Watch: CANDLEMASS Reunite With MESSIAH MARCOLIN For One-Off World-Exclusive Concert in Athens

History was made on Saturday, September 13, when Swedish doom metal legends Candlemass reunited on stage with their iconic former vocalist Messiah Marcolin for the first time in nearly 20 years. The world-exclusive performance took place at this year's edition of the Rock Hard Festival Greece in Athens, Greece, and drew fans from around the world to witness a night many thought would never happen.

The band tore through a career-spanning setlist that revisited some of their most beloved classics:

1. The Well Of Souls
2. Dark Are The Veils Of Death
3. Mirror Mirror
4. Darkness In Paradise
5. Bewitched
6. Samarithan
7. Black Dwarf
8. Crystal Ball
9. A Sorcerer's Pledge
10. At The Gallows End
11. Solitude

Fan-filmed video of the entire Candlemass gig has already begun circulating online, capturing the thunderous reception to Marcolin's return and the band's enduring chemistry.

Back in May, bassist and Candlemass founder Leif Edling made it clear that the Athens show would be a strictly one-off reunion with Messiah. Speaking to Rock Hard Greece, Edling explained: "Well, it feels great. And we [are celebrating Candlemass's] 40-year anniversary with many happenings, so this is one of the happenings that we have. So we have a special EP out with a couple of tracks, and we will have a special line of merchandise out.

"And we will do special shows in Sweden, and we will also do the thing with Messiah Marcolin in Athens. So there's several ways we can celebrate. We put a lot of old photos up on social media right now, for example, and I think there's a documentary about Candlemass being filmed during the year as well. So we celebrate in many ways."

He doubled down on the Athens concert being the only date with Marcolin: "Yeah, it will be a one-off show. Absolutely. And we have no recording plans, we have no reunion plans. There are no plans whatsoever but just one show and one show only. So that's the entire thought behind it. Go down to Greece where we have a lot of true fans, loyal fans, and have a blast. Play a great show and enjoy ourselves for the 40-year anniversary's sake. Not many bands survive to have a 40-year anniversary. So we feel very lucky that we have managed to survive this long."

When asked if Athens could be considered a final "closure" of the band's chapter with Messiah, Edling was candid: "I think we had a closure, like, 20 years ago, actually. [Laughs] I mean, we didn't know that we would survive one year after Messiah left. And we didn't know that we would be playing 20 years after. So this is a bonus. And it's a bonus for all the people that would like to see us live with Messiah. So why not?"