Candlemass bassist Leif Edling spoke to Billboard about the band’s Grammy nomination, their new EP The Pendulum, and more.

Speaking about the band’s first Grammy nomination for “Astorolus: The Great Octopus” featuring Black Sabbath legend Tony Iommi, Edling said, “I mean, you can do a great album, and nobody will notice. You work hard on it and think it’s great. You get good reviews, but it doesn’t sell and nothing happens. But you do the same album, like, five years later, and all of a sudden, all things click. I mean, what’s the difference from what you did 10 years ago? … Maybe it’s the secret magic ingredient of Mr. Iommi. I have absolutely no idea about [how Grammy nominations] work.”

Grammy-nominated classic doom icons, Candlemass, don't even need to drop a full-length for every release to prove they belong at the top of an entire genre and beyond. Fully comprised of never-before-heard, unused tracks cut from the The Door To Doom recording sessions, the band has just announced the release of a masterful new EP, The Pendulum, due out March 27 via Napalm Records. Pre-order your copy here.

The Pendulum perfectly showcases that these timeless Swedish pioneers are the undisputed kings of epic doom. The fully-mastered opener/title track “The Pendulum” charges in with a melodic, head-swinging, thrashy rush - setting the stage for the raw, unfiltered steamrolling demo cuts to follow. Listen to the track’s unadulterated doom heaviness and watch a brand new lyric video for “The Pendulum” below.

Says band mastermind Leif Edling: "The Pendulum is about hard riffing, epic choruses and total delusion the fanatical way. It is in fact the last thing I wrote for The Door To Doom album but didn't have the time to finish it. Here it is in its grand/mad luster with a great mix by Niklas Flyckt, and produced by Marcus Jidell. It is followed by 5 unreleased demos from the DTD sessions because the whole sha-bang was at first supposed to be a double effort but got trimmed down to a single album eventually.

"I love 'The Pendulum' track, album quality if you ask me, and songs like 'Porcelain Skull' and 'Snakes Of Goliath' are not bad either. They just didn't make it to the final thing. So I hope you like this EP that features the "missing" songs. The last pieces of the puzzle of the 1 year recording that became the album The Door To Doom. Enjoy."

This six track EP leads the listener through a maze of frenzied riffing, accented by Johan Langquist's distinctive vocals and the unique, melancholy sound that has proven Candlemass to be a heavy metal staple. The Pendulum is a must-have for every classic doom record collection, and will stave off the hunger for more until the band's next full-length hits.

The Pendulum tracklisting:

"The Pendulum"
"Snakes Of Goliath"
"Sub Zero"
"Aftershock"
"Porcelain Skull"
"The Cold Room"

"The Pendulum" lyric video:

Live dates:

April
11 - Stockholm, Sweden - Södra Teatern
12 - Stockholm, Sweden - Södra Teatern
18 - Houston, TX - White Oak Music Hall

July
11 - Chelopech, Bulgaria - Park Korminesh

Candlemass lineup:

Leif Edling: Bass
Mats "Mappe" Björkman: Guitars
Jan Lindh: Drums
Lars "Lasse" Johansson: Guitars        
Johan Langquist: Vocals

(Photo - Linda Åkerberg)