Hard-Wired Other Genres Review
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Swedish doom metal band Candlemass, who seem to have been around forever, do not appear to be an entirely serious band judging by the hilarious title of this, their first album, which has now been reissued.
However the album itself is a fairly miserable beast, which wails out its love for all things Black Sabbath with every ponderous, behemoth riff. If you like Black Sabbath, you are likely to appreciate this album - the pace and song structure is very much the same. Even better, you won't have to listen to renowned buffoon Ozzy Osbourne doing his best to ruin decent songs with his truly awful 'singing'. Singer Johan Langqvist is no better than average at best, but that still makes him far better than Ozzy ever was. When this album was first released in 1986, slow Seventies-style doom rock wasn't exactly in favour - this is the time when every kid into metal was listening to the likes of Metallica and Slayer and seeing how many rips they could make in their tight blue jeans without them falling apart completely. So it's a considerable testament to the band, in these times when thrash and speed metal were king - that they became as truly influential as they did - the likes of My Dying Bride, Cathedral and many others were influenced by them. The album features songs such as 'Solitude' and 'Crystal Ball' which positively loom with eternal misery. This is a fine work of progressive-tinged gloom which set the tone for much of what was to come. If you like this style of music there are few finer albums to get your teeth into for starters. |
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