CATHEDRAL — Forest of Equilibrium (review)

CATHEDRAL — Forest of Equilibrium album cover Album · 1991 · Doom Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Warthur
Although I'm generally pretty keen on doom metal, and will always honour Lee Dorrian for his role as Rise Above head honcho in bringing groups like Blood Ceremony, Electric Wizard, and Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats to wider attention, Cathedral have always somehow failed to catch me - especially their more stoner-oriented middle period. (Once you start yelling "Huggy Bear oh yeah!" in the middle of a song you know you have lurched into total self-parody.)

This debut album of theirs, though... I think it has finally grown on me. Forest of Equilibrium has a rather unique doom sound because the participants are coming at it from decidedly non-doom backgrounds. You have Lee's own past in Napalm Death, Adam's Acid Reign roots, Mark Griffiths' Carcass roadie years - in short, a heap of experience in the faster, grittier, more extreme flavours of metal out there.

The end result is a doom album where, though I find Lee's vocal contributions to be a bit hit or miss, the overall aesthetic he leads the band to accomplish is an interesting departure for doom metal, giving it some of the gruesome, sick edge that extreme metal subgenres of the era enjoyed. The end result is a doom album which stands in stark contrast to some of the more "clean" and pristine takes on the genre, and as such deserves its place in doom history. Manage your expectations carefully and listen with an open mind.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
Unitron wrote:
more than 2 years ago
I really like this album, although the following album is my favorite Cathedral album.
UMUR wrote:
more than 2 years ago
I like the part of the review which describes the gruesome, sick edge that the extreme metal past of the members brought with them to the album. That´s spot on.
Vim Fuego wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Love the feel of this album. Nothing else matches it for melancholy and despair.
UMUR wrote:
more than 2 years ago
I absolutely adore this album.

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Černé Srdce Atmospheric Sludge Metal
ARCHETYP
Buy this album from MMA partners
Anomalia Metalcore
AGREMORTA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Ingräte Metalcore
INGRÄTE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Fossil Gardens Black Metal
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR
Buy this album from MMA partners
Из Чего Я Состою Crust Punk
MARIE GUELLA
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Agremorta - Adrocitas (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 9 hours ago
Agremorta - Ploratus Umbra (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 9 hours ago
Agremorta - Vertex Membrana (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 9 hours ago
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR - The Temple Of Curved Space (Official Track Stream)
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR
adg211288· 12 hours ago
In Sulfur - The Gate (OFFICIAL VIDEO) 2022
IN SULFUR
Bosh66· 1 day ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed