{"id":96732,"date":"2022-11-18T00:00:36","date_gmt":"2022-11-18T00:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=96732"},"modified":"2022-11-18T15:19:39","modified_gmt":"2022-11-18T15:19:39","slug":"album-review-candlemass-sweet-evil-sun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-candlemass-sweet-evil-sun\/","title":{"rendered":"CANDLEMASS – Sweet Evil Sun (2022) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

CANDLEMASS
Sweet Evil Sun<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nNapalm (2022)<\/span>
Rating: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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I guess there\u2019s only so much you can do with a doom metal riff, but boy do Candlemass still know how to cause earthquakes with their juddering, brooding brand of metal. I will admit to flitting in and out of Candlemass albums since my favourite vocalist Messiah Marcolin first departed the ranks in 1991, but every time I dip my toes into such black waters I am frozen by the mesmeric quality of this Swedish clan.<\/p>\n

The monstrously epic \u2018Scandinavian Gods\u2019, the hefty title track with its snarling vocals, and \u2018When Death Sighs\u2019 \u2013 featuring Avatarium frontwoman Jennie-Ann Smith \u2013 are mesmeric and punchy, although \u2018Devil Voodoo\u2019 is a tad daft even at an epic seven-minutes and more. Vocalist Johan L\u00e4ngqvist is arguably one of the more grittier singers to front the band, but his style doesn\u2019t distract from the fact that Candlemass remains a colossus in its chosen field.<\/p>\n

\u2018Black Butterfly\u2019 is classic, storm-brewing doom metal and one can only praise the axe linguistics of Lars \u201cLasse\u201d Johansson and Mats \u201cMappe\u201d Bj\u00f6rkman. These guys trade blows like thunder claps rumbling through pallid skies as the sombre sighs of \u2018Angel Battle\u2019 offer variations of pace but all wrapped in that sodden blanket of melancholy, while Jan Lindh pummels his snare on the mighty \u2018Crucified\u2019.<\/p>\n

Candlemass can never replicate the titanic tolling of those classic early albums but they remain as constant and foreboding in the scene as an old castle casting shadows from a hill. Imposing, threatening and bellowing, Sweet Evil Sun<\/em> shakes mighty fists and crashes down to earth with severity as mystical showers rain with an abysmal grace. The Hammond tones of \u2018Goddess\u2019 and the rhythmic trudge of opener \u2018Wizard Of The Vortex\u2019 showcase how Candlemass remain masters of the misery within a genre bogged down by weed.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CANDLEMASSSweet Evil Sun Napalm (2022)Rating: 8.5\/10 I guess there\u2019s only so much you can do with a doom metal riff, but boy do Candlemass still know how to cause earthquakes with their juddering, brooding brand of metal. I will admit to flitting in and out of Candlemass albums since my favourite vocalist Messiah Marcolin first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,80],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-candlemass"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96732"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96734,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96732\/revisions\/96734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}