Band:	Candlemass
Album:	Tales Of Creation
Style:	Epic doom metal
Release date:	1989
Guest review by:	Papa_Ray

Disc I
01. The Prophecy
02. Dark Reflections
03. Voices In The Wind
04. Under The Oak
05. Tears
06. Into The Unfathomed Tower
07. The Edge Of Heaven
08. Somewhere In Nowhere
09. Through The Infinitive Halls Of Death
10. Dawn
11. A Tale Of Creation

Disc II [bonus]
01. Dark Reflections [demo]
02. Under The Oak [demo]
03. Into The Unfathomed Tower [demo]
04. Somewhere In Nowhere [demo]
05. A Tale Of Creation [demo]
06. Interview
+ Dark Reflections [video]

Tales Of Creation is the last album the legendary Candlemass released in the 1980s. A concept album concerning the origin of life, this is the record that bassist/principle songwriter Leif Edling began working on even before the band's classic 1986 debut, Epicus Doomicus Metallicus. After ditching the project and recording three highly influential doom classics, Edling and the boys decided to tackle the project once again. This is the last Candlemass release to include the mighty vocals of the renowned Messiah Marcolin until the 2005 self-titled reunion album, thus ending the four-album run most fans refer to as the band's "classic period".

This album is noticeably faster than the group's first three albums, but this is still doom played by the greatest doom band of them all, after all. Little spoken interludes are dispersed throughout the album, but they don't get in the way of what is important: the music. The songs "Dark Reflections", "Somewhere In Nowhere" and "Through The Infinitive Halls Of Death" are all Candlemass classics. Other tunes of note are the rerecorded version of "Under The Oak", which was originally featured on Epicus Doomicus Metallicus, and the extremely bizarre instrumental "Into The Unfathomed Tower". The former features an amazing vocal performance from Marcolin, while the latter is pretty much a speed metal song that somehow doesn't sound too out of place on a doom album. "Tears" and "A Tale Of Creation" boast strong riffs and choruses and have both always been personal favorites of mine. The song "The Edge Of Heaven" showcases Marcolin at his finest and has one of the most memorable riffs on the album. Curiously, Leif Edling has always expressed his significant displeasure of the song and feels it is the weakest on the album, which I simply don't understand at all.

I'll come out and say that I think this album is not quite as good as the three that preceded it, but let me make this clear: Tales Of Creation is an extremely strong release that most doom bands would kill to have created. Candlemass were (and are) just simply that good of a band. After this album Marcolin left the group and Candlemass pretty much submerged in the swamps of the '90s, only to come roaring back in the 2000s to remind the world how doom metal is done. Essential.