CANDLEMASS completed their first-ever run of Australian shows without longtime singer Johan Längqvist, with Chilean vocalist Felipe Plaza Kutzbach once again fronting the Swedish doom metal veterans. The tour, the band's debut on the continent after four decades, took in The Corner in Melbourne on September 30, Liberty Hall in Sydney on October 1 and The Rosemount in Perth on October 3, where CANDLEMASS played the Armageddoom festival.
Längqvist was hospitalized in Stockholm last month after what the band described as "a medical emergency." No update on his condition has been shared alongside the tour footage.
Plaza Kutzbach, who sings in PROCESSION and is a member of DESTRÖYER 666 and SCALD, now lives in Sweden. He first stepped in on September 12 at London Metalfest at the Electric Ballroom, carrying most of that set before Aaron Stainthorpe of MY DYING BRIDE and Tony Dolan of VENOM INC. joined for the encore — we covered that show here.
Fan-filmed clips from Australia show him leading the band through staples from Epicus Doomicus Metallicus and Nightfall. Here is "Solitude" from Melbourne:
Längqvist sang on the 1986 debut Epicus Doomicus Metallicus and rejoined bassist and leader Leif Edling's band in 2018, 32 years later. The band's most recent release is the Black Star EP, issued by Napalm Records in May 2025. In July, Längqvist said the band had demos down for roughly half of the follow-up to 2022's Sweet Evil Sun, with Edling once again writing the material.