CANDLEMASS — King of the Grey Islands (review)

CANDLEMASS — King of the Grey Islands album cover Album · 2007 · Traditional Doom Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
"King of the Grey Islands" is the 9th full-length studio album by Swedish doom metal act Candlemass. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Records in June 2007. There´s been one significant lineup change since the release of the 2005 self-titled 8th album release as lead vocalist Messiah Marcolin has been replaced by Robert Lowe (also known for his work with US doom metal act Solitude Aeturnus). The rest of the lineup is intact.

The music on the album is epic sounding doom metal with melodic and memorable vocal/melody lines. While the music is certainly both crushingly heavy and doomy as you´d expect, there´s a slight touch of power metal in the sound that helps keep the music interesting and a bit more light than the more dark and heavy bands in the genre. It´s unmistakable the sound of Candlemass, new lead vocalist or not.

Replacing a distinct sounding and skilled vocalist like Messiah Marcolin was probably a daunting task, but Robert Lowe has quite a different voice and singing style to his predecessor´s semi-operatic delivery, and it´s clear from the start, that Robert Lowe has vowed to put his own mark on Candlemass sound, instead of trying to imitate Messiah Marcolin. It´s no doubt a smart decision and while his voice is not as distinct sounding as his predecessor´s ditto, he is still a skilled lead vocalist with a strong voice, showing many aspects of his vocal skills throughout "King of the Grey Islands".

The material on the 10 track, 53:55 minutes long album (the limited edition digipack features to bonus tracks) are predominantly heavy epic doom metal tracks and structure wise they are pretty standard vers/chorus based. Standout tracks on the album are "Emperor of the Void", "Of Stars and Smoke" (featuring a great power metal tinged chorus) and the progressive metal oriented "Man of Shadows". All tracks are of high quality though.

The sound production is powerful, heavy, and relatively organic, which suits the music perfectly. So upon conclusion "King of the Grey Islands" is yet another high quality doom metal release by Candlemass and it´s also a great introduction album for Robert Lowe, who pass the "new vocalist test" in a convincing style. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

A Sonication Technical Death Metal
OBSCURA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Hin helga kvöl Atmospheric Sludge Metal
SÓLSTAFIR
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Cycles of Suffering Black Metal
BURIAL OATH
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Suns of Perdition - Chapter IV: To Shadow Zion Black Metal
PANZERFAUST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Facilis Descensus Averno Death Metal
SAEVUS FINIS
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

DAWN OF REVENGE - Sanctuary [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 6 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Farewell [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 6 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Curtain of Death - [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 6 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Vengeance [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 6 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - I Need You [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 6 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed