Candlemass - King of the Grey Islands Review artwork

Rating: 8.4

Country: Sweden

Release Date: 2007

Track list:
1. Prologue
2. Emperor of the Void
3. Devil Seed
4. Of Stars and Smoke
5. Demonia 6
6. Destroyer
7. Man of Shadows
8. Clearsight
9. The Opal City
10. Embracing the Styx
11. At the Gallows End (With Rob Lowe)
12. Solitude (With Rob Lowe)

Band Website: Candlemass

Candlemass - King of the Grey Islands

Robert Lowe - Vocals
Mats Bjorkman - Guitars
Lasse Johansson - Guitars
Leif Edling - Bass
Jan Lindh - Drums

It's downright intellectually dishonest to ask a band as veteran as Candlemass to reinvent the wheel. After more than two decades on the scene, fans should pretty much know exactly what to expect from King of the Grey Islands, the Swedish quintet's ninth full-length. So it follows that in order to keep people coming back for more when there's no element of surprise left, a band has to be really damned good at what they do.

Two years ago the self-titled record, which featured the return of iconic frontman Messiah Marcolin to the fold, reignited the flame of doom that the band first lit way back in the mid-80s with their Epicus Doomicus Metallicus album. But it wasn't Messiah's presence that made that album great - it was a strong batch of songs that recaptured a vibe that had been lost since 1989's Tales of Creation. Now Messiah is once again absent. His replacement is Robert Lowe, an almost equally veteran presence on the doom metal circuit, having fronted Texas' Solitude Aeturnus since 1990. Anyone familiar with Solitude Aeturnus knew that Lowe had the pipes for the job when the band tapped him to take over for Marcolin. So the question was, would the songs stack up?

Well, for the most part the answer to that question is 'yes'. "Emperor of the Void" is a classic heavy metal track by any standard, with a wah pedal-driven hook riff and an outstanding, infectious chorus [something that has become somewhat of a calling card for Candlemass over the years], interrupted by a strange but somehow fitting clean guitar interlude. "Devil Seed" is almost a mirror image of "Copernicus" from the last album, with its mellow, brooding verses and huge, power chord-laden refrain riffs. Not a bad song, even if it is a bit of a rehash. "Of Stars and Smoke" is the best track from the first half of this album, and also the most prototypical doom song here, including some beautifully dramatic lead harmonies, particularly in the chorus. "Demonia 6" is a straightforward, mid-paced metal track [somewhat reminiscent of old Celtic Frost, actually] that's highlighted by perhaps the best display of Lowe's impressive vocal range on the entire record.

The second half of the album is somewhat more adventurous than the first, but also more inconsistent. "Destroyer" is the slowest, most morose track on the album, rarely moving faster than your average Evoken song. This is an interesting song because it has almost a grunge [think Soundgarden] feel to it, thanks in part to the vocal patterns and the Led Zeppelin influenced leads. "Man of Shadows" carries a significant progressive element, built around a 9/8 riff, and featuring a bizarre acoustic/mellotron cutaway, as well as a handful of unexpected tempo shifts [uncommon for Candlemass]. "Clearsight" is definitely the weakest song here, due largely to an ill-conceived and overly repetitious chorus, which is a shame because the verse sections are nothing short of excellent. King of the Grey Islands [the main body of it, anyway] closes with "Embracing the Styx", which is a bona-fide epic and a song that, had it been written earlier in Candlemass' career, could have been one of the band's definitive tracks. This song alone may very well make the record worth purchasing for some.

The American release of this record contains re-recordings of two of the band's timeless classics - "Solitude" from Epicus Doomicus Metallicus and "At the Gallows End" from Nightfall - each with Lowe on vocals, naturally. The former of these is particularly interesting because it adds several bars of lead guitar melody to the beginning of the song, which actually helps contribute to the already overwhelming atmospheric quality it possesses. The latter re-recording, unfortunately, is relatively by-the-numbers, though Lowe's interpretation of Marcolin's old vocal lines makes it worth hearing at least once.

At the end of the day, King of the Grey Islands is by no means a disappointment, but it doesn't quite recapture the energy of the self-titled album. It's not because of the new vocalist - quite to the contrary, Lowe's performance here is nothing short of outstanding. But the songwriting is simply not as consistently strong; the more typical songs early on in the album are quality, but might be a bit too familiar to truly stand up to repeat listens, and some of the more progressive ones are not without pitfalls that keep them from becoming classics. It's an album that die-hard Candlemass fans will almost certainly appreciate, but for newcomers, it's far from an ideal introduction to the doomsters.

November 28th, 2007