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Cathedral (band)

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Cathedral
Cathedral performing live at the Wacken Open Air festival in 2009Cathedral performing live at the Wacken Open Air festival in 2009
Background information
OriginCoventry, England
GenresDoom metal, heavy metal
Years active1989–2013
LabelsColumbia/Sony, Dream Catcher, Earache, Nuclear Blast, Rise Above, Southern Lord, Ultimatum, Spitfire, Relativity
MembersLee Dorrian
Garry Jennings
Brian Dixon
Scott Carlson
Past membersAdam Lehan
Mark Griffiths
Ben Mochrie
Mike Smail
Mark Ramsey Wharton
Leo Smee
Websitewww.cathedralcoven.com

Cathedral were a doom metal band from Coventry, England. The group first gained notoriety for its slow and heavy brand of doom metal as heard on Forest of Equilibrium, which is considered a classic of the genre. However, the band's sound evolved quickly and began to adopt characteristics of 70s metal and hard rock. After releasing nine full-length albums and touring extensively for over two decades, Cathedral split after the release of The Last Spire in 2013.

History

In 1989 Lee Dorrian left Napalm Death because he was getting sick of the punk scene and did not like the death metal direction towards which Napalm Death was moving. Cathedral was formed after Lee Dorrian and Mark Griffiths met and discussed their love for doom bands like Black Sabbath, Candlemass, Pentagram, Trouble, and Witchfinder General. The band was founded in 1989 by Lee Dorrian (former singer of grindcore pioneers Napalm Death), Mark 'Griff' Griffiths (a Carcass roadie) and Garry 'Gaz' Jennings (formerly of thrash metal band Acid Reign). The only original band members in the current line-up are Lee Dorrian and Garry 'Gaz' Jennings, although Jennings did briefly leave the band in their early history, only to rejoin shortly afterwards.

Cathedral released The Forest of Equilibrium through Earache and then signed with Columbia. Cathedral's experience on Columbia was described by Dorrian as "surreal". As Dorrian explained,

We weren’t deliberately trying to be pop stars or anything like that, so playing that game just felt very surreal. We weren’t exactly comfortable with it. We were an underground band one minute and the next minute they were trying to present us as the next Black Crowes. Can you imagine recording Forest of Equilibrium and a major label wanted to sign you on the strength of that? It was fairly bizarre. I guess heavy music was reaching some kind of pinnacle back then. Death metal had reached its pinnacle back then – at least its creative pinnacle so maybe they saw us as being the next step after that.

Cathedral's major label debut, The Ethereal Mirror, was noted by Jason Birchmeier of Allmusic for its experimentation, upbeat tempos, and groove-laden guitar riffs. After releasing The Ethereal Mirror in 1993, Cathedral was dropped by Columbia the following year. The band continued its relationship with Earache Records until 2000. During this time, Cathedral released four full-length albums that continued to explore faster rhythms and 70s-hard rock-influenced guitar riffs, before switching gears for the relatively slow and plodding Endtyme. Thereafter, Cathedral signed with Dream Catcher Records and released The VIIth Coming. After this album, Cathedral signed to Nuclear Blast for their final three albums. These albums included the "inspired" and "quirky" but "uneven" The Garden of Unearthly Delights, the double-disc The Guessing Game, as well as the "true doom" of the band's finale, The Last Spire.

While Cathedral had contemplated disbanding in the past, most recently after the release of The Garden of Unearthly Delights, on 6 February 2011, Cathedral announced that they will disband after the release of The Last Spire in April 2013. Vocalist Lee Dorrian explained, "It's simply time for us to bow out. Twenty one years is a very long time and it's almost a miracle that we managed to come this far!" Cathedral played their last show in front of a small crowd in Perth, Western Australia during the Soundwave 2012 tour.

Style

Cathedral's releases have been marked by occasionally sharp shifts in style. While Forest of Equilibrium was firmly entrenched in a slow, heavy doom sound, elements of 70s metal and groovier riffs began to enter into its sound beginning with the Soul Sacrifice EP. By the time that The Ethereal Mirror was released, the band had incorporated more diverse references to 1970s music, including the disco influences heard on "Midnight Mountain".

As Dorrian explains, the band's original sound was a product of the immediate musical environment combined with the band members' influences:

When we first started, the music of Cathedral was a lot more extreme than it is now, a lot more morose and depressing, because that's how we felt at the time. We'd all come out of the Death Metal scene, or the grindcore scene or whatever, and I was just as much into the slower stuff as I was into the faster stuff. I just wanted to do something a bit different, so we took all our influences like Vitus and Pentagram and the Obsessed and stuff and decided to take that kind of music one step further, bring it into the 90's, make it more extreme, more heavy and downtuned than any of those bands had done before. That was our first and foremost ambition, and I think we probably achieved that when we did our first album.

Beginning with the Soul Sacrifice EP, the band began to incorporate a diverse array of 70s influences into its sound. With 2001's Endtyme, Cathedral re-introduced the slower, doomy elements that had been largely absent from its previous four albums.

The Guessing Game represented another development in the band's sound. For Dorrian, the album's direction was a result of the fact that:

This time on the record it seemed like we've come to the point where we feel confident enough to bring these influences to the fore. Because we also feel that we've got nothing to lose as well, after all this time. We've got nothing to prove as much as we've got nothing to lose. I just think we went for it, we didn't really think too hard about what the consequences would be, but I don’t think we went stupidly too far into the realms of progressive rock myself, it's just the right balance between that and everything else that the band's about.

Remarking on Cathedral's penchant for evolving its sound, Dorrian said:

I just think it’s important for a band like us, if we have all these influences and aspects of things we like, to be a bit more adventurous and make it interesting for ourselves as much as the audience. It might confuse a lot of people, I understand that, but that’s not a deliberate intention at all. We just want to make good music to the best of our abilities. We’re not the most musical band in the world, I admit that. We just want to push ourselves and stretch ourselves and contain an element of freedom of expression in our sound. I guess that’s why we look back on a lot of older bands, because they were so unrestricted, and things are too restricted and categorized these days. If you think about a band like Cathedral, how would you categorize us? I don’t know. I don’t know what box you could put us in, and that’s something I’m quite happy with. Try and put me in a box and I jump out of it.

Personnel

  • Lee Dorian - Vocals (1989–2013)
  • Garry "Gaz" Jennings - Guitars (1989–2013), Bass (1993–1994), Keyboards (1994–1996)
  • Adam Lehan - Guitar (1989–1994)
  • Mark Griffiths - Bass (1989–1993)
  • Ben Mochrie - Drums (1989-1991)
  • Mike Smail - Drums (1991-1992)
  • Mark Ramsey Wharton - Drums (1992–1994), Keyboards (1992)
  • Leo Smee - Bass (1994–2011)
  • Brian Dixon - Drums (1994–2013)
  • Scott Carlson - Bass (2011–2013; touring - 1995)

Live musicians

  • Victor Griffin - Guitar (1994)
  • Joe Hasselvander - Drums (1994)
  • Dave Hornyak - Drums (1995)
  • Max Edwards - Bass (2003–2004)

Discography

Demos

  • 1990: In Memoriam
  • 1991: Demo No. 2: Forest of Equilibrium sessions

Studio albums

EPs

Live Albums

Singles

  • 1993: "Grim Luxuria"
  • 1993: "Midnight Mountain"
  • 1993: "Ride"
  • 1994: "Wheels of Confusion" / "St. Vitus Dance" / "After Forever" (Biohazard) (from Nativity in Black)
  • 2001: "Gargoylian"

Best Of/Compilations

  • 1992: Masters of Brutality - Vol.II (Song: Frozen Rapture)
  • 1992: Gods of Grind (Earache Sampler)
  • 1994: Nativity in Black (Black Sabbath Tribute)
  • 1996: Dark Passages - Vol. II (Rise Above)(Song:Schizoid Puppeteer)
  • 1997: Masters of Misery (Black Sabbath: The Earache Tribute)
  • 1997: Burn One Up (Roadrunner:Song: You know)
  • 1999: Statik Majik / Soul Sacrifice
  • 2000: In Memoriam
  • 2004: The Serpent's Gold
  • 2013: Something In The Water- A Rise Above Compilation

Videos

  • 2001: Our God Has Landed

Bibliography

  • Doom Top Tens: The Depths Of Doom (2006). Terrorizer, 144, 52-53.

References

  1. ^ Sharpe-Young, Gary. "MusicMight: Artists: Cathedral". MusicMight. Retrieved 10 December 2008. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  2. "True Doom," 2006, p. 52.
  3. ^ Cook, Toby. "We're Really Not That Positive: Cathedral Interviewed". The Quietus. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  4. ^ Gitter, Mike (26 April 2013). "Cathedral's Lee Dorrian on the Band Ending, How Their Former Label Tried to Make Them the Next Black Crowes". Noisecreep. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  5. Allmusic review
  6. http://www.allmusic.com/album/endtyme-mw0000625556
  7. http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-garden-of-unearthly-delights-bonus-track-mw0000526355
  8. http://www.scratchthesurface-webzine.com/2013/04/cathedral-last-spire-review.html
  9. http://thequietus.com/articles/06289-cathedral-lee-dorrian-interview
  10. "Cathedral Announces Plans To Disband". Blabbermouth.net. 6 February 2011. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  11. http://alternativemusichub.com/2012/03/13/perth-soundwave-review/
  12. Birchmeier, Jason. "Cathedral - Soul Sacrifice EP". Allmusic. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  13. Birchmeier, Jason. "Cathedral - The Ethereal Mirror". Allmusic. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  14. Kitchens, Fitted (15 May 1999). "CATHEDRAL". FKOTLD on-line. Retrieved 10 December 2008. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  15. Yardley, Miranda. "Cathedral Discography – Lee Dorrian talks Terrorizer through". Terrorizer (magazine). Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  16. Begrand, Adrien. "Cathedral: Keep 'em Guessing". Popmatters. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  17. "Cathedral Interview with Lee Dorrian: "Put Me in a Box and I Jump out of It"". The Obelisk. Retrieved 1 April 2013.

External links

Cathedral
Studio albums
EPs
Compilation albums
Categories: