King of The Grey Islands

King of The Grey Islands
King of The Grey Islands
	;
Studio album by Candlemass
Released	June 22 2007
Recorded	May 2006 at Polar Studios in Stockholm, Sweden (Initial Recording)
Genre	Epic Doom Metal
Length	52:43 (Excluding Bonus Tracks)
Label	Nuclear Blast Records
Producer	Leif Edling
Candlemass chronology

King of The Grey Islands is the ninth studio album by the Swedish doom metal band Candlemass. Recorded from 2006 and 2007, it would notably be the first Candlemass album to feature Robert Lowe (Solitude Aeturnus) after Messiah Marcolin had been fired from the band during the pre-production stages. It would be released in the Summer of 2007 to critical acclaim.

Background[]

Following the release of the Grammis award-winning 2005 album Candlemass and extensive touring,^[1] Candlemass would begin work on a new album by recording four songs with Andy Sneap.^[2] The new album would have a tentative release for October 2006, however on 28 April 2006 it would be announced that vocalist Messiah Marcolin would be out of the band,^[3] later revealed to be an acrimonious departure.^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]

Despite this setback, recording of the new songs would continue through May 2006 at Polar Studios,^[9] as a search began for a new singer.^[10]^[11] On 22 January 2007 it would be revealed that Robert Lowe (Solitude Aeturnus) would be the new singer,^[12] with his introduction at the band's 20th anniversary show that March.^[13] Lowe would record his vocal parts at Nomad Studios in Dallas followed by the final mixing and mastering in what would be described as an "eleventh hour moment" by Leif Edling.^[14]

To promote the album a picture disc single would be released featuring an early version of "Demonia 6" and a session recording of "Black Dwarf" with Lowe on vocals.^[15] King of The Grey Islands would see release on 22 June 2007, reaching #83 on the German Charts, #32 on the Swedish Charts^[16]^[17] and #10 on the Greek Charts.^[18] The digipak CD version and American CD versions would feature re-recordings of "Solitude" and "At The Gallows End" while the vinyl version would also feature a bonus track in "Edgar Grey". A limited tin box edition of Candlemass' new album, “King Of The Grey Islands,” was released by Nuclear Blast on June 22nd. It is available via mail-order and limited to 500 numbered copies. It features a 3" bonus CD containing two exclusive tracks.

King of The Grey Islands would recieve critical acclaim from both critics and fans alike, with many praising Lowe's vocal perfromance. In a review for Metal Underground, the publication would award a 4.5/5 score, stating "King of the Grey Islands marks another progression in their legacy, and is a nice follow-up to the self-titled reunion album released in 2005. There is a measure of renewed youth the band exudes in some of the unconventional mixtures of archaic rhythms and old-school solos against a backdrop of modern doom. While Candlemass follows the same formula of old, I doubt fans would want anything else, and it's transfused so professionally on this record it’s impossible to be disappointed." The publication also would state that "Rob Lowe has made me a fan of Candlemass where they have failed to really impress me before.".^[19] A review via The Metal Forge would cite Lowe as "the perfect replacement" and "no doubt will be considered a Candlemass classic"^[20]

Metal Reviews (8.5/10)^[21] and Your Last Rites^[22] would both praise the album but would both state that it wasn't as good as the 2005 self-titled. Blabbermouth (awarding a 7.5/10) would highly praise Robert Lowe's vocal performances throughout but would describe the actual songs as "lacking a little" and "skeletal constructs". Despite this the review would particularly give high praise to the songs "Destroyer", "Demonia 6", "Man of Shadows" and "Embracing The Styx".^[23] Lastly a retrospective review by Doodlehound would highly praise the album, stating "Four Swedish folk and a Texan brought out the absolute best in each other at the time and “King of The Grey Islands” still stands tall as one of the band’s finest efforts even in my opinion among the all-time classics of their 80s and early 90s albums.". The review would also notably praise the songs "Devil Seed", "Of Stars and Smoke", "Destroyer" and album closer "Embracing The Styx", stating of the latter "There’s looking into the abyss and peeking at the downward spiral but this album and especially the closer is like a staring contest with the void. Could anyone but Candlemass weave a more epic take on committing suicide than in “Embracing The Styx” (Well, except maybe "Solitude" by the same band)?".^[24]

Tracklist[]