Cathedral: The Ethereal Mirror

Cathedral: The Ethereal Mirror

1993

Earache Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Violet Vortex (Intro)  2. Ride  3. Enter the Worms  4. Midnight Mountain  5. Fountain of Innocence 6. Grim Luxuria  7. Jaded Entity  8. Ashes You Leave  9. Phantasmagoria  10. Imprisoned in Flesh


Ahhh, man...Cathedral...I band I used to love, but then kinda forgot about for a decade or so...I believe my introduction to them came as a young Napalm Death fan who heard Lee Dorian (ND's ex-singer (?). Is that the right word?) had a new band...I read reviews of "Forest of Equilibrium" but couldn't find a copy of the album (Hale Drug wasn't that hip!). But one day I caught the video for "Ride" on Headbanger's Ball or maybe one of those old Rock Video Monthly things...

And then I remember immediately getting the Soul Sacrifice EP on cassette...

Oh, man...So many good memories of Earache Records cassettes...Especially the Columbia/Earache era...I don't give a fuck what stuck in the mud death metal fans think...There was something exciting about the marriage of extreme metal and commerce...For a few minutes in the 90's it seemed totally feasible that Napalm Death and Carcass were going to be the puking their guts out on FM radio dials everywhere...Like we were going to hear Entombed next to Pearl Jam...My palms get sweaty even thinking about it...But come to think of it, Sepultura did pretty good during this time period...I can recall hearing "Territory" getting some mild airplay back then...So maybe it wasn't such a far out dream...Who knows...

I should point out the vocal metamorphosis that Lee Dorian had undergone at this point..he went from the quintessential death metal growler in Napalm Death, to the guttural, doomed soul on "Forest of Equilibrium" to the smiley faced party monster on "The Ethereal Mirror." I still think his vocals might be an acquired taste, but once you get past the eccentricities you almost can't imagine it being performed any other way...

Alright, let me capture what made "Ride" and those early Cathedral albums stand out for me...I think it was the first time I heard what would later become codified as "Stoner Metal." "The Ethereal Mirror" was heavy as hell, no doubt about it...All crushing,  massively downtuned guitars and trudging tempos but there was a 70's grooviness somewhere in its DNA...The clouds of dense fog that enveloped their first album had parted somewhat and what looked to be doleful ghosts writhing in the mists turned out to be filthy hippies shaking their thangs and you suddenly realize all that murk was emanating from the world's most massive, malevolent bong...

So I think what we end up with is good-time doom...Tons of Sabbath  ("Fountain of Innocence" was recorded in the same watery universe as "Planet Caravan" and you can hear the "Sweet Leaf" riff attempting to escape at around the 4:15 mark on "Ashes You Leave"), lots of 70's muscle-car rock and a bit of funk (man, check out the heavy, heaving dance party that is "Midnight Mountain.") I think the best moment on the album (and also the moment that sums up the entire project) occurs on "Midnight Mountain" where after a wild flurry of funky wah wah guitar Lee shouts, "DYNOMIIIIITE!" and the the whole thing gets Earthshakingly heavy...I swear to the Dark Lord himself, it's hands down the most transcendent moments in 90's metal...

And there's still some good, (relatively) straight doom on here too, with "Phantasmagoria" (where there's even a death metal growl in that catchy-ass break) and "Jaded Entity" where the lyric "death is death" gets repeated over and over like they haven't quite come to terms with the concept yet...Or maybe they're trying to get it to sink into our thick skulls...Is this what all the fun is about?

I can't believe I almost forgot how great this album is...I went through a hefty Cathedral phase circa 92-93 and then I almost totally forgot about them until I was doing a Sabbath trawl on youtube one night and ran across them again...Just as I did back in '92, I went right out and bought one of their records and it feels so good to get buried underneath all the heaviness once again...

Here's "Midnight Mountain" by Cathedral...This video is awesome and hilarious...Especially the Chef Guitarist...Enjoy...