Memento Mori - Rhymes of Lunacy (1993)

This is one album I was very excited about. As a major Candlemass fan - I had many of their albums on cassette, I had been highly disappointed when Messiah left, and was thus very happy to see him starting a new project. Other members of Memento Mori included Mike Wead of Hexenhaus. Anyhow, needless to say I ordered it as soon as it became available and eagerly awaited its arrival.

As far as albums go, it's not a particularly dramatic cover-  the purple on black print renders it almost invisible and the cover is fairly plain but quite nifty, featuring the MM bat emblem. I used to draw that all over my school books.

*sigh* Ahh, nostalgia.

Inside there is only the lyrics to one song - but that's okay because you can't read them anyway due to the dark font. There's a photo of the band, in which Messiah looks very rotund and everyone else looks like a long-haired clone. The centre double-page spread is taken up with advertisements for other Black Mark albums.

The album opens with the atmospheric chords of instrumental "The Rhyme", the guitar sounding faintly oriental and fairly moody and dramatic.

It merges seamlessly into the achingly slow chords of "Seeds of Hatred". Messiah's voice is still a thing of power and beauty, swelling into a crescendo that could lift volcanic ash into the sky and move the earth. The drums are slow and slightly trebbly.

"Morbid Fear" brings with it a heavily brooding sound and ominous choruses:

"Deep within your soul, wayward child..."

Also some nicely dramatic and intricate guitar-work, intermingling with slamming bass. Strong harmonising.

With strength and power, "The Caravan of Souls" marches on - slowly, ponderously yet a force to be reckoned with. They are the power, the ominous and the intricate. Wead is truly a fine guitarist. Lead by Messiah's Voice, more souls are drawn to join the journey.

With the aching cry of the desert wind, and the beat of hooves (or rather, drums), we approach "Lost Horizons".  The technical aspects and slow rhythms herald the looming and the ominous. Intense and dramatic, powerful. Strong harmonising.

With the subtility of a steamroller, the immensity of "When Nothing Remain" advances like an avalanche. Messiah's voice builds into soaring, roaring from the heavens, punctuated by staccato drumbeats and an ominous wall of sound. The lyrics are filled with the futility of everything we say and do:

"Do you believe our souls survive to live on lucky clouds above?
Or do you fear, when our time is up, something evil awaits below?"

More twiddly guitar strokes and we enter into the instrumental "Forbidden Dreams".

"Little Anne's not an Angel" is something a bit different, it has lyrics suited for a glam song but is, of course, still laden with the ominous and the powerful. The vocals are strong, but threatening, the chorus pretty epic - but then again, so is everything that comes from Messiah's throat. Little Anne's fate is a sad and depressing one. She's not an Angel, and she sin after sin won't get to Heaven. She sells herself and loses her soul and ends up in Hell.

With a long and drawn out beginning: "The Fear of God" involves some pretty intensive guitar and a lot of drum. Then the vocals crack in, and the pacing turns slightly playful - in a slow and looming kinda way.

"The Riddle" starts low, with the rising of the wind and guitars, weaving a spiralling and intricate pattern, like swirling smoke or a dust-cloud looming.

"The Monolith" looms, Messiah's voice like musical thunder whilst the guitar falls like raindrops.

Induitably a powerful album, a force of musical nature. Powerful, but lacking the heartbreaking emotional of Candlemass. Messiah's voice is fine, Wead is a superb guitarist and the compositions are solid and ominous, but it lacks a little in emotion and spirit. Best played LOUD.

Rating = 6.5/10.

Candlemass - Ancient Dreams (1988)

Candlemass are a magnificant band, and this is the second in their Trinity of Divine albums. No, they're not called that because of their religious overtues, I'M calling them that because they are so epic, so beautiful, so haunting that nothing else I have even compares to the majesty and emotion of the sound and the power of Messiah Marcolin's voice.

Like "Nightfall", the cover is taken from a classical painting by Thomas Cole. There are four in the set, and two of them feature on Candlemass albums. This one is Youth. You can view them all here.
It shows a rich and fertile landscape, onto which the youth sails in his golden craft, hand raised as though hailing someone. The river weaves its way off into the distance, towards a ghostly castle or cathedral. In the full image, the angel is standing on the bank and waving, but it is not visible on the CD cover. It is an image to evoke a journey into the fantastical, the mysterious and the potentially dangerous.

A simple two-fold cover, the lyrics are printed in an itty-bitty teeny tiny font that you need glasses to read. On the back are tiny thumbnails of the band. They look very 80s, rather lacking in the majesty and power that their music evokes, although Messiah still looks like a wild-haired monk. I always found the skull on a cross logo to be a bit tacky, given the sheer intensity and beauty of the music. Then again, Candlemass are not the most serious of bands.

The album opens wiht the epic "Mirror Mirror"*. Charging harmonies, chugging guitars, twiddly melodies and then the Voice. Heavy, intense.

Similarly intense, "A Cry from the Crypt" has the characteristic galloping bassline and chugging guitars.

Great and looming, "Darkness in Paradise" descends. The lyrics are filled with bittersweet pain, the vocals a force of nature. Lyrics remind me of "Solitude":

"I'm standing here in silence, disgraceful place of peace, watching the shadows come closer. The birds they sing no longer, the winds they blow no more..."

Ominous dark rhythms.

"Incarnation of Evil" is brooding and immense, looming and ominous.

Starting a wee bit faster, "Bearer of Pain" before falling into similar patterns. Whilst Messiah's voice is indeed very fine, he attains the same pitch and structure for the first five tracks of the album. Individually they are epic, but together they do blur somewhat into one another.

Which makes the next one, "Ancient Dreams" a welcome change. It starts with guitar (bass?); an echoing, sitrring rhythm that reaches deep down into the soul, before the other instruments join in.  Messiah's voice is like a crystaline shard, carrying you to a mystical, magical world where dreams become reality. This was one of the very first Candlemass songs I ever heard, and it still stirs my soul to this day:

"There's no tomorrow, just sadness and sorrow, hold on to thee ancient dreams..."

The higher pitch of the guitars and the lilting nature of the vocals make this one stand out as something quite remarkable and inspirational.

Immense and powerful, "The Bells of Acheron" ring out. Some nicely demented piano in here.

The vocals on "Epistle no 18" have an intense radiance to them, seeming to come deep from the heart and soul, soaring to the skies. The music is a heavy, brooding and dark counterpoint.

Finally we conclude with the "Black Sabbath Medley". Sabbath were induitably the inventors of the doom sound, and this is a fine tribute to them. It begins with "Symptoms of the Universe", but instead of Ozzy's nasal whine we have Messiah's mighty lungs pounding forth the words, before switching to "Sweet Leaf". I can imagine Messiah, the crazy monk himself, stalking back and forth across the stage, howling into the microphone as he gestures at the crowd, then bringing his hands together and turning to face them as he switches into "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath". Then a bit of headbanging as the guitar solo comes in, fading into the lower throbbing tempo. Indeed, the mental image is so clear I cannot help but wonder if I have watched live footage**. After a brief solo, "Electric Funeral" takes over, then a bit more stomping and head-banging. A final flurry of instruments and it's over. Pretty epic tribute though!


This is a mixed bag for me - it contains two of the most awesome Candlemass songs ever - "Ancient Dreams" and "Epistle no 81", but the others are kinda same-ish in their epic scale and immensity. Messiah has a magnificant voice, but it does get a wee bit repetitive after a time.

So this one will get an 8/10.

* Candlemass's videos show they do not take themselves very seriously. It is quite entertaining, but at odds with the music.

** I do actually have footage of Candlemass live, with Tankard and Kreator I think, but the sound is distorted and messed up so I've never watched it.

Candlemass - Nightfall (1987)

Ah, the beauty and majesty of Candlemass. I know this band well, having discovered them way back when I was in my early Metal Years. This was, if I recall, my first of their albums, and I originally purchased it on cassette tape. I own the CD now, of course.

Messiah Marcolin, vocalist at this time, is a Metal God. He has the voice of an angel - albeit a somewhat large one and slightly sweaty one. That is to say - it is a lovely, beautiful voice but so much power - the sort of power that could devastate buildings or rise mountains from the sea.

He is magnificant.

This is the first of the Trinity of Divine Candlemass albums.  As I own them all, they shall all be listened to, dissected, admired and enjoyed. I am undecided as to which is my favourite, but as this is the first, it defnitely rates highly.

Okay, so you get the idea, I love these albums. I love Messiah. They are beauty and power and... let's just listen to it already, shall we? Actually, I vaguely remember analysing some of these songs for a  school project/poetry assignment. We had an awesome English teacher.

And don't worry, I'll try and find you some videos too - in case you are one of the unintiated.

Firstly - this album jacket is beautiful, taken from "The Voyage of Life: Old Age" by Thomas Cole. It depicts an aged man, in a boat afloat on a lonely ocean, dark clouds looming overhead, a ray of light splitting them asunder. Before him hovers an Angel, a vision of white and glory. In the very centre, small and unassuming but very easy to read, is the band name and the title. The sleeve itself is a simple affair - a one fold cover with all the lyrics printed in small but legible font, set against the twilight clouds.

As I noted previously, most metal albums from this era begin with a short intro piece with haunting music or - in this case - crashing lightning or perhaps a cracking "Gothic Stone".

Whatever it is, it quickly fades into the looming majesty of "The Well of Souls". Messiah's soaring and powerful voice rises above the doom-laden chords, filled with his passion and dedication to protecting the world from:

"...hatred and scorn..."

Perhaps because Messiah's customary attire is a robe, crucifix and he pretty much looks like an epic avenging monk, it is very, very easy to envisage him as the "old man" whose life is dedicated to protecting the world from the looming threat of Satan.

Lyrics indicate that he is unsuccessful in this endeavour, yet like in the earlier track "The Sorcerer's Pledge", the battle is a non-climactic one. In this case, daylight destroys the darkness. Let us just be thankful that they write lyrics, not novels.

"Codex Gigas" is another pounding instrumental, with ominous, slow beats and brooding atmosphere. I am imagining someone carrying a heavy load, ponderously through the dark.

Ah, the opening chords of "At the Gallows End" bring a shiver to my spine and a tear to my eye. Partly it is nostalgia - but also it is a beauty lead-in - slow and haunting, with Messiah's wonderful voice dripping with raw emotion and loss. I am standing with him, waiting for my death. What a swan song.

"Only the vultures will come to see me hang..."

Pounding bass, dramatic and chilling. 

And oh, now we have the most beautiful "Samarithan". Every song a memory. Slower rhythms, slightly lower vocal register; sorrow and compassion weigh down the words. A homeless man, offered sanctuary - a simple act of kindness that brings with it much reward. This song is a thing of beauty.

I am never quite sure if Candlemass are technically a Christian band - their lyrics are filled with Christian imagery, but they seem to regard it with more honour and respect than the bands that preach about hellfire and damnation. It feels biblical in the oldest sense of the word, and noble.

The ponderous and dramatic "Marche Funeral"  bridges us between this song and "Dark are the Veils of Death". This is a faster paced, and somewhat more dramatic slightly hectic song, almost desperate at times. Messiah's vocals are no less than stupendous.

"Enter the great adventure, just wait and see..."

I think Candlemass helped me to "survive" my teen years. Whilst they are, technically, a doom band, their lyrics are not filled with as much death and despair as other bands of that ilk* - they have hope - of the afterlife, of redemption, of the triumph of good against evil.

The devastatingly beautiful "Mourner's Lament" follows. A song laden so much with mourning, loss and anguish. A father mourns his deceased son. A song that sends shivers down my spine and a thrill in my heart. The power... the raw emotion... The whispered "Rest in peace" brings a tear to my eye.

Why, you could almost say that I'm "Bewitched" - which is coincidentally, the next (and almost final) track on this album. It is a song with decidedly pagan elements, putting it at odds of every other track on this album:

"Bewitched by delight, you'll reach the night dancing and singing to my fiddle. So take my hand, and understand, that no-one will see you again." 

It is a splendid song, and somewhat more upbeat than the rest of the album. Of course, the video is something of a letdown, thanks to be exceedingly cheap and cheesy and rather silly. I suspect that the band are not quite as serious as they pretend to be. Still, noone is immune to a little fun.

Candlemass are an amazing band, and this is an awesome album. Along with the other two Messiah-vocaled Candlemass albums, they are some of the finest doom and gloom albums ever made. Even the nostalgia aspect notwithstanding, it would be a crime against metal to give this album anything less than 10/10.


* Stay tuned for Confessor (music to kill yourself to). But they'll probably have to wait until I've looped through all my Candlemass. Ironically, Confessor helped me in those angst-ridden years too.