In some alternate universe, one very similar to our own, Candlemass lost their one and only singer, Messiah Marcolin. He died in a fire or a train wreck or something. And they were totally sad-- so sad they couldn't record a new album under the Candlemass name. So they went to the States to hang out with their buddies Corrosion of Conformity (Blind-era lineup). But they were still depressed. So Reed Mullin or Karl Agell or whoever said, "Hey, what band gets you going? You should listen to them, like, a ton." And Leif Edling was all, "Yanno what? He's right. We should listen to fucking Trouble. Except, like, we should totally just jam out their songs to make us feel better." And Karl or Woody or whoever was all, "Dude! You can totally use our gear to rock out with that Trouble tunage!" But then Candlemass was all, "But dude... we have no singer...." And someone in COC was like, "Hey! We know the singer from Pallbearer, and he'd be perfect for you! I'll call him!" And that dude came over and ROCKED OUT with with Candlemass doing Trouble covers with COC's gear.
But Leif was still all like, "We should still have the same type of album cover."
And on Desperate Souls of Tortured Times, that is what Age of Taurus sound like.
Top 3 of the year, easy.
--Horn