Candlemass released Sweet Evil Sun on November 18, 2022, through Napalm Records. Their 13th studio album followed The Door to Doom and was the second full-length since Johan Längquist rejoined in 2018. The singer from their 1986 debut, Epicus Doomicus Metallicus, was working again with bassist and songwriter Leif Edling, whose new material took 18 months to develop.
The title song arrived much faster. Edling told HeadBangers Lifestyle that “Sweet Evil Sun” took about an hour to write, although he worked on its arrangement afterward. “Black Butterfly” occupied the opposite end of the process: in his Apple Music track commentary, he recalled spending nearly a year on it. It was among the first songs he demoed and among the last he finished.
That extended schedule reflected how Edling was able to work. Speaking to Guitar World in November 2022, he described chronic fatigue limiting his studio visits during the demo stage to no more than three times a week. Away from the sessions, he kept writing guitar riffs in bed and thinking through melodies, vocals and arrangements. “And next time in the studio, I’m prepared,” he said. Recording and mixing took another six months after the demos.
Längquist described that gradual development from the other side of the microphone in an interview with HEAVY. Edling would call when he had songs ready to demo; the two would try them, then Edling would take the material home for more work. Once the arrangements were settled, the band recorded parts in stages, building from drums through guitars and vocals. Längquist described a method that gave him a week or two for vocals and allowed changes without rerecording every part. The album was recorded at NOX Studio in Sweden with producer Marcus Jidell.
The vocal arrangements also made space for Jennie-Ann Smith of Avatarium. She joined Längquist on “When Death Sighs,” with their voices meeting in the chorus as organ and a marching rhythm added to the arrangement. The song’s fear of mortality had a personal connection for Edling, who described feeling pursued by death during his prolonged exhaustion in the HeadBangers Lifestyle interview. Its supernatural imagery drew on something he was experiencing himself.
Ambition and disappointment ran through the broader record. Edling connected Sweet Evil Sun loosely to the myth of Icarus in his Apple Music commentary, describing the sun as something tempting enough to pursue despite the risk of being burned. Even within the album’s dark settings, he wanted some hope. As he explained to Guitar World, unbroken gloom wasn’t enough; there had to be light somewhere.
He made a final adjustment to the album’s pacing, too. “Goddess” seemed too intense a place to stop, so he wrote “A Cup of Coffin” to lower the energy before the record ended. It became the last piece recorded for the album. Edling added audience sound from the band’s 2021 performances, closing the studio album with a recording of its listeners.
