CATHEDRAL – The Last Spire
- Posted on 27-04-2013
Lee Dorian and his compatriots in doom metal icons Cathedral feel the time is right to put the band away, after 24 years from their first rehearsal days in 1989, numerous tours and festival dates, plus nine previous full lengths. "The Last Spire" is an 8 track, 56 minute journey into the land of stoner/ doom metal, exciting and exhilarating but not for the low brow community who expect immediate impact and satisfaction from their music. Patience is a virtue here, as deeper engagement allows for purity and closeness one can’t receive in conventional three chords, three minute songs.
It takes a different mindset to appreciate the slow, working class riff grind for "Tower of Silence", the lumbering 11:38 epic "Pallbearer" (featuring some of the best resting heart rate drumming courtesy of Brian Dixon) and the closing number with Lee Dorian’s pain-filled anguish vocal delivery "This Body, Thy Tomb" (supplemented with some somber acoustic guitar parts against killer electric guitar harmonies out of Gaz Jennings). What helps Cathedral stick out is their unabashed appreciation for honing in on a particular chord sequences and jamming off of it- using all the effects, tools, and dynamics at their disposal to drive it home.
In a cover story interview with America’s Decibel magazine, Lee mentions that "The Last Spire" should have been Cathedral’s second album, as it’s the correct follow up to "Forest of Equilibrium". I would agree that the band has looked within themselves and their history to produce a fitting epitaph- as many bands need to know when their creative minds and hearts within a certain style has run its course. Be sure to catch one of their shows, as stoner/ doom metal will never be the same again.