13.02.2026 – CANDLEMASS

Candlemass – Bewitched
Honorable mention: Gothic Stone followed by The Well Of Souls, At The Gallows End

I'M DOING IT. I'M FINALLY TALKING ABOUT MESSIAH MARCOLIN AGAIN.
Everything Messiah Marcolin touches turns into gold, I am 100% sure of that.

Here we have a guy who legally changed his first name to Messiah (I could not find a credible source when trying to confirm that just now. I don't care if it's really true or not though, as I wholeheartedly accept it as truth).
Every single song on Nightfall is good. There are no bad Nightfall songs. This album is near perfect. I've been wanting to get a tattoo of the cover (boat, guy and angel) for so long now and as soon as I can I will get it.

The music video for Bewitched has to be the best music video ever made. I'm serious. Watch it right now. Seeing him emerge from the coffin just cracks me up every time. And then that booming, opera-like voice together with those over the top theatrics.
And if it that wouldn't make this music video an all-time classic already, it was the first music video directed by Jonas Åkerlund, who would later make music videos for Queens of the Stone Age, Christina Aguilera, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Blink-182, Blondie, Duran Duran, Lady Gaga, David Guetta, Jamiroquai, Lenny Kravitz, Madonna, Paul McCartney, Metallica, Moby, Ozzy Osbourne, P!nk, the Prodigy, the Smashing Pumpkins, Rammstein, Britney Spears, the Rolling Stones, U2, Robbie Williams and Ghost. And win three Grammy awards.
And Mayhem's Dead is an extra in the video!

While Nightfall is obviously Messiah's best album with Candlemass, his other Candlemass albums are really good as well! I've even learned to love Candlemass' self-titled album from 2006, when he briefly reunited with Candlemass for a single album.

Because yes, Messiah was only in Candlemass from 1987-1991 and again in for the duration of 2006. What did he do after 2006? Good question! He made a few guest appearences with Therion in 2007, in 2011 he was a guest singer for a Portrait concert, in 2013 he featured on the song Hel from Amon Amarth and in 2024 he sang the song ‘Forged in Fire’ with Anvil live.

Yeah, you read that right. This guy just disappeared for eleven years from 2013 to 2024 and no one knows what he did or where he went.
But then! A light at the end of the tunnel. He sang an exclusive one-off show with Candlemass at Rock Hard Festival Greece in 2025. Sadly I couldn't make it to Greece.

That was it. I thought I had lost my one chance of ever hearing Messiah live. But in an interview with the Festival organizers after the concert, he said he's working on an solo album!!! It's almost too good to be true and I'm not sure I believe it yet. I mean, I just don't wanna get my hopes up. But man, it would be a dream come true..

I think that's all I have to say about Messiah Marcolin right now.