Although this column primarily focuses on death, thrash, and black metal (with a hefty amount of Motorhead praise), we'll be making more of an effort to cover more doom metal, and what better way than to review an album from British doom metal visionaries Cathedral? 1995's "The Carnival Bizarre" is an excellent album recommended for doom metal fans, and serves as an excellent gateway to the realm of sludgy and slow for everybody else.
There's an obvious high point on the album in the form of "Hopkins (The Witchfinder General)", which contains several haunting samples that juxtapose the (relatively) upbeat nature of the rest of the song. The chugging power chords of the verse give way to a pentatonic riff right out of the Black Sabbath playbook, and the song manages to maintain an energetic atmosphere throughout its duration. Another standout is "Utopian Blaster", which features none other than Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi on guest guitar and contains a particularly mighty riff towards the end that is very reminiscient of Thin Lizzy's "Emerald", which is always great to hear. The early sounds of '70's metal and hard rock entertwine with doomy dirges to create a heavy, but reasonably accessible style, and fans of bands like Pentagram would find a lot to enjoy about Cathedral. The two aforementioned songs may be among the best on the album, but this entire album is filled-to-the-gills with great songs, including "Night of the Seagulls" and "Palace of Fallen Majesty", both of which are masterpieces of rock-and-roll-influenced doom.
Although Cathedral singer Lee Dorrian is primarily known as a vocalist in the early days of grindcore pioneers Napalm Death, there is no "Scum"-esque grunting and growling here (not that there's anything wong with that), as Dorrian focuses on a gritty melodic singing style that owes a hefty amount to classic rock. His voice is a little rough in patches, but works just fine overall. The real talent in Cathedral comes in the guitar playing, especially the guitar solos, which are always well-executed and melodic. The first five Black Sabbath albums seem to be the key influence here, and just about anything influences by Black Sabbath is bound to be good. Dorrian's vocals are much lower in key than Black Sabbath vocalist Ozzy Osbourne's, though, although he has his higher-pitched moments which, admittedly, don't work as well as his normal register. The drummer and bassist always lock in to a solid rhythm, although there are none of the frenzied drum patterns of the early Black Sabbath albums, which works well for those who prefer their drumming to be of a more bare-bones style.
The material on "The Carnival Bizarre" is mostly consistent in terms of songwriting style, but there's one curveball in the form of "Blue Light", a three-and-a-half minute mellow psychedelic tune that may be jarring initially due to the overly gentle nature, but it turns out to be a very good song, especially with regard to the emotional guitar solo. The other songs on the album all share a coherent style, and there aren't any bad songs on "The Carnival Bizarre", although the song "Inertia's Cave" does suffer from a so-so vocal pattern as well as a spoken-word section towards the end of the album that offers little benefit to the song. In any case, the rest of the song makes up for it, so that won't count too much against the overall score of the album.
"The Carnival Bizarre" may not be every extreme metal fan's cup of tea, but for those who enjoy Black Sabbath (which should be just about everyone), classic rock, or the sludgy sounds of doom metal, it's worth a listen. Any San Antonio metal fans who want to acquire this album are in luck, since the CD Exchange located at 5442 Evers Road happens to have a used copy in stock for only $8.99, so a lucky fan can head on down and buy it before someone else snatches it up!
For more info: Cathedral will be playing Maryland Death Fest 2011 in May. Tickets are still available, so any San Antonio metal fans who are looking to make the pilgrimage to the biggest metal party of the year should definitely buy your three or four-day pass today!
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