CD review CANDLEMASS ‘The Pendulum’

Genre-defining Candlemass used the dark season of the year to work on new material, songs they will release end of March under the banner of ‘The Pendulum’. The six tracks comprising EP comes through Napalm Records and show again why the band belongs to the spearhead of Doom Metal. Actually it’s more like a 3 tracks EP with three short interludes, but hej, the three songs are better than what many Doom Metal bands bring to the plate.

An acoustic guitar starts the title track in a silent fashion before a typical Candlemass riff breaks the silence. It’s a strong Black Sabbath vibe that comes with the opener ‘The Pendulum’, being a excellent start into the album. With the exception of the chorus the songs rather fast for a band like Candlemass, a fact that changes with ‘Snakes of Goliath’. A next mammoth riff leads off the track, being slo-mo monster that represents all the dark beauty of Doom Metal in general and Candlemass in specific. This song gives you the shivers.

‘Sub Zero’ is an acoustic interlude, followed by ‘Aftershock’, a one-and-a-half minutes instrumental with Edling’s bass only. It feels like a kind of a weird, at least unexpected, a middle section that comes from leftfield. Good that with ‘Porcelain Skull’ a next epical track takes over. I had to think of Avatarium while listening to the tune. What’s really exciting is the massive tempo change along the way, which is bridging to a every well-done solo part. ‘Massive’ describes the tune best.

‘The Cold Room’ is another short instrumental, acting more as an outro for this EP. Again, it’s an unusual set-up with the three short instrumentals but I also must say that the do their job in amplifying the arcs of tension on this EP. It’s like a short-story that also doesn’t win you over due to length. It’s the condensed quality that makes the difference and this is what we can conclude for ‘The Pendulum’ too.