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

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.

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 a Norwegian-Swedish 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 ...

(later the drummer of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

) 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, 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 on vocals and Mike Wead on guitar. The band met with limited success and disbanded after one album. In 2002, he founded another doom metal band, named Krux, also with Mats Levén on vocals, and in 2013 founded

Avatarium Avatarium is a Swedish doom metal band from Stockholm, founded by Candlemass (band), Candlemass member Leif Edling in 2013. Biography In the winter of 2012, Candlemass (band), Candlemass founder and bassist Leif Edling started to work on a ne ...

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 Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a disabling Chronic condition, chronic illness. People with ME/CFS experience profound fatigue that does not go away with rest, as well as sleep issues and problems with memory ...

. A variety of replacement members were used, including

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

/ Entombed bassist Jörgen Sandström and keyboard player Per Wiberg 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'' – 1986 * '' Nightfall'' – 1987 * '' Ancient Dreams'' – 1988 * '' Tales of Creation'' – 1989 * ''Live'' – 1990 (live) * '' Chapter VI'' – 1992 * ''

Dactylis Glomerata ''Dactylis glomerata'' is a species of flowering plant in the grass family Poaceae, known as cock's-foot,Interactive Flora of NW Europ''Dactylis glomerata'' (Cock's-foot)/ref> also colloquially as orchard grass, or cat grass (due to its populari ...

'' – 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'' – 2019 * ''The Pendulum'' – 2020 (EP) * '' Sweet Evil Sun '' - 2022

With Abstrakt Algebra

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

With Krux

* '' 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) *''The Fire I Long For'' (2019) *''Death, Where Is Your Sting'' (2022)

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 Swedish male bass guitarists Krux members Candlemass (band) members Abstrakt Algebra members {{Sweden-guitarist-stub