Posts Tagged ‘Adrien Begrand’

Album of the day: Cathedral – Anniversary

Posted on Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011

Lovingly pinched from Headbang: For all the doom metal bands working right now, Cathedral is one of those acts that make many of their peers look like rank amateurs with every new record they put out. Latter-day innovators in a subgenre that’s arguably the most rigid in all of metal, they’ve developed their own distinct version of the sound, like everything else, was so heavily inspired by Trouble, Candlemass, Saint Vitus, Witchfinder General, and of course Black Sabbath, and it’s been a pleasure to see the band continue to make new music.

Their last two, 2006’s The Garden of Unearthly Delights, and 2010’s inspired double album The Guessing Game turned out to be minor latter-day creative peaks, proof that founding members Lee Dorrian, guitarist Garry “Gaz” Jennings, and drummer Brian Dixon had plenty of creative fuel left in the collective tank. However, not long after the release of The Guessing Game, much to a lot of people’s surprise, Dorrian, who also runs the excellent Rise Above record label, announced that Cathedral would be disbanding after the release of their tenth album in 2012.

So the last calendar year has been a sort of victory lap for Cathedral as they’ve been playing special shows to commemorate their final days together as a band. One of those special shows, at London’s Islington Academy on December 3rd, 2010 – the band’s 20th anniversary – was recorded and has been put together as the aptly-titled Anniversary, a double live album that’s bound to please longtime fans.

As I mention time and again, the gimmick of bands playing full albums in sequence is getting old, but what Cathedral does on Anniversary is extra special, as they perform all of their 1991 album Forest of Equilibrium. One of Cathedral’s very best albums, if not the best, and undisputedly one of the most important albums on doom metal, Forest of Equilibrium is treasured by longtime fans, and to hear Cathedral march out and play those monstrous songs is a blast to hear. And the band sounds excellent, too especially on the slower material like ‘Equilibrium’ and ‘Comiserating the Celebration (Of Life)’.

Continue reading: New Releases For November 22nd 2011: Cathedral Anniversay.

Tags: Adrien Begrand, Album of the day, cathedral, doom, Forest of Equilibrium, Gaz Jennings, lee dorrian, rise above records
Posted in 2011, Album of the Day, Roadburn Recommended | No Comments »

PopMatters Picks: The Best Metal Albums of 2009

Posted on Monday, December 21st, 2009

It seems every year I say it, but this year it’s truer than ever: this was one hell of a year for metal. Sure, we had our share of high profile duds come our way (Heaven and Hell, Ensiferum, Pelican, Killswitch Engage) and more than enough popular records that had ...read more