UMUR
"Caravan Beyond Redemption" is the 5th full-length studio album by UK doom/stoner metal act Cathedral. The album was released through Earache Records in December 1998. "Caravan Beyond Redemption" was produced by Andy Sneap and recorded at Chapel Studios, Lincolnshire, UK.
The music on "Caravan Beyond Redemption" is mid-paced and groove based doom metal. There are of course obvious references to Black Sabbath but then again which doom metal act can say that they are not influenced by the pioneers? This is now the 3rd album in a row with only one guitarist in the lineup and I still think some of the songs suffer from the more simple groove oriented style. There are great tracks on the album like "Captain Clegg" and "Revolution" but overall the tracks become a bit trivial and with a playing time about 70 minutes long, the album to my ears overstays it´s welcome by at least 20 minutes. The band basically play the same groovy doom riff over the same rhythm pattern on all tracks and it becomes trivial and tiresome after a couple of tracks. The closing track "Dust of Paradise" is an exception and a nice variation as it´s about the only really slow and doomy track on the album. Lee Dorrian was never a great singer but when he shines he has a certain charm that´s unbeatable. Unfortunately he doesn´t shine much on this album and most of his vocal lines are actually kind of non-melodic and not very memorable.
The sound production by Andy Sneap is professional and well sounding. Pretty powerful actually but also too polished for a band like Cathedral. I´m currently listening to their next album "Endtyme (2001)" which has a much more raw production and there´s a world of difference. Music like this works better with a more gritty sound production.
Overall "Caravan Beyond Redemption" is a relatively good album and most tracks are worth listening to if you take them out of the context. Within the context of the album the tracks soon become too trivial though and therefore as an album "Caravan Beyond Redemption" doesn´t work as well as it could have done. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.