CATHEDRAL — Forest of Equilibrium (review)

CATHEDRAL — Forest of Equilibrium album cover Album · 1991 · Doom Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Warthur
Although I'm generally pretty keen on doom metal, and will always honour Lee Dorrian for his role as Rise Above head honcho in bringing groups like Blood Ceremony, Electric Wizard, and Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats to wider attention, Cathedral have always somehow failed to catch me - especially their more stoner-oriented middle period. (Once you start yelling "Huggy Bear oh yeah!" in the middle of a song you know you have lurched into total self-parody.)

This debut album of theirs, though... I think it has finally grown on me. Forest of Equilibrium has a rather unique doom sound because the participants are coming at it from decidedly non-doom backgrounds. You have Lee's own past in Napalm Death, Adam's Acid Reign roots, Mark Griffiths' Carcass roadie years - in short, a heap of experience in the faster, grittier, more extreme flavours of metal out there.

The end result is a doom album where, though I find Lee's vocal contributions to be a bit hit or miss, the overall aesthetic he leads the band to accomplish is an interesting departure for doom metal, giving it some of the gruesome, sick edge that extreme metal subgenres of the era enjoyed. The end result is a doom album which stands in stark contrast to some of the more "clean" and pristine takes on the genre, and as such deserves its place in doom history. Manage your expectations carefully and listen with an open mind.
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Unitron wrote:
more than 2 years ago
I really like this album, although the following album is my favorite Cathedral album.
UMUR wrote:
more than 2 years ago
I like the part of the review which describes the gruesome, sick edge that the extreme metal past of the members brought with them to the album. That´s spot on.
Vim Fuego wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Love the feel of this album. Nothing else matches it for melancholy and despair.
UMUR wrote:
more than 2 years ago
I absolutely adore this album.

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