After 20+ years with Candlemass, bassist/songwriter Leif Edling has finally released his first solo disc Songs of Torment – Songs of Joy (Candlelight Records). On this disc, Edling is working with a new band which includes a number of long-time collaborators from past projects. The band is comprised of keyboardist Carl Westholm (Abstrakt Algebra), drummer Lars Skold (Jupiter Society) and guitarists Bjorn Eriksson and Chris Laney (Candlemass producer/engineer).

While there are some similarities to Candlemass, this album is ssslllooowww, lumbering and sludgy doom that makes prominent use funeral-sounding keys. This is an atmospheric disc – seven of the disc’s eight tracks are over 5 minutes in length which gives Edling plenty of time to build his horror movie style ambiance. Rich textures of sounds crash and fall over Edling’s ‘spoken word’ vocals and the majority of songs end up sounding more like Nick Cave or Alice Cooper than Candlemass.

There are two instrumentals on the disc which help break up the sound; the brief (under a minute) bass solo “Butterfly” and “Nautilus”. “Nautilus” is over 9 minutes in length and is based on the Jules Verne classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. This is one of the tracks that breaks from the ‘organ doom’ sound of the rest of the disc as Carl Westholm adds all sorts of keyboard effects to this track to simulate submarine and underwater noises. Another stand-out track is “On the Edge of Time” which embraces Hawkwind-style space rock. Edling calls this last track “a poetic reflection over some old but fantastic Hawkwind album cover art.”

Songs of Torment – Songs of Joy probably isn’t for the casual fan but fans of old-school doom metal are going to love this.

Links:
Leif Edling's MySpace Profile