Official CANDLEMASS Documentary In The Works; Acclaimed Swedish Director JONAS ÅKERLUND To Serve As Executive Producer
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A Kickstarter campaign has been launched for a documentary about Swedish doom metal legends CANDLEMASS.
"9 Lives Of Doom – The Story Of Candlemass" will explore the career and legacy of CANDLEMASS and the band's 40-year journey through creativity, collaboration, breakups, and reconciliation.
As part of CANDLEMASS's 40th anniversary, the influential group has been booked to perform an exclusive, one-off reunion show with its iconic former singer Messiah Marcolin at the Rock Hard Festival in Athens, Greece. Messiah was an important figure in the band's early success. However, the relationship between Messiah and the rest of CANDLEMASS has been turbulent throughout the years. 2025 marks 20 years since they last shared the stage together. "9 Lives Of Doom" will document how the reunion plays out.
Added to CANDLEMASS's present activities, the band's guitarist Mats Björkman recently found a moving box filled with 50 hours' worth of old video tapes, yet to be seen. These tapes will provide a close and personal documentary of the history of CANDLEMASS from their humble formation in Upplands Väsby, north of Stockholm, in 1985 leading up to present day. The story is further told through a wide range of interviews with notable musicians and associates to CANDLEMASS.
After CANDLEMASS's anniversary show in Athens, the band is booked to enter the studio to record what possibly will be CANDLEMASS's last record and thus the culmination of the band's career.
CANDLEMASS's mark on the genre and their legacy can be heard in bands such as OPETH, GHOST and PARADISE LOST. In 2019 CANDLEMASS were nominated for a U.S. Grammy Award with the album "The Door To Doom". One could say that CANDLEMASS reached a full-circle moment when BLACK SABBATH's Tony Iommi played a solo on one of the tracks on the record.
CANDLEMASS's journey reflects the human condition and themes such as artistic expression, relationships and coming of age in a genre often associated with youthfulness and virility. "9 Lives Of Doom" is a story about passion and vision and how CANDLEMASS has been a major contributor to putting Sweden on the world map of heavy metal.
CANDLEMASS was formed in 1984 in Upplands Väsby, Sweden, by bassist and main songwriter Leif Edling. The band quickly became pioneers of a slower, heavier, and darker style of metal that came to be known as doom metal — a direct sonic descendant of BLACK SABBATH, but with its own epic and gothic twist. Their debut album, "Epicus Doomicus Metallicus" (1986),is today considered a genre-defining classic, but at the time it flew under the radar. Ironically, the album's status grew over the years, making it one of the most celebrated and influential doom metal albums of all time. In 1987, the band recruited vocalist Messiah Marcolin, whose operatic, vibrato-rich singing style and monk-like stage persona became an identifiable part of CANDLEMASS's visual and sonic identity. With Messiah on board, CANDLEMASS released the albums "Nightfall" (1987),"Ancient Dreams" (1988) and "Tales Of Creation" (1989) — a trilogy that cemented their legacy and built a loyal international fanbase.
CANDLEMASS's career has been marked by both creative highs and internal conflicts, leading to multiple breakups and reunions over the decades. Despite this, the band has shown remarkable resilience and longevity and in 2018 Johan Längqvist, who sang on CANDLEMASS's debut album, joined the band as a full-time singer.
In 2011 Yasin Hillborg's documentary about the history of Swedish hard rock and heavy metal, "Så Jävla Metal" (English-language translation: "So Damn Metal") premiered. The cast is a who's who of Swedish hard rock and metal musicians. One such musician is the renowned film director Jonas Åkerlund who was the drummer of the legendary Swedish black metal band BATHORY. In the spring of 2024 Åkerlund contacted Hillborg and asked Hillborg if he would be interested in directing a feature length documentary about CANDLEMASS.
Åkerlund, who will serve as the executive producer of "9 Lives Of Doom", has a personal and professional relationship with the band since the 1980s. Åkerlund was the driver and drum roadie on CANDLEMASS's first tour of Sweden and director of CANDLEMASS's first music video, "Bewitched", from 1987. This also happens to have been Åkerlund's directorial debut as music video director. He has since worked with METALLICA, SATYRICON, RAMMSTEIN, MADONNA and THE PRODIGY, among others.
Hillborg has in turn been a fan of the band since he heard them on the radio in 1987. His fandom further deepened when Hillborg saw CANDLEMASS open for SLAYER in 1988. "Every chord they played was like a massive wall of sound," Hillborg says about seeing CANDLEMASS live. CANDLEMASS were also a part of his 2011 documentary "Så Jävla Metal". And when Jonas approached Yasin with the question of directing a documentary about CANDLEMASS, his answer to do it was, of course, yes.
(Source: www.blabbermouth.net)
