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CATHEDRAL
1991 - Forest Of Equilibrium.
1992 - Soul Sacrifice.
1993 - The Ethereal Mirror.
more CATHEDRAL.
way more Helter Skelter.

December 6, 1991 - 2021: 30 years of: Forest Of Equilibrium.

From grind to doom: the improbable extreme 90° make-over.

NAPALM DEATH's rabid punk screamer and scene-leader Lee Dorrian left hyperfast grind in late-89, to harvest a new outlook on extreme-metal. After the doom-flood of 1990's In Memoriam indie-MCD, the pace picked-up and aimed for the big-leagues. Hints of CANDLEMASS, BLACK SABBATH and a lot of PENTAGRAM, this bold British rock-machine messiah has a name: CATHEDRAL.

Instantly get mesmerized, as the beautiful flute and classical-guitar intro sweeps into the ultra-massive "Commiserating The Celebration". Heavy and heavier, doom and doomier, the fat tone and rock-vibe takes a new deadly form. Feel the pristine doom-metal exposure of the incarnated darkness of "Ebony Tears" on to the 9min+ mastodon of "A Funeral Request".

Mosh on "Soul Sacrifice", the only fast-paced cut, that once again, displays the unique-ness of this melodramatic unit. Filled with "Uuuugh" and "Heyyyy" ...a crystal-clear nod to the master of blackness: Thomas Gabriel Fischer. The closing track "Reaching Happiness, Touching Pain" is another voyage in the woods. Flute introduced, followed by an apocalyptic 60bpm metal-meltdown. Eerie serenity and soul searching.

From enslavement to metalized doom-rock obliteraion ...packaged a hippie envelope. From 0:10sec tracks to 10min tracks, CATHEDRAL are a one of a kind experience in the extreme ...Death-Metal never stood a chance.

Walk deeper into the forest ...one of the hottest ticket around would bring more stoner and less doom, arising with 1993's hip-shaking The Ethereal Mirror CD.

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Ebony Tears = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgbQ3oiMPPc
Forest Of Equilibrium = full CD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cvux77faZ4&list=PLyNkh-wQ2KB1YTz3Bm5jlxMRcBj1EVO4y
Intreview in 1992 with Mille
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7VoyTuWB8Y
Live in London in 1992
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fhvnw10KdKY
Documentary in 2009
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYGXrgl1t70

October 20, 1992 - 2022: 30 years of: Soul Sacrifice.

Doom goes hippie !

Companion to 1991's out-of-the-box Forest Of Equilibrium CD, the 24min+ Soul Sacrifice MCD packs plenty of 60s rocknroll and quicksand doomness. Hail CATHEDRAL !

The arenarock ready "Autumn Twilight" is an obvious reach for wider audiences, while the updated "Soul Sacrifice" is a fun downtuned experience. Under tons of snow, the ecstatic "Frozen Rapture" redefines doom as a whole, yet surprises the audience at the 3:50sec mark with …cow-bell !

Witnessing this monolith in the live-environment in late-92 on the Campaign For Musical Destruction tour, this kid can assess that this heaviness and gloominess fully transcended in the in-awe hall.

Remember that way back in the eclectic 1992-93 era, this trend-challenging extreme-metal was distributed in the US via the major Columbia / Sony retail-deal. Along label-mates CARCASS and NAPALM DEATH, this grinding-catalog commercially never stood a chance against the flannels of Seattle, but did get some MTV exposure.

*
Autumn Twilight = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBUiz7DzEMg
Soul Sacrifice = full MCD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_hlvTafpJU
Live in Hollywood in 1992
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRF3uNPe1v0

May 24, 1993 - 2023: 30 years of: The Ethereal Mirror.

A lucid fairytale.

From grind, to doom, to stoner, to ethereal ...Lee Dorrian is an under-rated player and under-rated trendsetter. The buzzing British unit of CATHEDRAL now serenades with more 60s-vibed rocknroll, with cutting edge 90s-production. All of this lethal mix under the multi-national-corpo-ration Columbia Records in the Americas, during the Seattle Charts domination.

A purple haze fills the room as the "Violet Vortex" intro sets in, to blast off into oblivion. Massive rhythm shakes the Earth as we take a "Ride" into a retrorock / hippiemetal extravaganza. The metal-counterculture is alive and well. More groove grasps with no pity on "Enter The Worms" and the mega monster of "Grim Luxuria".

From enslavement to rocknroll veneration on the 6:22sec dream-catcher "Ashes You Leave" as the moshpit gets traded for a disco-ball dance-floor, on the bell-bottomed ass-shaker "Midnight Mountain" MTV-single. Ethereal sounds appear on the 7:13sec arenarock power-potion from the "Fountain Of Innocence" and diametrically the CD-closer 1:47sec flamenco-guitar "Imprisoned In Flesh" is another tour-de-force from this eclectic metal-messiah.

At the altar of heavyrock, the bohemian-boys puts the fun back in funeral ...forever breaking away from the deathmetal standards and trailblazing the Euro-branch of stonerrock. Witnessing them live in 1993, along with a certain Scott Carlson from REPULSION on bass-guitar, the attitude of rocknroll was fully present onstage.

From galaxy to galaxy, the caravan keeps on rolling. The upcoming stop shall include a special 70s-prog signature, the audacious 22min-track "The Voyage Of The Homeless Sapien", on 1994's anti-commercial Statik Majik MCD.

Ooooooooooouuuh !!!

*
Ride = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-08wmIm440
Midnight Mountain = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v73zQ8aAVyc
The Ethereal Mirror = full CD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNQwl9ZdNno&list=OLAK5uy_lgsM1Ku2U3z_aGvOsrhI9ZLOc3SG62ltc
Live in Chicago in 1993
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEBwlo6AS0I
Documentary in 2009
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8XTi06inUo

more CATHEDRAL:

NAPALM DEATH
&

PENANCE
&

Death-Metal EU 1991
&

Alternative-Metal 1992
&

Campaign For Musical Destruction