The second of the first four excellent Candlemass records. While they are each untouchable, I must say I like Messiah Marcolin’s operatic vocals more than Johan Langqvist’s on the first record. With the new singer and a few other new members, there was a lot to live up to but they deliver above and beyond the debut with this one. Candlemass is a tighter unit - still heavy, doomy, rifftastic, epic but not without its “faster” songs for those who don’t like to be entirely pulled into the doom morass. The production is great on this album, and the excellent vocals are standout over the heaviness. If you haven’t seen the Bewitched video, check it out - pretty funny in a bad way. This is just an excellent record.
They’d crank out a few more good records, but frankly, I have not tried to listen to anything by this band past Tales of Creation so I can’t opine whether their later career stuff is even good. As it turns out, Candlemass is touring the US now, with Längqvist on vocals - they are playing tomorrow in Portland.