AN NCS INTERVIEW: JOHAN LANGQUIST – THE CASTLE

 Interviews  1 Response »
Jun 032025
 

(We present Comrade Aleks‘ interview of Johan Langquist, vocalist of Candlemass and mastermind of the solo project Johan Langquist – The Castle, whose debut album, accompanied by talented allies and digitally released last year, will receive physical releases on June 27th of this year via I Hate Records.)

It’s hard to imagine what the landscape of the world doom scene would be like if the Swedish band Candlemass hadn’t recorded the legendary Epicus Doomicus Metallicus in 1986. This and the following two albums became a source of inspiration and an unattainable quality mark for many bands who worked on the doom path for a long time.

Although Johan Langqvist, who left Candlemass immediately after recording the debut, was only a guest vocalist, this did not stop fans from dreaming about his return for many years, and dreams came true in 2018 when the band reunited in almost “the same” line-up. Who would have thought that today, against the backdrop of Candlemass’s 40th anniversary and the release of their new EP, the news about the release of Johan’s first solo album would be lost? We’ll correct this omission. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: CANDLEMASS

 Interviews  2 Responses »
Jun 032016
 

Candlemass

 

(Comrade Aleks brings us this e-mail interview with Mats Levén, the new vocalist of the legendary Candlemass.)

Everyone knows Candlemass and I bet that all of you know that the band is returning with a new EP, Death Thy Lover. The date of this release is already set – it’s today, the 3rd of June. With Mats Levén on vocals, the band is active, now awakening from slumber and returning on the road. Well, I’d like to surprise you with the astonishing live interview which we planned to do with Mats, but he didn’t find the time for it in his tight schedule, so with all my respect this foreword is as brief as his blitz answers I received by email. Continue reading »

DOOM SONGS: A “SEEN AND HEARD” FEATURING CANDLEMASS, WO FAT, TEMPLE OF ABANDONMENT, FUNERAL MOTH, MERCHANT, AND COME TO GRIEF

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
May 052016
 

 

(Grant Skelton returns to NCS after a bit of a hiatus with a round-up of new doom songs.)

I’ve been a bit MIA from our beloved NCS for the last couple of months, as my educational pursuits had taken priority over my creative ones. But now I have returned to the fold, bringing with me a harvest of disinterred dredgings of doomy delight. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: CANDLEMASS, ENTOMBED, LIVING SACRIFICE, AND XENOSIS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Jan 052013
 

We’ve picked up a lot of new readers over the last couple of weeks, so for their benefit let me explain what others have already figured out about our news reporting: We make no effort to be comprehensive. We don’t cut and paste every press release we get. Actually, we don’t cut and paste any news releases. We write our own thoughts, and what we write about is filtered through my mind and occasionally the minds of our other writers when they message me about something they think is interesting.

So, for better or worse, what you see here is what we think is interesting, according to our tastes. And here are a few items I saw and heard over the last 24 hours that interested me.

CANDLEMASS vs ENTOMBED

Candlemass and Entombed are two Swedish bands who have reached near-legendary status in distinctly different corners of the metal spectrum, Candlemass in the realms of doom and Entombed in the fields of death metal and death ‘n’ roll (though over time Entombed has plowed other fields as well).

Someone at Sweden Rock Magazine, the country’s top-selling music magazine, had the bright idea of asking each band to cover one of the other band’s songs. The result will be a CD single exclusively included with the magazine’s 100th issue that will be sent to subscribers on January 8. For now at least, it won’t be available elsewhere. But fortunately, as of today both tracks are up on YouTube. Continue reading »