CATHEDRAL (The Seventh Coming) CD
Now I'm sitting here in front of the monitor, listening for the fourth time to the new album of CATHEDRAL in 2003, and I'm not sure, what the hell I could write about it, but don't ask for what reasons ever. Better, I start to check out the album more, which has been released on Dreamcatcher Records. CATHEDRAL haven't defind themselves new, but there are a few new colors to find. While "Endtyme" was a bit more a tribute to the beginning, the band has combined the progressive edge of later records, with the typical tight and pulverizing grooves. This progressive touch brings back this old heavy 70's vibe to their massive sound, while slow and sinister themes are more in the background. Instead, CATHEDRAL are sometimes creating a pretty surrealistic and bizarre atmosphere, as known from previous recordings, and the opener "Phoenix Rising" is a good introduction into this part of the album.
Lee Dorrian's outstanding voice is making the whole experience more intense, and a few added instruments like a church-organ is a nice surprise. And to make "Seventh Coming" more diverse, a few metallic up-tempo rocker like "Nocturnal Fist" are included. CATHEDRAL have definitely their own sound since their early days, and among a pile of heavy doom-laden records, you can say blindly, what's a song of them. But for my taste, they've lost during the last years a bit of their inspiring magic, though they've opened their sound to other progressive influences, instead of repeating the holy times of "Forest Of Equilibrium", what made the last one less convincing for me. But CATHEDRAL are still a band, with a remarkable sound, and the "Seventh Coming" is a very nice surprise to all those, who are following the way of this band through the last 15 years.
(KK)