UMUR "Cosmic Requiem" is an EP release by UK doom metal act Cathedral. The EP was released through Columbia Records in August 1994. It bridges the gap between the band´s second and third full-length studio albums "The Ethereal Mirror (1993)" and "The Carnival Bizarre (1995)". "Cosmic Requiem" is actually a re-release of the "Statik Majik" EP from April 1994 featuring a slightly different tracklist. It features the 3 tracks from the vinyl version of "Statik Majik", but replaces the "Statik Majik" CD bonus track "Midnight Mountain" with "A Funeral Request - Rebirth". "A Funeral Request - Rebirth" was originally feautured as a bonus track on the Japanese version of "The Ethereal Mirror (1993)" (and on some reissues of the album). The first studio version of the track, which was originally titled "A Funeral Request (Ethereal Architect)" is however found on the band´s debut full-length studio album "Forest of Equilibrium (1991)". Needless to say that if you already own "Statik Majik" you´d best consider twice if "A Funeral Request - Rebirth" is enough value for you to purchase "Cosmic Requiem" too. Given the choice I´d recommend a purchase of "Cosmic Requiem" over "Statik Majik" though, as "Midnight Mountain" already appears on "The Ethereal Mirror (1993)".

While "Cosmic Requiem" is an EP release and only features 4 tracks, it´s actually an album length release with a total playing time of 43:00 minutes. The long playing time is in large part due to the 22:42 minutes long "The Voyage of the Homeless Sapien", which was by far the longest and most progressive structured track in the band´s discography at that point. It wasn´t until 2005 that the band released an even longer track in "The Garden" (26:58 minutes long) from "The Garden of Unearthly Delights".

Stylistically the material on "Statik Majik" is doom metal with strong psychadelic stoner doom leanings. Anyone familiar with the sound of the material on "The Ethereal Mirror (1993)" won´t be surprised by the overall musical direction on "Cosmic Requiem", although Cathedral definitely pushes the boundaries of thier sound to the maximum on this release. While "Statik Majik" and "Cosmic Requiem" share 3 tracks, the tracklist order is not the same on the two releases. "Cosmic Funeral" which was placed as track number 3 (the CD version of that release) is placed as track number 1 on the latter. "Cosmic Funeral" opens as a slow and doomy track and then changes into a darkly psychedelic stoner doom track featuring eerie synths and heavy riffs, and Lee Dorrian performing weird vocals and lyrics. "Hypnos 164" follows and is one part twisted and dark doom metal and one part psychedelic and oddball stoner doom, with Dorrian performing even more weird and freakish vocals and lyrics.

Track number 3 is "A Funeral Request - Rebirth". The original version from "Forest of Equilibrium (1991)" is a slow, dark, and relatively groove laden doom metal track, while this version is a little more upbeat and the grooves are more in focus. Dorrian sings in a higher register than on the original and it´s a reinterpretation of the track, which overall is quite different from the original. I much prefer the original version, but this version is worth a listen too.

Although all mentioned tracks are high quality material, it´s the 22:42 minutes long "The Voyage of the Homeless Sapien" which is the real attraction here. A strongly psychedelic flavored and progressive structured stoner/doom metal track, featuring many different sections, atmospheres, and textures. If you hadn´t noticed before (and you should have), it shows in abundance how adventurous Cathedral are.

"Cosmic Requiem" features a dark and heavy sounding production job, and the organic and raw sound suits the material well. You can hear all details in the mix, but it´s still heavy and dark sounding enough to satisfy a doom metal fan. Upon conclusion it´s one the most different and unique sounding releases in the band´s discography (in close competition with the "Hopkins (The Witchfinder General)" EP from 1996), and it´s through and through a high quality release fully deserving a 4 star (80%) rating.

UMUR "Statik Majik" is an EP release by UK doom metal act Cathedral. The EP was released through Earache Records in April 1994. It bridges the gap between the band´s second- and third full-length studio albums "The Ethereal Mirror (1993)" and "The Carnival Bizarre (1995)". The vinyl version of the EP features three new original compositions, while the CD version features "Midnight Mountain" (from "The Ethereal Mirror (1993)") as a bonus track. Columbia Records re-released "Statik Majik" in August 1994 with the title "Cosmic Requiem" and replaced "Midnight Mountain" with "A Funeral Request - Rebirth". The latter is a bonus track from the Japanese version of "The Ethereal Mirror (1993)". "A Funeral Request - Rebirth" is not a totally new track though as the original version (titled "A Funeral Request (Ethereal Architect)") is found on the band´s debut full-length studio album "Forest of Equilibrium (1991)".

As mentioned above the "Statik Majik" (CD) version of the EP features 4 tracks. A bit more remarkable maybe, is the fact that the total playing time of the EP is 40:20 minutes. So the EP features album length quantity, which is in large part due to the 22:42 minutes long "The Voyage of the Homeless Sapien", which was by far the longest and most progressive structured track in the band´s discography at that point. It wasn´t until 2005 that the band released an even longer track in "The Garden" (26:58 minutes long) from "The Garden of Unearthly Delights".

Stylistically the material on "Statik Majik" is doom metal with strong psychedelic stoner doom leanings. Anyone familiar with the sound of the material on "The Ethereal Mirror (1993)" won´t be surprised by the overall musical direction. "Midnight Mountain" is one of the band´s more light weight stoner doom metal tracks featuring hand claps and "uhs" and "ahs" from lead vocalist Lee Dorrian. It´s an energetic and fun song, although it´s still reasonably heavy. "Hypnos 164" is one part twisted and dark doom metal and one part psychedelic and oddball stoner doom, with Dorrian performing even more weird and freakish vocals and lyrics. "Cosmic Funeral" follows the same formula with a slow and doomy first part and then an explosion of darkly psychedelic synths and heavy riffs, and Dorrian performing if possible even weirder vocals and lyrics than he does on "Hypnos 164".

Although all mentioned tracks are high quality material, it´s the 22:42 minutes long "The Voyage of the Homeless Sapien" which is the real attraction here. A strongly psychedelic flavored and progressive structured stoner/doom metal song, featuring many different sections, atmospheres, and textures. If you hadn´t noticed before (and you should have), it shows in abundance how adventurous Cathedral are.

"Statik Majik" features a dark and heavy sounding production job, and the organic and raw sound suits the material well. You can hear all details in the mix, but it´s still heavy and dark sounding enough to satisfy a doom metal fan. Upon conclusion it´s one the most different and unique sounding releases in the band´s discography (in close competition with the "Hopkins (The Witchfinder General)" EP from 1996), and it´s through and through a high quality release fully deserving a 4 star (80%) rating.

UMUR "Hopkins (The Witchfinder General)" is an EP release by UK doom/stoner metal act Cathedral. The EP was released through Earache Records in April 1996. It bridges the gap between the band´s third and fourth full-length studio albums "The Carnival Bizarre (September 1995)" and "Supernatural Birth Machine (October 1996)". The title track is culled from "The Carnival Bizarre" but the EP features 4 other tracks which are exclusive to this release. So you get 5 tracks and a total playing time of 26:24 minutes on this EP, and that´s arguably a lot of quantity for an EP release.

"Hopkins (The Witchfinder General)" opens the EP and it´s an energetic and powerful stoner/doom metal track and definitely one of the standout tracks from "The Carnival Bizarre". Next up is "Fire", which is a cover of the 1968 "hit" song by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. "Copper Sunset" is an instrumental track and "Purple Wonderland" is a psychedelic doom/stoner metal track featuring tripped out synth effects. The 9:25 minutes long "The Devils Summit" closes the EP in great eclectic style, featuring elements from stoner rock, doom metal, soul, funk, and even a bit of jazz (saxophone too). It fully showcases the playfulness of Cathedral and the adventurous nature of their music and the way they choose to perform it. Lead vocalist Lee Dorrian performs his usual odd shouting vocals and weird lyrics with great conviction and passion.

Along with the 1994 "Statik Majik/Cosmic Requiem" EP, "Hopkins (The Witchfinder General)" is probably the most unusual and adventurous release in Cathedral´s discography, and it´s a mandatory listen for those who enjoy the most eclectic and psychedelic parts of the band´s sound. Overall it´s more in stoner metal territory than in doom metal ditto, and while I usually prefer Cathedral at their heaviest and darkest, this little EP release is such a great gem loaded with intriguing material and a band who obviously are having fun playing something that´s a bit different from what they normally do. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "The Garden of Unearthly Delights" is the 8th full-length studio album by UK doom metal act Cathedral. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Records in September 2005. It´s the successor to "The VIIth Coming" from 2002. "The Garden of Unearthly Delights" features among other tracks, the 26:58 minutes long "The Garden". Cathedral have previously composed very long tracks (especially the 22:42 minutes long "The Voyage of the Homeless Sapien" from the 1994 "Statik Majik " EP comes to mind), but this one takes the prize as the longest track in their discography.

While it´s impossible to talk about "The Garden of Unearthly Delights" and not mention "The Garden" (which is a multi-suite track featuring many different sections and atmospheres), the album actually features 9 other tracks (and a total playing time of 70 minutes), and the remaining tracks on the album are also more than worthy of being mentioned. I could have done without the 5:58 minutes long closing track "Proga-Europa", which opens with 5 minutes of silence before closing with 1 minute of music, but other than that track, "The Garden of Unearthly Delights" features many powerful, heavy, and intriguing doom/stoner metal tracks. "North Berwick Witch Trials" is a personal favorite (damn that is a great track), but tracks like "Upon Azrael's Wings" and "Corpsecycle" are also among the highlights.

"The Garden of Unearthly Delights" features a heavy, powerful, and organic sounding production, which suits the material perfectly. Cathedral are as always a well playing act, pumping out brick heavy riffs and rhythms, but also more querky, psychedelic, and even progressive moments. Lee Dorrian´s voice and vocal style is a bit of an aquired taste, but to my ears his performance on "The Garden of Unearthly Delights" is among his finest moments. While there is a silly psychedelic tinged vocal part here and there, he predominantly sounds delightfully gruff and even a little angry too, which suits the dark and heavy parts of the material perfectly. The album features some female clean vocals too, courtesy of Lo Polidoro, and the female vocals compliment Dorrian´s vocals well.

To my ears Cathedral´s discography is a bit uneven in quality. There are both some incredibly great albums but also quite a few more standard quality releases. "The Garden of Unearthly Delights" definitely belongs in the former catagory, and sits well along side "classic" Cathedral albums like "Forest of Equilibrium (1991)" and "The Ethereal Mirror (1993)". It´s raw and heavy, but also both melodic and psychedelic/progressive and it is through and through an intriguing release. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "The VIIth Coming" is the 7th full-length studio album by UK doom metal act Cathedral. The album was released through Spitfire Records/Dream Catcher Records in October 2002. It´s the successor to "Endtyme" from 2001. An album which marked a change in sound from the last couple of album´s stoner doom metal style, towards a darker, slower, and heavier doom metal sound.

While "The VIIth Coming" isn´t quite as dark and heavy as "Endtyme (2001)", it´s still a very heavy doom metal release, and although Cathedral occasionally move into stoner doom territory and "lighter" moods, the most silly psychadelic shenanigans fortunately seem to have been left behind in the 90s, although the shenanigans had their time and place too, but there is a limit to how many uhs and ahs and other odd psychadelic outbursts one can take. On "The VIIth Coming" the atmosphere shifts between dark and heavy, and slightly lighter but still heavy, and it´s good for the variation of the album, that not all tracks are similar in sound. A track like "Aphrodite's Winter" for example stands out as more melodic and atmospheric.

The quality and memorability of the material are generally relatively high, although "The VIIth Coming" isn´t the most standout release in Cathedral´s discography. The album is well produced and the sound succesfully brings out the organic qualities of the band´s music and performances. Cathedral were always a very organic playing act, and a more sterile polished production would not have suited the material on "The VIIth Coming". The musicianship is generally strong, although lead vocalist Lee Dorrian still hasn´t learned to hit the notes clean. His personality and presence shine through his performance here though, and there is therefore still something oddly charming about his vocal performance. It´s not pretty, but at least it´s distinct sounding and unique. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.