Candlemass Have A Chat With Rue Morgue Records

Clocking in almost four decades, it’s no stretch to say that Grammy-nominated Swedish epic doom legends Candlemass are still one of the heaviest metal bands on earth. As the godfathers of epic doom metal, the band defined the genre with releases such as Epicus Doomicus Metallicus (1986) and Nightfall (1987).

Through their evil riffs, crushing rhythmic attack and dramatic vocals, they changed the landscape of metal worldwide. Reunited with outstanding original vocalist Johan Langquist, the band around founding member Leif Edling finds its way back to its roots and finally delivers the long awaited, earth-shaking new full-length album, Sweet Evil Sun.

Recently I had the chance to sit down for a one-on-one with Johan and we started our discussion talking about the thoughts that were swirling around when they were working on the album –  a process that I learnt took eighteen months.

“We really wanted an album that was equal to or if not better than what The Door To Doom was,” he says after thinking for a moment. “That was the main ambition, but when you are writing songs it comes out from your visions of music in a way. We were working with these songs for so long so that happened a lot – but that main aim was to still make an album even better than our last… and we didn’t even know if that was possible.”

Given the tight turnaround that most bands are given in the studio these days to hear that Sweet Evil Sun took eighteen months to put together intrigued me and I delved even deeper into that with Johan asking if that is the longest the band has ever spent on an album.

“I can only speak for myself,” he says. “Leif is the main song writer and he always spends some time on songs. He is always calling me up at home and wanting to go into the studio and make a demo or something. Then he brings the songs back and keeps working on them. So for me personally with the vocals I just do a couple of demos and then at the end of the day I just put down the final vocals so to me it never feels like it takes such a long time.”

As our discussion around song-writing continues Johan tells me that he has been working on some songs himself recently and he tells me that while he has just turned 60 he has been writing music since he was a child. That leads to me ask whether back then he thought music would be something he was still doing more than fifty years later.

“I think I knew pretty early on that this was something for me,” he says with a laugh. “I find writing lyrics a guess you could say a kind of therapy in one way. It is so amazing writing songs because the only limit is yourself so I find it an amazing thing and I just love it. You know when you see something out in the world or in your neighbourhood you think about it a lot and then one day it just becomes a song for you so it just a part of me for sure.”

This topic leads to us both talking about the fact that the lyrics that Leif has written for Sweet Evil Sun are a lot more intimate and personal than what we have come to expect from Candlemass over the years and it becomes obvious that it is something that Johan has noticed as well.

“Yeah we have been talking about it,” he explains. “To me it is just part of life and the way that Leif lives it. We haven’t been delving that deep into it. When I am singing I see things as a part of life in one way or another and to discuss the dark sides of life might be scary for some people but you have to talk about it. Music means different things to different people but wherever we are doing gigs we have people talking to us about the impression that our music has made on them. For example our Epicus Doomicus Metallicus album had a big affect on people. Life can be hard but people just need to stay strong and see that light at the end of the tunnel.”

And if those words of wisdom from the wise Johan Langquist weren’t enough he has some more to close out the interview – aimed at those who are about to sit down and listen to Sweet Evil Sun for the first time.

“Enjoy music in one way or another,” he says. “And if you like the The Door To Doom album I am pretty sure that you won’t be disappointed listening to this one!”