Cathedral (British band)

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Cathedral
Cathedral band.JPG
General information
Genre (s) Doom Metal , Stoner Doom , Hard Rock
founding 1990
resolution 2013
Website http://www.cathedralcoven.com/
Last occupation
Lee Dorrian
Gary Jennings
Leo Smee
Brian Dixon
former members
Electric guitar
 Adam Lehan
Electric guitar
 Mike "Mykus" Hickey
Electric bass
 Mark Griffiths
Drums
 Mike Smail
Drums
 Mark Ramsey Wharton
Live musicians
guitar
 Victor Griffin
Drums
 Joe Hasselvander

Cathedral is a doom metal band from Coventry , England .

Band history

Cathedral was founded in 1990 by Lee Dorrian , who was the singer of Napalm Death until 1989 . Other founding members were Mark Griffiths, Gary Jennings and Andy Baker. In 1990 the band released the EP , In Memorium, on Dorrian's own record label Rise Above Records , followed by a demo in 1991 . In the same year the band was able to sign a record deal with Earache Records and the debut album Forest of Equilibrium was released , on which the band offered heavy and slow Doom Metal. Cathedral followed in the footsteps of first generation Doom bands such as Trouble , Pentagram and Saint Vitus .

Since Earache concentrated on extreme metal bands like Entombed , Carcass or Napalm Death , the band switched to Columbia Records in 1992 and released The Ethereal Mirror . But Columbia broke the contract with the band and they signed again with Earache. 1994 Lehan and Wharton surprisingly left the band; for the upcoming tour in the opening act of Black Sabbath, Dorrian managed to engage Victor Griffin (guitar) and Joe Hasselvander (drums) from doom metal legend Pentagram. However, the collaboration did not last. Brian Dixon (drums) and Leo Smee (bass) took over the vacant positions.

In 1995 the third studio album The Carnival Bizarre followed ; other albums were Supernatural Birth Machine (1996), Caravan Beyond Redemption (1998) and Endtyme (2001). In 2002 the band changed the record label again and went to DreamCatcher / Spitfire. After the release of The VIIth Coming , the band became quieter until they finally signed with Nuclear Blast , where they released the two albums The Garden of Unearthly Delights (2005) and The Guessing Game (2010).

In early 2011 the band announced that they wanted to split up after releasing another studio album. This last album, The Last Spire , was released in April 2013 on Lee Dorrian's own record label Rise Above Records . Musically, the album is clearly moving towards the beginning and closes the circle at the intersection of the first two albums.

The covers of all Cathedral albums are designed by Dave Patchett. Many of the covers can be folded out to six times the size of the CD cover and show paintings by the artist that are rich in detail and symbols.

style

Lee Dorrian

While heavy Doom Metal prevailed on the first releases, the later albums were more influenced by 70s rock . Even in their debut, the band explicitly refers to the prog rockers of the 1970s (there was already an American band in this period that also called itself Cathedral ). Nevertheless, the band has always remained deeply rooted in heavy metal thanks to the brute guitar work and the gruff vocals . With the exception of the albums In Memoriam , Forest of Equilibrium , Endtyme and "The Last Spire", however, the band does not only play with the typical slowness of other Doom bands.

Thematically, the band not only deals with the clichés typical of the genre, but also reveals humor and a preference for horror films from the 1960s and 1970s. For example, The Carnival Bizarre has a piece called Hopkins (Witchfinder General) , which is based on the horror classic The Witch Hunter starring Vincent Price . The Spanish Reitende Leichen series was also processed in three pieces, namely Night of the Seagulls, also from the album The Carnival Bizarre , Templars Arise! from the album Endtyme as well as in "la noche del buque maldito aka ghost ship of the blind dead" from the album "the guessing game".

The band is said to be one of the pioneers of the modern flavors of Doom Metal, as played by the early Spiritual Beggars or Electric Wizard .

Discography

Albums

  • 1991: Forest of Equilibrium
  • 1993: Twylight Songs ( 7 " )
  • 1993: The Ethereal Mirror
  • 1995: The Carnival Bizarre
  • 1996: Supernatural Birth Machine
  • 1998: Caravan Beyond Redemption
  • 1999: In Memoriam ( compilation )
  • 1999: Statik Majik / Soul Sacrifice ( Re-Release )
  • 2000: Gargoylian (7 ")
  • 2001: Endtyme
  • 2003: The VIIth Coming
  • 2004: The Serpent's Gold
  • 2005: The Garden of Unearthly Delights
  • 2010: The Guessing Game
  • 2013: The Last Spire

Singles

  • 1993: Grim Luxuria
  • 1993: Midnight Mountain
  • 1993: Ride
  • 1995: Hopkins (The Witchfinder General)

Demos and EPs

  • 1990: In Memorium (Demo)
  • 1991: Demo # 2 (demo)
  • 1992: Soul Sacrifice (EP, 12 " )
  • 1994: Statik Majik (EP, 12 ")
  • 1994: Cosmic Requiem (EP)
  • 1994: In Memorium (Re-Release, EP, 12 ")

DVDs

  • 2001: Our God Has Landed

Web links

Commons : Cathedral (band)  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Holger Stratmann (Ed.): RockHard Enzyklopädie . 700 of the most interesting rock bands from the last 30 years. Rock Hard Verlag, Dortmund 1998, ISBN 3-9805171-0-1 , p. 61 .
  2. ^ A b Greg Prato: Cathedral> Biography. All Music Guide, accessed March 22, 2009 .
  3. ↑ CATHEDRAL Announces Plan To Disband. Blabbermouth.net, February 6, 2011, accessed January 13, 2013 .
  4. ↑ CATHEDRAL: 'The Last Spire' Album Details Revealed. Blabbermouth.net, December 18, 2012, accessed January 13, 2013 .
  5. ^ Cathedral (US). All Music Guide, accessed March 22, 2009 .