CANDLEMASS mainman Leif Edling will sit out the rest of 2015 as he continues to battle health issues. He was forced to take a back seat with his other band AVATARIUM early last year – and although specifics on his health condition haven’t been made public, he’s said to be getting better and will spend the rest of the year recuperating.

CANDLEMASS say in a statement: “Our bass player and songwriter engine Leif Edling will, unfortunately, be off stage a year yet because of health issues. We will wave the flag high with our keyboard player Per Wiberg or Jorgen Sandstrom who will do the bass work instead while Leif is getting better.”

The Swedish doom metal outfit are lined up to play this year’s Kavarna Rock Fest June 26-28.

Their last studio outing was 2012's Psalms For The Dead – their final record with frontman Robert Lowe. He quit six days before the album launched and was replaced with current vocalist Mats Levin.