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.

SilentScream213 Cathedral’s sophomore album is a slight transition from their purely Doomy debut. Never thought I would say this, but the Stoner tinge added here definitely improves the album. The riffs and energy here is awesome, and some tracks, namely the first half, are just great fun. Even so, they retain that Doomy delivery and aesthetic, with interesting lyricism that dances between abstract psychedelic madness and gloomy pessimism. The songs are much more energetic and eclectic, with the rhythm section especially picking up in interest factor.

On the other end of the spectrum, some of the tracks here are much more gloomy, passionate and serious than anything on the debut. A great example of this is “Jaded Eternity” which is pure Paradise Lost in style, monumental riffs and passionate chorus taking it as far as the band can go. The second half of the album in general sticks pretty close to true Doom, though retaining some of the newfound energy the band picked up.

This juxtaposition of energetic grooving and dark gloom work wonderfully on the album, at times kept separate and others intertwined. The vocals can be an acquired taste, but they definitely appeal to me, especially in the places where his roar is tinged with sorrow, a gruff bellow still wonderfully able to hold notes and melodies. Awesome album that offers a great mix of moods and styles.

UMUR "The Ethereal Mirror" is the 2nd full-length studio album by UK doom metal act Cathedral. The album was released through Earache Records in February 1993. It´s the successor to "Forest of Equilibrium" from 1991 and features two lineup changes since the predecessor as bassist Mark Griffiths and drummer Mike Smail have left the band. The former has not been replaced and the bass on the album is therefore performed by guitarist Garry Jennings. New drummer is Mark Wharton. The remaining part of the lineup are lead vocalist Lee Dorrian and guitarist Adam Lehan.

While "Forest of Equilibrium (1991)" is probably among the most brick heavy and dark doom metal releases out there (even occasinally featuring an extreme metal edge), "The Ethereal Mirror" works a bit like a transition album from their gloomy early days to the more uplifting and also predominantly more upbeat stoner doom of the subsequent releases. "The Ethereal Mirror" features a bit from both worlds. It´s the last Cathedral album to feature two guitarists in the lineup, but the two guitarist lineup make sure they go out with a bang, as there are loads of harmony guitar work featured throughout the album. In addition to that the music features heavy riffs and rhythms, and Lee Dorrian´s raw shouting vocals in front. His vocals are less dark and eerie compared to his performance on the predecessor, but still suitably dark for a doom metal release, and he occasionally still sounds like a mad preacher confined to the asylum.

Because of its transitional nature "The Ethereal Mirror" is a relatively varied doom metal release. Tracks like "Ride" and "Midnight Mountain", and to some degree "Grim Luxuria", are pretty much stoner doom metal tracks (the two former with an upbeat rhythm), while tracks like "Enter the Worms", "Jaded Entity", and "Phantasmogoria" are pretty slow and dark doom metal tracks. "Fountain of Innocence" and "Imprisoned in Flesh" show a psychadelic direction, but no matter what they do on this album, Cathedral succeed, because the tracks are all well written and memorable.

They are also delivered with the right amount of passion and skill, and while Lee Dorrian is proabably a bit of an aquired taste, and he doesn´t always hit the notes 100% clean, he is a great asset to the sound on the album, and provides the music with something unique. It´s definitely one of his best and most varied vocal performances on a Cathedral album. "The Ethereal Mirror" features an organic, powerful, and detailed sound production, which further enhances the listening experience and suits the material perfectly. To my ears it´s a high quality doom metal album and a 4.5 star (90%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Supernatural Birth Machine" is the 4th full-length studio album by UK doom/stoner metal act Cathedral. The album was released through Earache Records in November 1996. It´s the successor to "The Carnival Bizarre" from 1995 and features the same four-piece lineup as the predecessor. So with this release it was cemented that Cathedral would continue with only one guitarist in the lineup, which is something that drastically changed their sound on "The Carnival Bizarre (1995)" compared to the twin guitar doom metal style of the first two albums.

"Supernatural Birth Machine" pretty much continues down the same doom/stoner metal style of its predecessor. It´s generally a little less doomy and slightly more hard rocking, but other than that it´s a natural successor in terms of sound and style. The one guitar approach provides a relatively simplistic touch, just like the case was on the predecessor, but the focus is still on heavy and organic played riffs and rhythms and Lee Dorrian´s often out of tune raw shouting vocals. There is a certain unique charm to his delivery, but damn the man can´t hit a clean note if his life depended on it.

The material on the 11 track, 58:00 minutes long album is relatively well written. There´s nothing offensively bad featured on the album, but there aren´t many highlights worth a mention either. It´s pretty standard quality doom/stoner metal, which could have prospered from more catchiness and a generally more hook oriented songwriting approach. Way too many of the tracks just pass by without leaving a lasting impression. The sound production is organic and relatively well sounding, but it lacks slightly in the punch department. The band are as always well playing, and all in all "Supernatural Birth Machine" is a decent release by Cathedral. Taking their full discopgraphy into account it´s one of their least interesting releases though, and a 3 star (60%) rating is fair.