CANDLEMASS — Tales of Creation (review)

CANDLEMASS — Tales of Creation album cover Album · 1989 · Traditional Doom Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
Time Signature
The edge of heaven...

Genre: doom metal

I think "Ancient Dreams" is another epitome of epic doom metal and, without doubt, a doom metal masterpiece. What is interesting is that a number of the tracks on the album were actually written back in 1985 and rerecorded for this album ("Under the Oak" was originally released on "Epicus Doomucis Metallicus" in 1986).

"Tales of Creation" is very much a blueprint of melodic, melancholic, catchy yet dark and heavy doom metal. While the album as a whole is great, it's Marcolin's vocals that really tops it. As with "Ancient Tales" there is a lot of variation on the album in terms of melody, heaviness, tempo etc. without it ever threatening the coherence of the album. Outstanding tracks are the uptempo "Dark Reflections", "Tears" with its simple bur very melancholic verse riff, "Into the Unfathomed Tower" which is a power metal instrumental, the über doom anthem "Somewhere in Nowhere" and the title track.

The one thing that annoys me about this album is the use of spoken voice-overs, but that's just a pet peeve of mine. I generally think it disturbs the listening experience of the music itself.

As with the other 80s Candlemass albums, the production is big with a lot of reverb which adds to the epicness (although, the guitar could use more bottom in general).

I'd recommend this to any fan of epic doom metal and I think power metal fans might like it, too.
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