helterskelter.ca

CATHEDRAL
1991 - Forest Of Equilibrium.
1992 - Soul Sacrifice.
1993 - The Ethereal Mirror.
1994 - Statik Majik.
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.

*
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

April 25, 1994 - 2024: 30 years of: Statik Majik.

"Let's groove, sonic muthafucka !"

England's hottest ticket is back with an unorthodox release. The humongous CATHEDRAL rocks between doommetal, bohemian habits and progressiverock. One of the industry's longest running EP ...a forty minute feast.

1993's The Ethereal Mirror CD hip-single for "Midnight Mountain" kicks-off the celebrations. More muscular darkrock appears on "Hypnos 164" and more mid-evil witchcraft raises the dead on "Cosmic Funeral" ...a spatial eulogy.

And out of the forest we go...
in a full 22 minutes and 42 seconds of Earth-shaking rock / metal crash-course. From womb to tomb, the progressive trek of "The Voyage Of The Homeless Sapien" is a trendbreaking tour-de-force. In true mid 70s fashion, both psychedelic and classic-heavymetal clashes under a fat wall of decibels. Hazy intro, to heavyrock doomness, to the 6:12sec mark powermetal burst, to the 11:01sec lead-guitar trade-off: "Will you welcome, Gary 'O Frehley !". The elusive 12:46sec hippie-folk time-stamp sends us deeper into the garden of unearthly delights, while the triumphant 17:08sec build-up point, rage with a hard metal ravaging return. The ending coda at 19:53sec, abandons us into Church, along a somewhat stoned Priest / Dorrian.

Commiserate this celebration: from tiptoeing to face-stomping, "The Voyage Of The Homeless Sapien" is the coolest adventure you've never had. Pure rocknroll napalm !

The American-edition counterpart of the MCD, trades "Midnight Mountain" with the rerecorded up-beat 1991 track: "A Funeral Request - Rebirth" ...CATHEDRAL is truly the gift that keeps on giving. Our beloved rockers would spring back into everlasting fire with 1995's The Carnival Bizarre CD.

"That looked to me like it was from another planet."

*
Cosmic Funeral = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2lCd68fw60
Statik Majik = full MCD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zAk-9VFEZ8&list=PL6_qhP3eWX5PaSVmZeCanNZUdKlaDRv4Q
MTV interview in 1994
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyiYt4eTyCE

more CATHEDRAL:

NAPALM DEATH
&

PENANCE
&

Death-Metal EU 1991
&

Alternative-Metal 1992
&

Campaign For Musical Destruction