Photo by Lily Ramus A gloomy storm-tossed Tuesday is a miserable time to leave the house, but a perfect time for some occult doom metal. It was immediately apparent that this verdict reverberated across the bay: no one wanted to miss out on doom metal legends Candlemass, who sold out the DNA Lounge in San Francisco earlier this week. By the time we arrived at 8pm, the venue swarmed with generations of metalheads clad in all-black, chains, leather, and of course, their battle jackets. Anticipation buzzed as visibly as our breath in the frigid air as we all filed into the packed venue, clearly having made the right choice to brave the wind.ย Soon after our arrival, goth metal supporters Unto Others took the stage and received a warm welcome from the audience. Unfortunately, the beginning of their set was plagued with various sound issues that would persist throughout the evening. Their first six songs were overshadowed by the glaring sound issues: the drums were the only instrument that was audible initially and the vocalistโs microphone was plagued with ear-piercing feedback. While technical difficulties are quite common and generally deserve some level of grace, it took almost half an hour for the issues to be resolved, which is unprecedented at any โprofessionalโ level concert either of us have attended.ย Painfully, much of the โoomphโ of Unto Othersโ speedy back-to-back high-intensity tracks โNightfallโ and โHeroinโ was a casualty of the faulty mixing, as the otherwise crunchy distorted guitar chugging that drives the momentum of the tracks was comically overpowered by the pounding drums and thunderous bass. The ethereal, clean guitar leads that hauntingly loom over many of their best songsโone of many testaments to the bandโs admiration of the Goth and New Wave music scenes of the early 1980sโstood no chance of being heard until their set was more than halfway done. That is all to say, the band performed admirably and professionally, and this was not reciprocated by the venueโs production team. Regardless, the guitars were eventually brought up to volume halfway through the title track to their debut album, โMana,โ and the rest of the set was smooth and enjoyable. Unto Others have found a massive, passionate audience in their unique blend of campy 80s soundscapes, and thus fit surprisingly well as a supporting act of a veritable metal legend like Candlemass.ย After a quick break between sets that included pizza and beerโa welcome addition to any metal showโCandlemass were on stage by 10 PM, with the intro โMarche Funebreโ (familiar to any viewers of the legendary music video for โBewitchedโ) calling the dispersed crowd to re-congregate for a powerful sermon of guitars fuzzy and warm as hellfire and a booming baritone preaching brimstone. Unfortunately, the momentum of the transition into their first song proper, โMirror Mirror,โ was utterly hamstrung by the fact that the vocalistโs microphone was not turned on. Singer Johan Lรคngquist stared helplessly at the sound booth, becoming increasingly frustrated for a solid 30 seconds before his protests were finally audible. Ever professional, he and the band dutifully and passionately performed the rest of the track.ย Lรคngquist only officially joined the band in 2018 despite singing the vocals on Candlemassโ seminal debut album Epicus Doomicus Metallicus (1986), and he sounds far fresher than his age or the bandโs age would otherwise indicate. His voice has a more gravelly intonation than it did 46 years ago, but he exercises expert control and the slight rasp only adds to the power of the occult lyrical themes Candlemass revels in. The guitar tone (by this point of the night at least) was suitably decadent and lush, and the contrast between the rhythm guitarโs cavernous riffing and lead guitarist Lars Johanssonโs crisp, well-paced solos, made Candlemassโ instrumental breaks highlights of the night. While many of the bandโs songs hover around 80 bpm, there is still ample virtuosic shredding and Johansson demonstrates mastery over his craft in his intricate solos. If anything, the dramatic contrast in tempo between the plodding riffs and rapid solo runs is a happy marriage as the stark juxtaposition adds to the bandโs flair for dark and moody melodramatic soundscapes. When all the instruments were audible, the band sounded excellent, decades of performing clearly only serving to sharpen their talents without diminishing their passion.ย The call to battle that is the massive opening riff of their second song (and one of their biggest singles) โBewitchedโ was heard loud and clear by several members of the circle pit, which was conjured by the band practically before they started playing. A few such metal warriors proceeded to violently attack each other until security was finally able to break into the pit several songs later to forcibly remove at least one participantโฆI donโt know if any other band with a discography composed almost entirely of songs as slow as 80 BPM can claim such a bloodthirsty fanbase. However, the largest and most tragic futile war of the night was between Lรคngquist and an armada of half-functional microphones provided by DNA Lounge. Piercing feedback assaulted the audience, and mics unceremoniously died in the hands of the immensely talented and increasingly exasperated vocalist. The band was always professional and apologetic to the audience (despite not deserving even a fraction of the blame), but it was clearly bothering the metal veterans and that annoyance slowly but surely crept into their performance.ย Regardless, it was a wonderful night for metal in San Francisco, with a pillar of the modern metal scene heralding the return of the most important doom metal band still touring to the bay. Both bands nobly played against a backdrop that at times felt like a sinking ship. Perhaps itโs fitting that doom metal as titanic as Candlemassโ was played against a backdrop as hopelessly and unjustifiably doomed as the Titanic. Article by Lily Ramus and Tyler Harding Photos by Lily Ramus Share this:Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Leave a Reply Cancel ReplyYour email address will not be published.CommentName* Email* Website Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Currently you have JavaScript disabled. In order to post comments, please make sure JavaScript and Cookies are enabled, and reload the page. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your browser. Δ