By: Anders

Posted: Nov 5, 2005

In 2003 the Swedish doomsters played, judging on the attendees, a hell of a gig, together with Trouble and Force Of Evil. The performance from all 3 bands was taped for DVD releases, as far as I know the Trouble DVD hasn't seen the light of day yet, the Force Of Evil was released a while ago and now it's finally time for seeing Candlemass' performance the said November evening in Stockholm.

From the band enters the stage, you aren't in doubt of they want to give the best they have. The energy oozes of them, through the screen and into the rooms of the ones watching the DVD. All 5 members are in the form of their live, with Messiah Marcolin leading the troops. He is singing just as well as on the albums, damn he sounds great, his huge, powerful and melodic voice crawls inside one and the dark eerie doomy atmosphere is present all along.

The set-list is quite good, always a subject for discussion but favourites as 'Solitude', 'Ancient Dreams', 'Black Stone Wielder', 'Dark Reflections' and so forth, the only song I am missing bad is 'Crystal Ball', which luckily is to be found among the bonus material.

The bonus material is rad, first there are a rather long interview with Leif Edling, Mats Björkman and Messiah Marcolin, a bit too long I think, but I guess that’s a matter of perception, they all talk honest about the past and it is all laid out. And then clips from 4 shows from 1987, 1989, 1992 and 2003 and a TV performance from 1993, all quite great to see, especially the old corny recordings when the band was on the top.

This is a must for Candlemass fans and quite a good place to start for people who wants to check the band out. The sound and performance from the band in Stockholm is killer and one gets sucked into the doomy universe of the band, so go get it… this is a product worth of the money.

Rating: 8/10

Print