Ancient Dreams is the third studio album by 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
Released23 November 1988
RecordedAugust 1988
StudioNacka Recording House, Stockholm, Sweden
GenreEpic doom metal
Length58:31
Label
ProducerCandlemass
Candlemass chronology
Nightfall
(1987)
Ancient Dreams
(1988)
Tales of Creation
(1989)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal9/10[2]
Rock Hard9.0/10[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 were not happy with the album's sound mix for which they blamed their then record label. The band felt that the album production had been rushed in order to have the LP released in time for their US tour.

Track listing

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All tracks are written by Leif Edling except where noted

No.TitleLength
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
Total length:58:31
Remastered CD Version bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
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

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Candlemass

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

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Year Chart Position
1989 Swedish Albums Chart[5] 45
Billboard 200 (US)[4] 174

References

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  1. ^ Rivaldavia, Eduardo. Ancient Dreams at AllMusic
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ Kühnemund, Götz (1988). "Review Album: Candlemass - Ancient Dreams". Rock Hard (in German). No. 30. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  4. ^ a b "Candlemass Chart History". Billboard.com. Billboard. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  5. ^ "Candlemass - Ancient Dreams (album)(Album)". Swedishcharts.com. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 21 October 2017.