Album of the Week 46-2022: Candlemass – Sweet Evil Sun
The days when Candlemass released surprising late-career highlights – let’s say ‘King Of The Grey Islands’ – are unfortunately over. However, since reuniting with Johan Längquist, who sang on the band’s highly influential debut album ‘Epicus Doomicus Metallicus’, Candlemass has gone a long way in washing away the unpleasant taste their underwheming intended farewell album ‘Psalms For The Dead’ had left. The worst thing I can say about ‘Sweet Evil Sun’ is that it is just another Candlemass album. It largely follows the same formula as ‘The Door To Doom’ did nearly four years ago. Great doom metal, just don’t expect any miracles.
Bassist and chief songwriter Leif Edling is quick to point to Black Sabbath as the true inventors of doom metal, but the Swedes’ earliest work more or less defined the more traditional interpretation of the style. Slow to midtempo riffs, dramatic vocals, song structures that are not too intricate: these elements can be found on every Candlemass album. The band has experimented with varying degrees of psychedelic influences, but when you put on Candlemass, you largely know what you will get. ‘Sweet Evil Sun’ is slightly more complex in the sense that the songs contain more riffs and sections than usual, but the basic template is the same.
Interestingly, the songs that surfaced before the album’s release are generally the weaker ones. The title track is a simple, yet effective seventies-inspired doomster, but ‘When Death Sighs’ outstays its welcome and ‘Scandinavian Gods’ is a shockingly dull plodder. Fortunately, the rest of the album is a lot better. My personal highlight is the epic ‘Devil Voodoo’. With its upper mid-tempo main section, it is one of the faster tracks on the album and Längquist is like a fish in the water. Stylistically similar, but different atmospherically is the relatively aggressive ‘Angel Battle’. ‘Crucified’ starts sounding like a dramatic ballad, but becomes an effective stomper as well.
Given that we are dealing with a Candlemass album, there are of course a few songs built on powerful, monolithic doom riffs. The aforementioned songs have quite a few of them, but closing track ‘Goddess’ is the ultimate slow doom track here. The way the guitars are layered does the dynamics of the song well. Which is surprising, as the overly trebly sound might be the album’s biggest issue. ‘Black Butterfly’ is another great doom song with massive riffs, while opening track ‘Wizard Of The Vortex’ has some nifty time feel changes that make it feel more intricate than it really is.
‘Sweet Evil Sun’ is not going to set the world on fire or generate an army of new fans for the Swedish doom metal pioneers, but it is another entry to their discography that justifies the band still being around. ‘The Door To Doom’ was slightly more consistent, but ‘Sweet Evil Sun’ has better highlights and profits of consisting exclusively of songs that were written to suit Längquist’s voice. While it is hard to imagine hardcore fans of the band clamoring for songs of this album to be added to the band’s setlist, there are multiple that deserve to be on it.
Recommended tracks: ‘Devil Voodoo’, ‘Angel Battle’, ‘Goddess’
Kevy Metal 
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