Warthur A lesser band than Candlemass would have botched this one. Few other groups could suffer the loss of a lead singer as legendary as Messiah Marcolin at an early stage in the recording sessions of an album, complete the album with a guest vocalist (even one as talented as Rob Lowe of Solitude Aeturnus), and have it come out sounding this good. As it is, Lowe seems to slip into the Candlemass groove almost immediately - no surprise, considering that Solitude Aeturnus work with a very similar aesthetic - and delivers some fantastic performances, particularly on the melancholic and megalomaniac rant of Emperor of the Void. All of a sudden, I can't imagine current-era Candlemass without him.

UMUR "King of the Grey Islands" is the 9th full-length studio album by Swedish doom metal act Candlemass. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Records in June 2007. There´s been one significant lineup change since the release of the 2005 self-titled 8th album release as lead vocalist Messiah Marcolin has been replaced by Robert Lowe (also known for his work with US doom metal act Solitude Aeturnus). The rest of the lineup is intact.

The music on the album is epic sounding doom metal with melodic and memorable vocal/melody lines. While the music is certainly both crushingly heavy and doomy as you´d expect, there´s a slight touch of power metal in the sound that helps keep the music interesting and a bit more light than the more dark and heavy bands in the genre. It´s unmistakable the sound of Candlemass, new lead vocalist or not.

Replacing a distinct sounding and skilled vocalist like Messiah Marcolin was probably a daunting task, but Robert Lowe has quite a different voice and singing style to his predecessor´s semi-operatic delivery, and it´s clear from the start, that Robert Lowe has vowed to put his own mark on Candlemass sound, instead of trying to imitate Messiah Marcolin. It´s no doubt a smart decision and while his voice is not as distinct sounding as his predecessor´s ditto, he is still a skilled lead vocalist with a strong voice, showing many aspects of his vocal skills throughout "King of the Grey Islands".

The material on the 10 track, 53:55 minutes long album (the limited edition digipack features to bonus tracks) are predominantly heavy epic doom metal tracks and structure wise they are pretty standard vers/chorus based. Standout tracks on the album are "Emperor of the Void", "Of Stars and Smoke" (featuring a great power metal tinged chorus) and the progressive metal oriented "Man of Shadows". All tracks are of high quality though.

The sound production is powerful, heavy, and relatively organic, which suits the music perfectly. So upon conclusion "King of the Grey Islands" is yet another high quality doom metal release by Candlemass and it´s also a great introduction album for Robert Lowe, who pass the "new vocalist test" in a convincing style. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

Time Signature Devil seed...

Genre: doom metal

Yet another strong doom album from Candlemass. Although very different from that of Messiah Marcolin, the experienced doom metal vocalist Rob Lowe's voice suits Candlemass' heavy, dark, melancholic and epic music very well.

The production is less polished than their earlier efforts, and the guitar distortion is actually very dirty. The typical 80s reverb craze had died out long before the release of this album, and thus the reverby production that chracterized the early epic Candlemass sound is absent on "King of the Grey Islands" - still the sound is big and epic, which shows that it is not just the production but Leif Edling's talent as a song writer which, in reality, is the source of Candlemass' epicness.

There are plenty of heavy and doom-ladden guitar riffs, and the typical Candlemass equilibrium between variation and consistency is also present on this great doom metal album.

The tracks are generally strong, but i must admit that I am not too fond of the rerecorded version of "Solitude", but never mind that - it's just a bonus track anyway ;-)

Fans of epic and other types of doom metal should like this album, and I'm sure that some power metal fans would appreciate it, too.