Dactylis Glomerata | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 13 April 1998 | |||
Recorded | 1996–1997 | |||
Studio | Swedish Broadcasting Corporation Studio 4, Slamtilt Studio and Studio Montezuma (overdubs) Sunlight Studio (disc 2), Stockholm, Sweden | |||
Genre | Epic doom metal | |||
Length | 43:44 | |||
Label | Music for Nations | |||
Producer | Leif Edling | |||
Candlemass chronology | ||||
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Dactylis Glomerata is the sixth studio album by Swedish doom metal band Candlemass, released in 1998. This was their first album released since their split in 1994.
The album was originally destined to be the second release by Candlemass main songwriter Leif Edling's side-project Abstrakt Algebra but, under request from the record label Music for Nations, it was converted into a Candlemass album. There were many musicians involved in the long process of recording, including members of the Abstrakt Algebra's line-up, guitarist Michael Amott of Arch Enemy and Carcass fame and new singer Björn Flodkvist.
The music on the album lacks much of the epic doom sound of previous works and embraces a more experimental and progressive approach, with elements of stoner rock and space rock.
In 2006, it was reissued by GMR Music as a 2 CD edition. The second disc contains the previously unreleased album Abstrakt Algebra II, from which this album's tracks derived.
Candlemass disbanded in 1994, after the release of the EP Sjunger Sigge Furst. [1] Main songwriter and bassist Leif Edling formed a new band called Abstrakt Algebra with singer Mats Levén, drummer Jejo Perkovic, guitarists Mike Wead and Simon Johansson. Abstrakt Algebra released their eponymous debut album of experimental and progressive metal in 1995. [2] The album received some good reviews but was not a commercial success. [1] [2]
Edling composed music for a second more progressive Abstrakt Algebra album and started recording it with a different line-up, [3] which included keyboard player Carl Westholm and guitarist Patrik Instedt replacing Wead and Johansson, at Sunlight Studio, Stockholm, Sweden in the Autumn of 1996. [1] Soon problems emerged with the recording studio and the producer and Edling's finances dried up. [3] Music for Nations, the British label which had issued the previous Candlemass albums, offered Edling to finance further recordings in a different studio if the album was released as a work by Candlemass. [3] Edling, who was on the edge of bankruptcy and a mental breakdown, agreed to this condition and rearranged the songs to adapt them to the heavier doom metal sound of Candlemass. [3] He also composed the new songs "I Still See the Black", "Molotov" and "Karthago" for the album. [1]
His old bandmates declined Edlin's request for collaboration, [1] so he recruited Swedish guitarist Michael Amott, renowned for his work with Carcass, Spiritual Beggars and Arch Enemy and a declared Candlemass fan, to beef up the guitar sound on the tracks. [3] [4] Meanwhile, Levén had joined Yngwie Malmsteen's band and Björn Flodkvist, who Edlin had met while working at Sveriges Radio P3 and coming from the Swedish alternative rock band Gone, was selected as singer. [1]
A band composed by Edling, Amott, Flodkvist, Instedt, Perkovic and Westholm re-recorded during a weekend in May 1997 the basic tracks for the old Abstrakt Algebra songs and for the new compositions "I Still See the Black", "Karthago" and "Wiz" (originally called "Blue Wizard") with the help of session musicians at Swedish Broadcasting Corporation Studio 4 in Stockholm, Sweden. [1] Those three days of recording were Amott's only involvement with Candlemass. [4] Overdubs were added by several other musicians at two other studios of the same city. [1] The final mix, performed by Edling and engineer Uffe Östling, joined the new recordings and more overdubs until after September 1997. [1]
The album took about 18 months to be completed and was released on 13 April 1998 by Music for Nations. [1] The Japanese edition featured the bonus tracks "Container" and "Thirst". [3] The title comes from the plant Dactylis glomerata , the flower of which Edling is allergic to. [3]
Dactylis Glomerata was reissued in 2006 in a 2 CD edition by the Swedish label GMR Music and by Peaceville Records in 2008. The second disc contains the Abstrakt Algebra sessions recorded by the band in 1996 and extensive liner notes by Edling. [3]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 7/10 [5] |
Rock Hard | 8.0/10 [6] |
Dactylis Glomerata received positive reviews, but was a commercial failure. Canadian journalist Martin Popoff praised the "trippy, not cheesy" production and Björn Flodkvist's vocals, considering the album "closer to stoner rock than self-serious doom". [5] Rock Hard reviewer remarked how different the sound of Dactylis Glomerata is in comparison with the "classic" first four Candlemass albums, lacking "their anthemic, epic arrangements", "the theatrical element, which has always characterized the vocals of Messiah" (Marcolin), and featuring elements of space rock in several tracks like the "monumental 'Dustflow'". [6]
All tracks are written by Leif Edling
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Wiz" | 4:06 |
2. | "I Still See the Black" | 6:19 |
3. | "Dustflow" | 9:24 |
4. | "Cylinder" (instrumental) | 1:23 |
5. | "Karthago" | 6:38 |
6. | "Abstrakt Sun" | 6:41 |
7. | "Apathy" | 4:07 |
8. | "Lidocain God" | 3:32 |
9. | "Molotov" (instrumental) | 1:31 |
No. | Title | Length |
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10. | "Container" | 3:19 |
11. | "Thirst" | 4:54 |
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "3:rd Child from the Sun" | 4:06 |
2. | "Dustflow" | 7:59 |
3. | "Abstrakt Sun" | 6:52 |
4. | "Thirst" | 5:03 |
5. | "Bug Queen" | 3:48 |
6. | "Blue Wizard" | 4:20 |
7. | "Lidocain God" | 4:15 |
8. | "Cylinder" (instrumental) | 1:34 |
9. | "Enigma" | 4:11 |
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Candlemass is a Swedish epic doom metal band established in Upplands Väsby, a suburb of Stockholm in 1984 by bassist, songwriter and bandleader Leif Edling and drummer Matz Ekström. The band had a defining influence on doom metal, and the epic doom genre itself is named after their debut album Epicus Doomicus Metallicus. Along with Pentagram, Saint Vitus and Trouble, Candlemass has been referred to as one of the "big four of doom metal".
Michael Amott is a Swedish guitarist, founding member of the metal bands Arch Enemy, Spiritual Beggars and Carnage, as well as a former member of Carcass. He is the older brother of Christopher Amott.
Leif Edling is a Swedish musician, best known as the bassist, main songwriter and one of the founding members of the epic doom metal band Candlemass. He is the only constant member of the band since its inception to the present day. Nevertheless, since the band's second reunion in 2002 Edling has been backed up again by founding rhythm guitarist Mats Björkman, who had been absent from 1997 to 2002 and was replaced by Michael Amott.
Jan-Håkan "Ian" Haugland is a Norwegian-Swedish drummer in the Swedish rock band Europe. When he was eight months old, he and his family moved to the Stockholm suburb of Märsta, Sweden. He joined Europe in the summer of 1984, replacing Tony Reno. Previously Haugland had played in a number of bands, including Trilogy, where Candlemass bassist Leif Edling sang, and Yngwie J. Malmsteen's band Rising Force.
Abstrakt Algebra was a Swedish experimental metal band with influences from power metal and doom metal. It was founded by bassist Leif Edling in 1994, shortly after his main project Candlemass split up.
Mats Levén is a Swedish singer. Some of his most notable collaborations have been with guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen, symphonic metallers Therion and doom metallers Candlemass. In 2011, due to family issues on the part of Firewind's lead singer Apollo, Levén was called in to substitute for the rest of their European tour. He also started touring with Trans-Siberian Orchestra in 2016. In 2019, he released his first solo album under the name Skyblood. In 2022, he became a member of Vandenberg which is led by the well known guitarist, Adrian Vandenberg.
Mike Wead is a Swedish guitarist who lives in Stockholm. Wead contributed to heavy metal bands such as Hexenhaus, Memento Mori, Abstrakt Algebra, The Haunted, Edge of Sanity, Candlemass, The Project Hate. Currently Wead is the guitarist of Mercyful Fate, King Diamond, and bibleblack.
Epicus Doomicus Metallicus is the debut album of the Swedish doom metal band Candlemass. It was released 10 June 1986 on Black Dragon Records. On its release, the album had a significantly different sound than other European heavy metal bands of the time, because of their use of operatic vocals mixed over slow and heavy guitar riffs. The album did not sell well on its initial release, which led to the group being dropped from the label during the same year. Since then, the album has been re-issued in several different formats. The album title Epicus Doomicus Metallicus is a dog latin translation rendering of Epic Doom Metal — the genre which the band helped pioneer and with which it is most commonly identified. Although he was actually a guest musician at the time of its recording, this was the only Candlemass album to feature vocalist Johan Längqvist until he joined the band, officially, in 2018.
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Candlemass is the eighth studio album by Swedish doom metal band Candlemass, released in 2005. This was the band's last album with singer Messiah Marcolin.
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