Cathedral Forest of equilibrium is one I have not heard in a very long time. I have to also admit that I was never the biggest fan of their work as the younger me found them a bit too slow to listen to. Now the older version of me is going back in for another listen and I have to say I don’t mind this at all. Whilst many of the bands were competing to become the fastest and most extreme, Cathedral decided to go a different way and slow it down.
I can’t help but wonder if singer Lee Dorian’s time in extreme metal pioneers Napalm Death turned him towards the doom side as he got sick of the fast stuff and decided to do something completely opposite. Now I think about it, a fair few of the ex Napalm Alumni have done the same thing.
Soundwise this still fits in with the death metal scene, but the vocals are a little easier to take and musically this feels like Black Sabbath but slowed down and detuned. There’s definitely some nods to the mighty Sabbath here in both the riffage and soloing techniques. The gloriously slow riffs just hang there, you can feel the weight coming at you when these guys play. The slowness creates a feel of suspense. The songs are epic and long numbers that to some might drag on a bit, but I find them to be a soundscape and something that one can easily listen to in the dark or after a smoke of something 😉
This is another example of an album that I didn’t really get the first time around in the 90s but with the benefit of age I’ve been able to listen to it again with more open mind and really enjoy it!
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