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Lee Dorrian is a seminal figure. After pushing hardcore to its extreme limits and reducing the vocals to an almost incomprehensible grunt, effectively inventing what would be defined as grindcore with the debut album "Scum" (1987) of his band of origin, Napalm Death, he decides, following the split with the aforementioned Napalm, to embark on a new musical adventure by founding, together with guitarist Gary Jennings, Cathedral. This time, they push doom to its extreme limits with their debut album "Forest of Equilibrium" (1991), which surely represents one of its main cornerstones.
With this work, Cathedral overturn the lessons of Black Sabbath, hitting the brakes until touching upon claustrophobia and madness, all exacerbated by the vocal performance of the little devil from Coventry who perfectly hides his real vocal cords and spews out malign and inhuman guttural sounds at us. 1995 marks a breaking point in the band's career. Gary Jennings begins to shake up his riffs, and most importantly, Lee abandons the growl and delights us with the fullness and power of his vocal timbres.
"The Carnival Bizarre" will be remembered for this and also because, musically, influences start being felt that depart from doom, which will later evolve the band's sound into that mix of prog, doom, and psychedelic sounds that characterizes the latest "The Garden of Unearthly Delights." With the speeding up of the rhythm and a cleaner production, the references to Ozzy and Tony's band from the seventies become more evident, and honestly, I believe they are the worthy heirs of Black Sabbath, or at least, they will be remembered as such in the more or less distant future. Certainly, Lee lacks the more or less intended excesses that distinguished the madman, but history will pay tribute to him and his faithful companion and guitarist (much underrated) Gary, with the rightful recognition. Moving on to the review of the album, "The Carnival Bizarre" is undoubtedly a superb work.
The opening of the must is entrusted to "Vampire Sun," which immediately makes us understand what the new course of Cathedral will be. Gary goes wild with his cadenced riffs alternating them with blazing solos, while one imagines Dorrian singing and dancing like a damned in a sort of sonic ritual. Absolutely wonderful is the subsequent "Hopkins (The Witchfinder General)," where the opening is entrusted to none other than Vincent Price who gracefully whispers "I'm Matthew Hopkins, Witchfinder," in a song with text and references both sound and visual (in the video made), drawn from the 1968 film "Witchfinder General" by Michael Reeves. In "Utopian Blaster," to emphasize the significant homage that Cathedral pays to Sabbath, His Majesty Tony Iommi himself makes an appearance, participating in what is among the most seventies songs on the album. "Night of The Seagulls" can, in my opinion, be considered the "Black Sabbath" of Cathedral, with which it shares the initial bell tolls and the heavily doom-laden rhythm. The peak, in my opinion, is reached with the eight minutes of the title track, a splendid example of a song that keeps you on edge without any drop in tension whether in the more rock moments or in the pauses where Dorrian's voice becomes incredibly more modulated, almost caressing you. Sensational. Hypnotic and obsessive "Inertia's Cave," very tough and intense. The meanest and most wicked song of the album is "Fangalactic Supergoria," thanks to both the darker sound and Lee's angry and demonic voice. More relaxed is the almost ballad "Blue Light," where Dorrian demonstrates he is at ease even on slower and more psychedelic soundscapes. The work closes with "Palace of Fallen Majesty," pure doom, and the pressing and "electric" "Electric Grave."
In conclusion, it is inevitable to recommend to those who are not familiar with Cathedral's sonic message to get ahead of the times and discover the band, because surely in a few decades it will be considered a cult on par with the masters of the black sabbath.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Vampire Sun (04:06)
Skull of god with the devils eyes
Crowned in fire sodden sky
Beaming rays of genocide
Into virtues magic lie
Illusive myth of light enslaves you
Vampire sun it drains you
Beg the sword for liberty
Fall before the king of flies
Delirium is flowing free
In our obedience disease
The gift of life is reaped of value
Vampire sun it drains you
Gaze into the face of fire
Dreams descend into the pyre
Monolithic angel
Unveil your king to this planet disabled
Mummify the cosmos
With the vision of divinity yeah!
Electric vulture flying high
Through the universal eye
To cleanse the heavens with earth soul
The excretion of mankind
Feeding from the fangs of virtue
Vampire sun it drains you
Gaze into the face of fire
Dreams descent into the pyre
02 Hopkins (The Witchfinder General) (05:19)
She rides to the sabbath
Veiled under silver light
To make love to the devil
necromancer of nyte (a vampire child at night)
Within the mystic forest
She sets your world alight
Her covern conjure the demons
Herald the sacrifice yeah
Lucifera Vampirella
She bares the mark of the devil
Queen of the witches
Her kingdom is your hell
black masses in the convent
Priests under her spell
The crops have withered
The sky bends upside down
Her name is lucifera
The mutant preachers yell - yeah
My name is hopkins
I'm the witchfinder general
My impotence deceives me
Your beauty turns me pale
Winds haunt the village
Satans ghost awakes
The world falls into darkness
As she melts at the stake - yeah
My name is hopkins witchfinder general
Your soul condemned to hell
03 Utopian Blaster (05:41)
Today the sun refused to shine
On this war infested land
Beyond our sky, the lord of life
Sending crossbones tumbling down
Citadel on a traveling stone
Magic wisdom our only home
As flesh impostors fight the master
Of forces to them unknown yeah!
Blinded by the power
Life spell castor
Utopian blaster
Peace your master
Sculptured space in plastic hands
Evil empire of mankind
Blazing light from the sword of mars
Shall destroy this utopian farce
Giant mass of the children high
Sleeping on beds of air
Limitations we've unbound
Come and join us well take you there - yeah
Struck ever after
Lifespell castor
Utopian blaster
Peace your master now!
Legend of Earth after
Sleep in dusted grace
Time has ceased our fortune shall begin
Bathe in fountains of laughter
Cleansed by endtime rapture
Embrace the final dawn
Fatal glow - sirens in the wind
Conquest oh we shall capture yeah!
We race upon the unicorn
To a land of towers green
While soldiers march into the void
Guided by mans funeral hand
Golden souls riding on the wind
From the path of nature sinned
Cosmic army military
Our weapons be only love - yeah
Struck by the power
Lifespell castor
Utopian blaster
Face your master now
04 Night of the Seagulls (07:01)
We are the blind dead
No eyes inside our head
Our senses lead us to your nightmare
Centuries of death we wear
Pharaoh's cross in dust we bare
Immortal horses slowly ride us to you
Through the black mist
They ride
Knights templar - arise
The shores unearthly dead
Mournful mothers chilled with dread
Leave their offspring to knights templar
They rise from the sea
At midnight the prize you see
Tied to the post - a virgin screaming
Through the black mist
They ride
Knights templar - arise - oh!!!
Into our castle led
Seagulls howling overhead
The ritual you face
You shall no after
Your blood we drink for eternity
Flesh unto the crabs we leave
And feed your heart unto Aquarian master
Through the black mist
They ride
Knights templar - arise
08 Blue Light (03:27)
Waning autumn, winter blue
Tonight we dance in praise of you
Oh reaper scream a silent serenade
Of tunes above earths grave
Enigma bites our world in grey
To kill the morning jester fade
Our host of nocturn is the ghost of day
The cosmos for you paved
The milky way pours over me
We own the stars and night
Angel of death has set us free
Blue light of pure insight
Planetary suicide
From violence of red sun we hide
Long live disciples of eternal night
In praise of moonlit sky
The milky way pours over me
At one with stars and night
Angel of death has set us free
Blue light of pure insight
Take his hand
To the land of dreams
Fear not his purple might
Truths unfold
With the grace of death
Iron lace ties our embrace
09 Palace of Fallen Majesty (07:44)
We are guided by the moon
Into our palace tomb
Shrine of dead king Midas
Whose gold turned into stone
Children of the grave
Entombed in a faceless day
Are we the ones insane
To carry a spirit flame
Skeleton of centuries
Oh solemn majesty
You'll stand again
Unveil the key
Grant life to we
On this violet night
We await your sight
As the splendour falls
Upon these naked walls
In the haunted garden
A velvet raven calls
Temples born of ice
Release a solemn chime
Into twilight thunder
Within the sands of time
Skeleton of centuries
Eternal mysteries
Released from pain
Again we die
To breathe in vain
Seared wealth of truth
By your touch restored
Summer seized in the grip of twilight fair
As we conceive to retrieve our rightful fortune
Mourn not we, in lost shapes of time reborn
To bathe in seas of you - oh blackest dawn
We find salvation in a palace of dead kings
Hold a knife to the dawn - climb into the dream
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By March Horses
The Carnival Bizarre is still one of their pinnacles, a decayed chest of sounds intensely pure in their bastard blend.
A clear example of how one can craft music that is simultaneously dark and sunny, free.
