household (Robert Lowe).
Until Lowe himself, cursed by his own talent, could not replicate live what was accomplished in the studio.

He too, ultimately fired (and not without controversy), brings us to today with "Death Thy Lover".

"Death be your lover".
There couldn't be a better opening when talking (and listening to) Candlemass.
Yet perhaps, in their specific case, the Grim Reaper has decided to give the band a different opportunity, bestowing them with a new chance with the new singer Mats Levén, someone who certainly needs no introduction, as he spends his time being a "luxury session musician" for others like, just to name two, Therion or Yngwie Malmsteen.

Levén isn't an absolute discovery for Leif Edling.
He had already worked with him, successfully, in his inaugural creation Abstrakt Algebra, then later in Krux, and since 2012, after a few "trial" concerts with the other bandmates, it was decided it was time to shake things up by bringing him in as a permanent member, probably under the pressure of other "prestigious" groups clamoring for his collaboration.

The result, we are listening to these days, with this EP, and in the long run, we can well understand if the "alchemy" between the band and the new singer is just a "cold" experiment, or something more.
Unfortunately, personally, I think it is more the first hypothesis.

Perhaps I am biased, and still, after so many years, I have not forgotten what Candlemass were with Messiah Marcolin.
However, the latest albums with Robert Lowe convinced me of the goodness of the change that occurred, remaining silent because it was superfluous, about the stylistic formula adopted by the group which, yes, has always represented a constant over the years.
Perhaps, again, it is the musical level proposed that is too high, speaking of the past, of course. Therefore everything that comes after seems to be lacklustre or not up to par. The fact is that already after a couple of listens to the first, garish, "Death Thy Lover" I thought there was something not working.
For heaven's sake. Everything is extremely well-crafted, in certain aspects even infuriatingly (the guitars, for example: it can only be a purposeful choice even as they sound in the "excavation" moments, so "80s" and, ultimately, so "Candlemass"), and, as per tradition, the opening song is a landslide of earthquaking chords capable of moving even a concrete monolith. Yet Levén's voice, so suited to certain compositions by Therion in "Gothic Kabballah", seems here instead a bit too forced and "piloted" to end up sounding similar to Robert Lowe's.
Proceeding then with the second, "Sleeping Giant", this one a smashing "Sabbathian" Doom with bells and whistles to listen and listen again, the impression doesn't change, indeed. I must confess that I felt almost mocked, because the feeling that the material for this EP was taken and reported verbatim from "Psalms of the Dead" outtakes, at least in terms of "compositional base", came to my mind. On top of that, more than once.

Certainly, it’s still 100% Candlemass, synonymous with absolute quality, but, after 4 years since their last full-length, it would have been reasonable to expect something different, not "new" for heaven's sake!
I mean something that could still demarcate a past limit, to introduce us to what could be the future.
With "King of the Grey Island" it happened, and that was an atomic explosion that captured you on the first listen. This no.
Thankfully, then comes "Sinister and Sweet".
Here. This is how I wish Candlemass would be across the board: the misty atmosphere and almost whispering, subdued, afflicted singing in the opening notes, contrasting with a heavy elephantine force of distorted, fierce, and murderous Doom given by the instrumental section.
Why didn't they think of placing this track as the opener, rather than "Death Thy Lover"?
Simple commercial move. Certainly, a song with a catchy chorus is worth more than not a boulder that makes a limited circle of enthusiasts happy.
The last closing track is "The Goose", enigmatically instrumental, heightening the sensation of listening to "vintage" material. Let's call it that.

Probably my judgment is too harsh, and I am convinced that there will be those who, instead, will praise this EP and elevate it to a "great return" of Candlemass. I will not be able to blame them.
But I repeat, I remember their (now) penultimate return post Messiah Marcolin, and we were talking about completely different pastry, different energy, a different way of presenting themselves: an absolutely more biting and "heavy" drive to all the tracks (who remembers the incredible stride of "Destroyer" that seemed to move with the cadence of an immense enraged dragon, or of "Devil Seed" with the chimes that Doom couldn't have been imagined more?), rejuvenating and invigorating the band's trademark, without, among other things, renouncing it, indeed.

I will be delighted to be proven wrong with their next album, even if I find it hard, given Leif Edling's health problems (he is suffering from acute fatigue syndrome, news read a few days ago), even if hiring Levén as a permanent member will have perhaps some sense, or some future outlet.
Who knows. The bitterness remains, however, for this EP.
A half misstep. Fortunately, however, it's just an episode, and in some time we will remember it, perhaps, as just a filler.