Search - Cathedral :: Garden of Unearthly Delights

This better not be the end...

Samuel A. Rhode | Minneapolis, MN USA | 03/05/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've heard rumors flying that this might be the last Cathedral record. Say it ain't so, boys! But hell, the album's been out for months now, and still only one review? For whatever reason, these guys have never achieved the elevated status in the doom community that they deserve. Maybe their fate is to be that of Trouble or St. Vitus, ignored in their prime and elevated in retrospect.



Anyway, on to the record. If it is to be their swansong, Dorrian and Co. are going out on a high note indeed. This album is a synthesis of their last 2 records--the brutal doom sludge of Endtyme meets the more varied darkness of The VIIth Coming. These songs sound raw as all hell, and Dorrian is downright menacing, spewing his vocals with a vitriol that might even win back some of his fans from the old Napalm Death days. He juxtaposes this with his more melodic, Lemmy-meets-Ozzy vocals stylings to great effect.



As to the band...well, these guys are on fire. The rhythm section is throbbing with sludge and swing. Easily the best performance to date from drummer Brian Dixon. Bassist Leo Smee rumbles in the best Geezer fashion, and guitarist/riffbrain Gary Jennings is fericious, wearing his Iommi on his sleeve in most of his leads, but throwing in more dissonance, more darkness, more frenzy. As to the riffs, the songs have a blunt trauma aggression that I've never heard out of these guys before. Enough great ideas for 3 albums by a lesser band.



The music is disjointed as usual; weird changes and key-shifts abound, a tendency that probably has more to with Cathedral's absence from Electric Wizard/Kyuss/Sleep level adoration within the doom/stoner genre than anything else. These guys might in the end be too damn progressive for their own good. While they have all the girth and swing of the best of the post-Sabbath bands, they don't do to much of the stoner drone. Methinks they might have derailed a few too many good trips for fans of the genre...



All told, a great album, worthy of comparison to classics like The Ethereal Mirror and Forest of Equlibrium. And if it is to be the end, then why not go out with a 28-minute title track the closes the album and serves as a one-stop compendium of all the different styles, ideas, and feels Cathedral have incorporated into their crazy, heavy, absurd music through the years? I for one will lament their passing--for my money, there has not been a more innovative metal band to be found in the last 10 years. They picked up where Sabbath left off, before metal got hijacked and turned in a calisthentic workout of who can shred the fastest, scream the loudest, growl the lowest, and be more absent of anything resembling the dark blues/jazz/groove origins of the form. The world of metal is a better place for them. Too bad the community at large isn't going to realize it for another 10 years."

Sentenced By The King Of England!!!!!!!!! Cathedral have rel

J. H. Infante | Guadalajara, Ja, Mex | 11/21/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"WOW!!!! this awesome cd finally arrived from London The garden of unearthly deligths, have reached a new level of heaviness and density in doom metal,this new release can be compared with "Endtime" just a little more fast, Lee Dorrians voice seems to be recorded with the same technique as in Endtime, very rough and with some distortion, bass sounds are also so dense that air can be cut with a knife (no kidding) Gaz Jennings guitar surelly end worn out, i dont think a guitar could resist such abuse, cool!!!!! , drums are furious a blast!!!! a british pride is very evident this time, lyrics are so much into England topics, check out:

North Berwick Witch Trials

Upon Azrael's Wings

Corpsecycle

Fields Of Zagara

Oro, The Manslayer

Beneath A Funereal Sun

The Garden

Proga - Europa

The garden is an epic 27 minutes track, i dont really like that much epic songs however the rest of the material is awesome, Cathedral is one of todays more emblematic Bands of Metal in Europe, I love it Britthis!!!!! i love them!!!!!!!!!!!!!



HM"

PLEASE DONT GO!!!!

Ed | Australia | 03/09/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album is seriously catchy - and it better not be a swansong. I mean if metal wasn't underground then this would be grammy award stuff (eek what a thought - a metal planet where pop was underground arrrgghhh!) The highlights for me are North Berwick Witch Trials and Corpsecyle - these guys are so tight - playing better than ever. It is soooo much better than endtyme - Try driving your car and listening to this rippin music without speeding - I dare you!



Witchcraft spreading all around this Christian land...."