Candlemass is one of the few old bands of the genre who are still able and willing to satisfy us as in the best possible way, both as far as the frequency, as well as the quality of their albums is concerned. This year they are releasing their 10^th full length album after the “King of The Grey islands” of 2007, which is the second featuring Robert Lowe on vocals, who is the best fitting singer with the band’s style (that is something that could never be doubted by those who already knew him from his work with Solitude Aeturnus).

The album consists of 8 tracks, which are all full of the heaviest, melodic and doom material Candlemass ever wrote since the era of “Ancient Dreams”. Leif Edling has overcome himself by creating an astonishing ensemble that will remain in heavy metal history as one of the best albums of Candlemass. Great guitar work from the “axe” duo “Mappe” Bjorkman and  “Lasse” Johansson, slow, epic and melodic riffs and the extraordinary voice of Lowe travelling you to seasons full of magic, demons, vampires and the “curse” of immortality. It’s really hard to make a choice among those great compositions, which are all memorable and characteristic for their uniqueness. What could one really say for songs like the amazing “Bleeding Baroness”, “Demon of the Deep”, the slow, heavy and lyrical “Hammer of Doom”, the mind blowing riffs of “House of a Thousand Voices”, the dynamic “Dead Angel”, the melodic and emotional “My Funeral Dreams”?  How nice things would be if there were more bands with an equal inspiration of Candlemass in the year 2009! Let’s hope that this release will be followed by more pleasant surprises within this year.

Consequently, “Death, Magic, Doom”, is with no doubt one of the best releases of the year. For all of you who are fond of classic heavy/doom/epic genre it would be such a shame not to have this amazing album in your collection.