Metal
Candlemass announced on 12 September that Johan Längqvist wouldn’t be able to sing that night at London Metalfest. The singer suffered a medical emergency on Thursday morning, just as the band had returned to Stockholm from a show in Belgium, and was hospitalised.
«Candlemass deeply regret to announce that Johan Längqvist will be unable to perform tonight in London,» the statement read. The band added that doctors were running tests to determine the cause and that he needed to remain hospitalised.
Rather than cancelling, they played with a guest vocalist and a few surprise appearances. Nothing has been said about the rest of the dates or the singer’s condition.
Längqvist sang on «Epicus Doomicus Metallicus» (1986) as a session vocalist, the record that coined epic doom, and chose not to tour behind it: Messiah Marcolin replaced him. He rejoined the band on 3 September 2018, taking over from Mats Levén, and «The Door to Doom» (2019) was his first full-length record with Candlemass in thirty-three years.
Text by Sílvia Comellas