Hi Leif

Hi John, How are you man?

I'm fine and I'm really honored speaking to you, because I'm a big admirer of your work, either with Candlemass, or Krux and Abstract Algebra.

Great, you know the stuff.

Yes I know all this stuff. I mean, I'm following your traces wherever you go and whatever you do from the early days with Nemesis.

Wow that's way back!!! (laughs)

Yes and I believe that there is a common element among these acts; among what you have done.

Yes perhaps, I mean if you heard the demos collection cd "Black Heart", this is quite evident.

But now you have a new record and according to my opinion is the best Candlemass album we could have in 2005.

I'm glad you say that because that's how I think about it, too. You know we can't make "Nightfall" Part 2" and we can't rip off the "Tales of Creation". So we had to come back with a great sound you know, a bunch of great songs and a record that you who knows about Candlemass before would be pleased. That thing was the most important one, that old fans wouldn't be disappointed and I'm glad to hear that you're pleased, you that's been following Candlemass through ages. I mean if you're pleased, who must have had so many expectations and maybe you were also a bit afraid to hear the record, then it's good.

To be honest I wasn't very afraid of the outcome, because I saw some very good omens when you released Krux and I thought that the new Candlemass offering would be close to this direction, through the perspective of the old classic Candlemass.

Well, it is not (laughs)

Yes, I know, but I believe Krux was an essential record and a very good one and it was a good omen.

Oh yeah Krux was a good record, but I think this one is more Candlemass, is more metal in a way. I don't think people expect from us such a metal record, but also heavy of course. I think people are quiet shocked by the way it sounds. You know, we hear a lot of good things about it and that's the main thing, anyway.

Each Candlemass record was different than the previous or the next one. There was definitely an evolution between the records, from "Nightfall" to "Ancient Dreams" and then Tales of Creation and of course from "Epicus…" to "Nightfall" and so on. What do you think it's the main feature of this one and how do you differentiate it from the others. I mean, is it darker, more powerful, what…?

I don't know, because you see, in the early days the sound wasn't that powerful or great…

Compact perhaps?

Yeah this could be. "Nightfall" doesn't sound very powerful, or "Ancient Dreams" got a pretty poor sound in a way. I mean it's the same band, using the same stuff, but this time we got a fucking great production. A production that we'd have wanted to have on "Nightfall", but those were the times and the circumstances back then and today I think that we have made an updated version of Candlemass you know, version 2.0. So I think that was the main thing for us, to deliver a great production, great songs and to make everything better, so people couldn't complain about one thing on the record.

So, what are your expectations from "Candlemass". You told me earlier about the fears the older fans might have of the result, so what do you believe the band can achieve with the new record. I mean, are you expecting that a new wave of fans will be added to your ranks, together with the older ones?

I hope so. I mean the record is good enough. I think if you like metal, there's a chance that you will like this record, even if you play power metal or extreme doom or progressive metal, I think you can like this record. I also hope that people that are fanatical about "Epicus Doomicus Metallicus" can like this record, but I know that die-hard underground doom fanatics maybe will think this one is too mainstream, but you can't win everybody. I hope that people can see and understand that this is a really really good album. We cannot make "Epicus… Pt.2" and we cannot make "Nightfall Pt.2", we can only make the best record we can in the year 2005.

In my review I say that "Candlemass" is the perfect mixture of the old Candlemass stuff, a lot of "Ancient Dreams" elements came to my mind, and it also integrates some elements from Abstrakt Algebra. I conceived them as pieces of the same puzzle that are somehow connected with "Candlemass". Am I right on this?

In a way, because it's Candlemass, it's me writing the stuff. In that way I think it is connected. I talked to somebody the other day that he was a big "Tales of Creation" fan and he thought that he could hear things from "Tales…" on this record and you say "Ancient Dreams" and I heard somebody also saying "I'm so much into "Nightfall", and I really like this record". So I think they find it so good that people that are into those records can discover stuff in this one, too. Even if you haven't heard Abstrakt Algebra or another later album, I think you are gonna like this one. But it's a form of modern Candlemass that you'll recognize that it's not ripping off anything we did in the past.

Before we proceed I'd like to ask you a question about the current state of Doom metal. I mean doom metal is transformed compared to the early days of the 90's, when Candlemass firstly broke up. Somehow the scene is transformed so how do you believe these fanatics you talked about earlier, will perceive "Candlemass" and what do you think about the modern doom metal scene?

I think the scene is perfect for us, because there are hardly any classic doom albums out now, well-produced and with good songs and from a band that has a great push from a big record label. I mean all the doom stuff that is released nowadays is mostly underground doom on smaller labels or drone doom or extreme doom or whatever you want to call it…

Are you fond of these genres?

I guess it's okay. You know, I like the riffs, some of them and some of the songs and stuff, but I want more melody into stuff, I want more choruses rather than playing the same riff for seven minutes. I'm tired you know my ears are tired. But it's okay I guess, I like uh…what's called…uh, Electric Wizard, of course. I think they're very very good.

A lot of younger bands have been influenced by Candlemass, I mean, Doomshine is a perfect example, if you've heard about it. It comes from Germany.

Doomshine..? I don't think I heard about them.

Anyway there are a lot of bands that are influenced by Candlemass and this marks the impact you had and still have on many fans and bands.

Yeah, that's great to hear man. It's a super compliment to hear that you can inspire somebody. You know I get inspiration from other directions, so if you can inspire someone yourself, that's f…..g amazing.

So when you compose music or write lyrics do you think of this impact, are you aware of any responsibility for this impact on several fans and bands, or do you believe a composer must be relieved from such thoughts? To put it better, do you write for yourself or perhaps according to the audience tastes?

I wrote for myself only, but I think you have to be aware of what you're doing, you have to think about what're you doing even though you're not changing your direction. Of course I am aware of the fact that we have fans of "Epicus…" and "Nightfall", but the only thing I can do really is to write the songs I want to write and see where they can fit in. If I do a Krux record for example, I will make sure that it sounds more Krux than Candlemass, even though you'ld hear that it's Krux, it is Leif Edling behind it and with Candlemass I must make sure that I don't piss off the old fans, but I can only follow my heart, too. It's kind of balance somehow you know and I hope I don't cross the line, but you can only follow your heart and do the best you can, really.

I'd like to return back to "Candlemass" and I'd like to know why did you preferred to follow a plain aesthetic for the cover, as well as for the titling of the record?

I think this is pretty much a statement that we're back you know, that we do a record and that this is Candlemass for the new millennium, so we wanted to keep it simple and not to do the things we did in the 80's with the covers and have similar covers and stuff, I think that would be a big mistake actually. We wanted to keep it "clear" enough to make sure people will understand that this is Candlemass for the new millennium. I really like the cover actually, I think it's beautiful and it will look great at the digipack, you know Candlemass and the crucifix will be embossed, you will be able to feel it with the fingers, it will look great and it will stand out, it will shine in the record shop you know, between all the black covers, the brown covers and the blue ones.

Yes it's a good contrast. I would also like to ask you about your touring plans. I've heard that you'll visit once again Greece this summer.

Yeah, Rockwave, man.

…Yes together with Accept and Slayer, a classic heavy metal gig.

Yeah, it will be great you know. Accept and Slayer at the same stage. I'm gonna be there you know, at the stage and bang my head.

Me, too. I'll be there once more, watching you, but I think it'd be better to see you playing live with Black Sabbath, when they visit us for the first time this summer

Yes, that'd have been f…..g killing man, to open up for Sabbath. I don't know maybe next time, when we have money to do that, that's the f…..g deal. It almost happened in, I think '89 or something, and we were scheduled to tour with Sabbath, but somebody thought that we were too similar, whatever and it didn't happened for some reason, but it was close.

When I watched you live in Greece after your first reunion, I witnessed a very good atmosphere between all of you, despite some very bad rumors, so what I want to ask you is how was the atmosphere during the rehearsals, the recordings and the touring that preceded?

Great man, I mean the recording was excellent. It was like we were recording the first record or the second. We were like kids in the studio, playing around and having a good time and you can hear that on the record. We don't sound like an old band on this one I think. We sound like a young and enthusiastic band. Actually I think the rumors are a bit exaggerated from times, because we always have a good time when we're out on tour, we always have a good time when we do stuff, but we do have clashes as every band, when we disagree on things and the people tends to focus on that more, instead how we are when we tour and when we play live and stuff.

How did you come up with a contract with Nuclear Blast?

We sent out a demo in autumn and we had a bunch of labels that were interested. It was a kind of a bidding that happened and Nuclear Blast gave us an offer we couldn't refuse, so it was like: "Ok, that's fine". Nuclear Blast is a great company, so we couldn't be happier with a label.

Do you think that with the support of Nucleat Blast you might cross the Atlantic and tour in the U.S? Are you willing to do so?

Oh yeah, absolutely. We prepare to tour at the States, we prepare to tour in South America, we prepare to go out on a European tour so we're gonna do that after the summer festivals. I'm sure we're gonna be back in Greece in Autumn, That would be great, because I'm expecting us to have a good time playing Rockwave, I hope all Greek fans of Candlemass can be there. If they can't be at Rockwave, I'm sure we're gonna be back in Athens before Christmass and play, and Thessaloniki again. I mean those gigs we had 2 and 3 years ago were f…..g amazing, they were really really. The last gig, at Gagarin Club I think it was, that was f…..g great you know…

…yes with Entombed and Dark Tranquility, it was indeed a f…..g great gig. Since we're speaking about live performances I'll return back on the subject of Krux. Have you ever been tempted to perform some songs from "Krux" or perhaps from "Dactylis Glomerata" or "From the 13th Sun"?

Oh, no, no, no, because you know we've got so much old material that I think we need to play. We got a huge back catalogue. We do that with Krux you know, we play "Dactylis…" stuff or "From the 13th Sun" stuff. I do that with Krux, you know that's the outlet for that.

But I think it'd be a nice surprise for all of us, to listen to some very good songs with the classic Candlemass orchestration, I mean the dual guitars and all that stuff…

Yeah, I understand what you mean, but with Messiah you know, I think we should play stuff from those records. I think the fans expect that. I don't want to take out "Samarithan" or a song like that in order to play a song from "Dactylis Glomerata" for example. We got so much stuff to choose from the Candlemass back catalogue so I think we'll stick to the classics and songs from the new record.

Ok. Back in the 80's Candlemass was recording one album after another, I mean we had some records close to each other. After this one when do you think we'll listen to another Candlemass records, perhaps after almost 10 years?

Well, I think next thing I do is the new Krux record in autumn and after that I think it'll be a new Candlemass record. That is what I can see in my little crystal ball right now, in a way. I really wanna do a new Krux record. That's gonna be fun, I can't wait to do that.

A lot of reunions have happened during the last years, like yours that happened in a very humble way, we were almost caught napping here. I would like to know your opinion about the reunion of another great doom metal band, that you performed recently together. I'm speaking about Trouble. Do you think it'll be good for the metal scene to have some old bands back again?

Yes, I think so, absolutely. Trouble is one of my favorite bands of all times and they can really play. They got great songs. There are so many young bands; older bands reuniting and some of them are really good. You know I've heard Trouble live a couple of times, like two years ago and they were f…..g amazing. I think they can teach the younger bands a lot, so there's always room for a good band on the stage.

Before we close I would like to return back to "Candlemass" and ask you about its lyrical section. It seems that you have returned to fantasy themes, not exactly the same way you used to do it back in the 80's. I think that you treat these fantasy themes more from the interior perspective, I mean you cope with dark psychological issues. Am I right about it?

Yeah, you're pretty right about it, because I don't want to go back into fantasy themes again, so I prefer to approach it from a more intristic way for us. I think lot of it is about society today, civilization, alienation and my perspective of it. For example "Copernicus" is about the reality shows on T.V.

Do you have one favorite composition from Candlemass? I mean do you prefer playing one, or when you composed it?

Oh yeah I am into "Under the Oak" from the old stuff and I really like "Assassins of the Light" from "Candlemass".

Ok, Leif we are close to the end now, so I would like to thank you for the interview.

Are you coming to Rockwave?

Yes of course. I'm not losing any Candlemass show.

That's good to hear John (laughs). Thank you so much for this interview.