Sunday 12 February 2012

Skeletal Hand


Cathedral are in Australia later this month to play their last two headlining shows ever. They're also making a number of festival appearances at a big, touring rock fest, with a lineup so cringe-inducingly bad that I'd rather do this to my ears than subject myself to a minute of it.

I'm not too crazy about Cathedral's recent output, but their earlier stuff is epic doom incarnate, and in my opinion some of the best the genre as a whole has ever produced, right up there with doom gods Pagan Altar, Saint Vitus, Corrupted, Electric Wizard etc. I don't know how much of their classic material Cathedral are including in their recent sets, but I'm hoping for a track or two off of Forest Of Equilibrium.

The blood sacrifice I'm offering you today is their long out of print and very rare Gargoylian 7". It's the obvious choice for the EYE, given its Blind Dead cover art, and b-side track that is pure, raging, early UK d-beat (completely out of character for the band, but not too surprising considering singer Lee Dorrian's earlier stint with Napalm Death).

Details for Cathedral's Sydney show HERE. Have a listen to the 7'' HERE.

7 comments:

  1. Yeah, I'm a big fan of Forest of Equilibrium too. I remember that record was a breath of fresh air amongst the likes of Morbid Angel, Napalm Death and Carcass. I was a massive death metal fan in my teenage years, I had a huge vinyl collection and much to my regret, I sold off most of it around 1993, as I was getting into the Industrial scene (the original first wave of the 70's/80's, and still am into it today). A few years ago I rebuilt my DM collection on mp3, and the Cathedral album is one of the ones I listen to the most, along with Scum, Left Hand Path and Symphonies of Sickness. Is there still a death metal scene today ? When I went back to see what Paradise Lost and Entombed had been up to since I last heard 'em, I wasn't that impressed, even less so with Cathedral, when one of their videos turned up on a Witchfinder General DVD (?) and was pretty terrible. Anyway dude, great post, excellent share, and hope you are keeping well.

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  2. There's still a very healthy, thriving death metal scene today. I don't know much about it personally, because I barely listen to DM other than some death/doom crossover. My metal tastes lean towards sludge, crust, doom, and some black. But if you want a good idea of what's happening in the world of DM these days, just check out some of the metal blogs in my blogroll e.g. Illogical Contraption, The Living Doorway and Annihilate This Week. BTW, funny that you mention Paradise Lost cuz they're also on the bill at the Cathedral show I'm going to.

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  3. Oops, should have been "Annihilate NEXT Week"

    sorry Brett! :)

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  4. nice - I'd pretty much forgotten about forest of equilibrium! I was given it on cassette by Griff - their bass player at the time. Like him I was a huge VdGG fan. Don't see him out as often these days - what with parenthood - but his arkazum stuff is interesting. And he's a top chap!

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  5. VdGG= Van Der Graaf Generator

    An awesome 60's underground band.

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  6. And just like that a post about them magically pops up over at Illogical Contraption. I love the internets!

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