Candlemass Nightfall

Candlemass 'Nightfall' (Axis, 1987)

This is truly epic. Classic doom metal which is unashamed to be metal; soaring vocals, mournful melodies and pounding rhythms are here to be wallowed in and enjoyed. For once I can't find anything to disagree with when considering the snippets of reviews detailed on the front cover's sticker, a sumptuous detail of Thomas Cole's 'Old Age', which proclaim the album to be '..an all time H. M. legend', '....a truly devastating release', and '...an explosive combination of ....Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Manowar'. Yes, it's good stuff.

The first person thanked on the inner sleeve is Jonas Akerlund, mentioned before in the context of Bathory, who popped his directorial cherry with the video for 'Bewitched', which also features a cameo by famously dead original vocalist of Mayhem, Dead. I don't think Akerlund won many awards for his first video but it has a certain charm.

Candlemass were most famous at the time for their vocalist's, Messiah Marcolin, 'Doom Dance' (an excellent 'Thriller' style doom dance takes place during the 'Bewitched' promo)which was viewed with much amusement when Pringle bought the '3 Way Thrash' video. The video which portrayed Candlemass, Dark Angel and D. A. M. in all their glory was on regular rotation and it was only once I had watched it that I realised that the album I had assumed was 'Into the Pandemonium' by Celtic Frost was actually 'Nightfall'! An older guy at school had given me a tape and had mistakenly written Celtic Frost on it rather than Candlemass. All the reviews of 'Into the Pandemonium' I'd read mentioned death marches and classical influences and this album featured both so I just put two and two together and got 665!

Only two months earlier I had spent the majority of the Celtic Frost gig at the Playhouse shouting for 'Bewitched' and announcing to Radio Forth, who I thought were recording the gig, that I was in attendance. What an embo!

It's been an absolute pleasure listening to this masterpiece again. Unfortunately, my copy is warped, which wasn't the case when I last listened to it, although it played fine. I have bought this record for Fray and Finch in the past so perhaps they now have my non warped copy? Such is life.

Peace