Ancient Dreams
Ancient Dreams is the third album of Swedish doom metal band Candlemass, released in 1988 and reissued in 2001 by Powerline Records with a bonus CD. The cover art of the album is a painting made by Thomas Cole, second in his series, "The Voyage of Life", entitled "Youth". Ancient Dreams was the first Candlemass album to chart in the US, debuting at No. 174 on the Billboard 200 album chart.[4]
| Ancient Dreams | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 23 November 1988 | |||
| Recorded | August 1988 | |||
| Studio | Nacka Recording House, Stockholm, Sweden | |||
| Genre | Epic doom metal | |||
| Length | 58:31 | |||
| Label | Active, Enigma/Metal Blade | |||
| Producer | Candlemass | |||
| Candlemass chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 9/10[2] |
| Rock Hard | 9.0/10[3] |
"Epistle 81" (Märk hur vår skugga), was written by Swedish poet/musician Carl Michael Bellman (1740 – 1795). "Incarnation of Evil" is actually a reworked version of the old Nemesis track "Black Messiah."
The band is not happy with the album mix, and they place the blame on their (then) record label rush-producing the LP to coincide with a US tour.
Track listing
All tracks are written by Leif Edling except where noted.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Mirror Mirror" | 6:15 |
| 2. | "A Cry from the Crypt" | 7:24 |
| 3. | "Darkness in Paradise" | 6:46 |
| 4. | "Incarnation of Evil" | 7:19 |
| 5. | "Bearer of Pain" | 7:23 |
| 6. | "Ancient Dreams" | 7:04 |
| 7. | "The Bells of Acheron" | 5:21 |
| 8. | "Epistle No. 81" (Carl Michael Bellman, arr. Edling) | 4:37 |
| 9. | "Black Sabbath Medley" (Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward) | 6:14 |
- The track "Black Sabbath Medley" is a CD bonus track and is composed of parts of songs from Black Sabbath, namely: "Symptom of the Universe", "Sweet Leaf", "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath", "Into the Void", "Electric Funeral", "Supernaut", "Black Sabbath".
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Mirror Mirror" (live) | 5:20 |
| 2. | "The Bells of Acheron" (live) | 5:01 |
| 3. | "Bearer of Pain" (live) | 6:12 |
| 4. | "A Cry from the Crypt" (live) | 3:36 |
| 5. | "Interview" | 23:51 |
Personnel
Candlemass
- Messiah Marcolin – vocals
- Lars Johansson – lead guitar
- Mats Björkman – rhythm guitar
- Leif Edling – bass
- Jan Lindh – drums
Production
- Rex Gisslén – mixing at Montezuma Studios, Stockholm
- Peter Dahl – mastering at Polar Studios, Stockholm
- Wendy Kramer – artwork, graphics
- Micke Lind – remastering
- Micke Mårtensson – artwork, layout
- Ulf Magnusson – photography
Charts
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Swedish Albums Chart[5] | 45 |
| Billboard 200 (US)[4] | 174 |
References
- Rivaldavia, Eduardo. Ancient Dreams at AllMusic
- Popoff, Martin (1 November 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 66. ISBN 978-1-894959-31-5.
- Kühnemund, Götz (1988). "Review Album: Candlemass - Ancient Dreams". Rock Hard (in German). No. 30. Retrieved 2017-10-12.
- "Candlemass Chart History". Billboard.com. Billboard. Retrieved 2017-01-10.
- "Candlemass - Ancient Dreams (album)(Album)". Swedishcharts.com. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 21 October 2017.