A one-off world-exclusive performance of CANDLEMASS featuring the band’s former vocalist Messiah Marcolin will take place at this year’s edition of the Rock Hard Festival Greece, slated for September 12-13, 2025 in Athens, Greece.
Back in October 2022, Messiah and longtime CANDLEMASS guitarist Mats “Mappe” Björkman joined Canadian metallers ANVIL on stage at the Slaktkyrkan venue in Stockholm, Sweden to perform the classic ANVIL song “Metal On Metal”. The event marked the first time in 16 years that the two musicians performed together.
Marcolin exited CANDLEMASS for the presumably final time in 2006, one year after the release of the band’s self-titled album. He was later replaced by Robert Lowe (SOLITUDE AETURNUS),who sang on the band’s “King Of The Grey Islands” (2007),“Death Magic Doom” (2009) and “Psalms For The Dead” (2012) LPs. CANDLEMASS‘s frontman between 2012 and 2018 was Mats Levén, who previously recorded and toured with YNGWIE MALMSTEEN and THERION. Seven years ago, CANDLEMASS fired Levén and rehired Johan Längqvist. Längqvist sang on CANDLEMASS‘s debut album, 1986’s “Epicus Doomicus Metallicus”, before exiting the group and being replaced by Marcolin.
Several years ago, Messiah told Metal Rules that he was “very honored” by new bands who cite CANDLEMASS as an influence on their music. “If anyone wants to be inspirited by CANDLEMASS, it is the most respectable thing what a band ever can get,” he said. “I love WITCHFINDER GENERAL which are very BLACK SABBATH influenced and PENTAGRAM, which is fucking great. The first PENTAGRAM album is great, and, of course, TROUBLE is influenced by BLACK SABBATH, and CANDLEMASS is also influenced by BLACK SABBATH — the whole fucking world is influenced by BLACK SABBATH. But, I mean, CANDLEMASS made its own style — we don’t sound exactly the same, but the heaviness is the same, but the music is different. We created our own style, doom metal stuff and all the other bands which have taken it after, it is a great honor.”