CANDLEMASS — Chapter VI (review)

CANDLEMASS — Chapter VI album cover Album · 1992 · Traditional Doom Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"Chapter VI" is the 5th full-length studio album by Swedish doom metal act Candlemass (despite what the album title might suggest). The album was released through Music for Nations in May 1992. It´s the successor to "Tales of Creation" from 1989 and features one lineup change since the predecessor as lead vocalist Messiah Marcolin has been replaced by Thomas Vikström. Marcolin had a serious falling out with some of the other members of the band while touring in support of "Tales of Creation (1989)", and left the band mid-tour. "Chapter VI" would be the last album release before Candlemass initial split-up in 1994.

Replacing a frontman like Marcolin must have been a daunting task for Vikström, as the former had such a distinct sounding voice and stage presence. And let´s establish right away that Vikström is not able to replace Marcolin and add anything resembling his predecessors uniqueness. Less will do though and Vikström is not a poorly skilled vocalist by any means. His voice and singing style are just a little more regular heavy metal/power metal styled and as Candlemass have also added keyboards and a little more pace and traditional heavy metal/power metal elements to their music, "Chapter VI" is not the most doomy album in the band´s discography. Those tendencies were already introduced on "Tales of Creation (1989)", but they are even further explored here.

The material on the 8 track, 46:26 minutes long album are well written and the listener is treated to loads of powerful heavy riffs, blistering melodic guitar solos, and heavy rhythms. So "Chapter VI" is in many ways a strong release by Candlemass, if you listen to it with an open mind and don´t expect it to sound like -era Candlemass. The sound production is a bit on the thin side (the bass drums sound pretty horrible), but it´s overall a decent sounding release and a 3.5 star (70%) rating isn´t all wrong.
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