Leif Edling (born 6 August 1963) is a Swedish musician, best known as the bassist, main songwriter and one of the founding members of the

epic doom metal Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' ...

band Candlemass. He is the only constant member of the band since its inception to the present day. Nevertheless, since the band's second reunion in 2002 Edling has been backed up again by founding rhythm guitarist Mats Björkman, who had been absent from 1997 to 2002 and was replaced by

Michael Amott Michael Amott (born 28 July 1969) is a Swedish guitarist, founding member of the metal bands Arch Enemy, Spiritual Beggars and Carnage, as well as a former member of Carcass. He is the older brother of Christopher Amott. Amott was ranked No ...

Biography

Edling started his musical career in the band Trilogy, then under the name of Toxic, as a singer together with

Ian Haugland Jan-Håkan "Ian" Haugland (born 13 August 1964) is the drummer in the Swedish rock band Europe. When he was eight months old, he and his family moved to the Stockholm suburb of Märsta, Sweden. He joined Europe in the summer of 1984, replacing ...

(later the drummer of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

) in 1979. He then played in a band named Witchcraft but left in 1981 and formed Nemesis in 1982. Before the Candlemass official releases, Edling also handled vocal duties in addition to playing bass. After the departure of

Messiah Marcolin Messiah Marcolin (born Bror Jan Alfredo Marcolin; 10 December 1967), also known as Eddie Marcolin, is a Swedish singer best known for his work in the epic doom metal band Candlemass. He is well known for his operatic voice and for his signatur ...

, Candlemass became his solo project, until the band reformed in 2002. In 1994, when Candlemass fell apart, Leif had started the band Abstrakt Algebra with

Mats Levén Mats Leven is a Swedish singer. Some of his most notable collaborations have been with guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen, symphonic metallers Therion and doom metallers Candlemass. In 2011, due to family issues on the part of Firewind's lead singer A ...

on vocals and

Mike Wead Mike Wead (born Mickael Vikström on 6 April 1967), is a Swedish guitarist who lives in Stockholm. Wead contributed to heavy metal bands such as ''Hexenhaus'', Memento Mori, Abstrakt Algebra, The Haunted, Edge of Sanity, Candlemass, The P ...

on guitar. The band met with limited success and disbanded after one album. In 2002, he founded another doom metal band, named

Krux Krux is a Swedish doom metal band formed by Leif Edling after Candlemass fell apart for the second time preceding their reunion tour. Members * Leif Edling – bass (since 2002) * Mats Levén – vocals (since 2002) * Peter Stjärnvind � ...

, also with Mats Levén on vocals, and in 2013 founded

Avatarium Avatarium is a Swedish doom metal band from Stockholm, founded by Candlemass member Leif Edling in 2013. Biography In the winter of 2012, Candlemass founder and bassist Leif Edling started to work on a new project and wrote a few demos. L ...

with Marcus Jidell on guitar and Jidell's wife, Jennie-Ann Smith on vocals. Since early 2014, Edling had been unable to tour with either Candlemass or Avatarium due to unspecified health problems, though believed to be

chronic fatigue syndrome Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), also called myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) or ME/CFS, is a complex, debilitating, long-term medical condition. The causes and mechanisms of the disease are not fully understood. Distinguishing core symptoms are ...

. A variety of replacement members were used, including

Grave A grave is a location where a dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as grave ...

/ Entombed bassist

Jörgen Sandström Jörgen Sandström (born 13 November 1971) is a Swedish musician. He provided vocals, bass and guitar for Grave on their first three albums and played with Entombed (Bass/Backing Vocals) 1995-2004. He is currently involved with bands such as Kru ...

and keyboard player

Per Wiberg Per Jonas Wiberg (born 8 June 1968) is the former keyboardist of Swedish progressive death metal band Opeth, and a member of Michael Amott's stoner metal band Spiritual Beggars. Wiberg was born in Borlänge. He toured with Opeth from the 200 ...

switching to bass. He has returned to performing with the band as of 2019.

Discography

With Nemesis

* ''The Day of Retribution'' −1984

With Candlemass

* ''

Epicus Doomicus Metallicus ''Epicus Doomicus Metallicus'' is the debut album of the Swedish doom metal band Candlemass. It was released June 10, 1986 on Black Dragon Records. On its release, the album had a significantly different sound than other European heavy metal ba ...

'' – 1986 * '' Nightfall'' – 1987 * '' Ancient Dreams'' – 1988 * '' Tales of Creation'' – 1989 * ''Live'' – 1990 (live) * '' Chapter VI'' – 1992 * ''

Dactylis Glomerata ''Dactylis Glomerata'' is the sixth studio album by Swedish doom metal band Candlemass, released in 1998. This was their first album released since their split in 1994. The album was originally destined to be the second release by Candlemass ...

'' – 1998 * '' From the 13th Sun'' – 1999 * '' Doomed for Live – Reunion 2002'' – 2003 (live double CD) * '' Candlemass'' – 2005 * '' King of the Grey Islands'' – 2007 * ''20 Year Anniversary Party'' – 2007 (DVD) * '' Lucifer Rising'' – 2008 (EP) * '' Death Magic Doom'' – 2009 * '' Psalms for the Dead'' – 2012 * ''Death Thy Lover'' – 2016 (EP) * ''House of Doom'' – 2018 (EP) * ''

The Door to Doom ''The Door to Doom'' is the twelfth studio album by Swedish doom metal band Candlemass, released on 22 February 2019 via Napalm. It is the band's first full-length studio album since 2012's '' Psalms for the Dead'', marking their longest gap bet ...

'' – 2019 * ''The Pendulum'' – 2020 (EP)

With Abstrakt Algebra

* ''Abstrakt Algebra'' – 1994 * ''Abstrakt Algebra II'' – 2008

With Krux

* ''

'' – 2003 * '' II'' – 2006 * ''III – He Who Sleeps Amongst the Stars'' – 2011

With Avatarium

* ''Moonhorse'' – 2013 (12") * ''Avatarium'' – 2013 (CD, double LP) * ''All I Want'' – 2014 (12") * ''The Girl with the Raven Mask'' – 2015 (CD, double LP) * '' Hurricanes and Halos'' – 2017 (CD, double LP)

With The Doomsday Kingdom

* ''The Doomsday Kingdom'' – 2017

Solo

* ''Songs of Torment, Songs of Joy'' – 2008

References

Swedish heavy metal bass guitarists Living people 1963 births Male bass guitarists Krux members Candlemass (band) members Abstrakt Algebra members {{Sweden-guitarist-stub