Cathedral - Forest of Equilibrium (1991)

THE ONLY PLEASURE IS PAIN

The record which stands in front of your eyes is situated somewhere in time where it puts a border between heavy music  from the old days and heavy music from recent times, so to say.  “Forest of Equilibrium” is colossal. In the hall of my favourite doom records, somewhere in  the Garden of Unearthy doom, it sits on its own throne of triumph and monumental epicness. It is the best thing Cathedral ever put out. There are so many great albums from the masters of the genre, which have to be explored and cherished, but after all only “one will rule them all”.

Just to start with, no one sounded as heavy as Cathedral back in the day. I still haven’t found a band before ’91 to encompass the deep pain exposed in “Forest of Equilibrium” and the lead heavy guitar sound. Now when I think about it several Swedish death metal demos pop up into my  head, but they are neither so accomplished, neither equal in musical completeness and perfection, so off the list for now. Even now in 2013, so many years after its release, personally I don’t think that Cathedral’s debut is matched.  While in the 80s it was more about who would have more extremely fast guitar solos, bands like Cathedral helped switch positions, at least for the few extremists who were interested in doing so. Sure, there are the tons of funeral doom bands and Southern sludgerers  today, but the ones who opened the gate were Cathedral. There are amazing masterpieces of slowness versus doom that followed ever since – for example in the face of Thergothon’s “Stream from the Heavens” or Disembowelment’s “ Transcendence into the Peripheral”, but Lee Dorrian and company were the first ones to step into the unknown.

In the bands’ own words, it all started like the project of a few enthusiasts into Saint Vitus/Pentagram/Black Sabbath who were not even from the same town. I can imagine how unpopular doom must have been back then, it was probably a miracle to meet someone with your tastes. As Lee didn’t see himself continuing his career in Napalm Death, it seems quite logical to try to create something of your own that would also suit your musical preferences better if you have the chance to. With the help of young Gary Jennings and Adam Lehan, previously from UK thrashers Acid Reign, Mark Griffiths and Mike Smail (later in Penance) “Forest of Equilibrium” happens to be a one time masterpiece of unearthy doom.

I think that what is best about this album is the atmosphere it creates. Beginning with the glorious artwork of Dave Pitchett, it encompasses a lot from the world of feelings. It's a fact that speaks well for itself that the band has used the dark part of the whole Pitchett painting to represent their music. If you pay close attention to the original whole picture you can see that it's divided in two - a good and a bad side, one where everything is serene and problems far. The dancing women are contrasted by the much darker half where the horizon is engulfed by the evil and ugly. Like always in real art, the emotions and current situation of the psyche of the creator reflects proportionally the final result so you can judge for yourself how the guys must have felt for some aspects of their life.

"Picture of beauty and innocence" is the most beautiful intro in the world. It's like the sweetest, pristine notes have joined together to form a song. Not later enough, the opener riff enters in to shadow over the comfort of the few seconds. Lee's voice comes in the likes of an ancient caveman awaken from a deep slumber. There are so many riffs and groove in "Commiserating the celebration", so many changes and moods all of which seems like an impossible mission to put into just one single song. It's easily one of my favourite tracks on this album and one of my favourites of all time. It sure as hell is not a song you play to your friends at a party. Well, not that any of the music I listen to is good for a party. You have to sit somewhere by yourself and focus on the music or otherwise it won't really catch you.

When I once argued with a friend about the length of a book we reached the conclusion that the book was not too long - it was just not for everyone since it is very slow-paced and detailed. So is our jewellery here. The best about the world of doom is contained in track two, the extraterrestrial "Ebony tears". This second song is about a love that should not be. All of the music is slow and wretched like a love story that should have come to an end. You can see on its video two people slowly touching hands and then Lee entering the scene to cut their love. So epic, I have watched this until forever. Also the rusty down-ridden guitar at around 5:10 is just the best in the world. I can't provide more detail with music, you gotta check for yourself.

Most music on here is rather slow paced, but there is one upbeat track that probably stands out in this sense, it's "Soul Sacrifice", which gets unusually fast for a Cathedral song in this album. Mark Griffiths lyrics are an absolute slayer here, it's again something like love versus misunderstanding done in the best way possible:

"I'll pour scorn from the lowest place, 
Colour fades from your face, 
Annihilation-acceptance, 
Paradox of self existence"

No cheating here, there are no "highlight" tracks nor do I have favourite tracks on this album. Everything is complete genius. But then again there are riffs like in the beginning of "A funeral request" that make me lay on the ground and put a box on my head and repeat it over and over again in my headphones. What did you do to me impossible band, changed all my music perceptions until foreverhell? If you really fall inlove with music like this, all your perceptions change. You will kind of learn to love the dark. If you didn't already. "A funeral request" also opened the road for other doom bands to use funeral concepts - introducing beauty to the grave. Not that British weren't the best poets already, but the lyrics of the song beat most stuff I've read anyhow.

"Serpents marked with azure rings 
cathedrals where rich shadows fall, 
things strange curious solemn saviour. 
You promised me laughter in autumn days, 
now I can't awake from this lucid haze. " 

The catchiest riff on "The forest.." belongs to "Equilibrium" and I was about to say "and the best solo" when I reminded myself that I am talking about THIS album and every solo is the best. Seriously, if there is ever a doom metal fan in the universe who has not listened to "Equilibrium", go go go. The flute is probably the most mesmerising instrument along with the guitar and "Reaching happiness, touching pain" proves that. Lee's voice is extraordinarily melancholic here, even for Cathedralesque standards. On overall, this opus of deepest sorrows and best music ideas put together ends just like it began, wrapped up in grey.

Maybe I should leave this with a quote from a favourite poem: "A God I did not have, so you I worshipped".

Gallow God - The Veneration of Serpents (2013)

 

Gallow God play this mixture of very dark, "down"-sounding, heavy and streaming with bass lines doom metal. In 90% of the cases, you can sense the general sound of an album by looking at its cover. "The Veneration of snakes" suggested to me well-produced extreme metal. This is partly true, but for me the cover artwork doesn't really do favor to the band, because I expected something like new Behemoth (regarding production) and that's not true, because apart from the good sound (not crystal clear) there's nothing mainstream about this music.

What can you expect on the album? As I said, very heavy, (non-sludgy) doom with very neat, non screaming, clear, but not perfectly audible vocals as one would hope to find in proper doom metal. A bit too heavy traditional doom. There are many great riffs present, but unfortunately at times they get too repetitive like in the title song, which changes how many, like two riffs? Delightfully, there are quite some changes in the pace, therefore less boredom for the weak-hearted. And actually, there really ARE many diverse riffs in the other songs too. I can say that many doom bands these days can envy Gallow God for the diversity. The London based band brings me to the Middle ages in a remote village where the plague devastates all the people, it's how fucking dark this album sounds. Bang, The Veneration sounds as if My Dying Bride are no longer romantic in any way and hammer tenfold more heavily their instruments. I really like the way the instruments are mixed, you can perfectly hear what each of them has to say. These guys have to be extremely proud if this really is an independent release. 

This album is good if you're a doom purist, because there's nothing in it that you cannot like. The vocalist sounds miserable and wretched as hell. No baby wailing. I was absolutely impressed by the opener track, one of the finest doom songs I've heard recently. The confusion and misery in the voice of this man give me the chills. The solos are well-mastered and what I like most is that the vocals are used like another instrument, so perfectly fitting the instruments, all the music on this record is in perfect harmony. Also, the drums sound like a giant mighty hammer and are so pleasantly audible, not buried under the other instruments like often happens, which is one more thing that helps for the post plague feeling I seem to have about this album. One of the songs stand out a bit as little weird, but that's because it is a cover. Scarborough fair might be a cover, but it's done in such a perfect way that I really have nothing bad to say about it, on the contrary - it's a fine thing that the guys have included it.

It really makes me happy to see bands like Gallow God flourish these days. Now I am armed with their new album and waiting for upcoming concerts. 

Witchsorrow - God Curse Us (2012)

DOOM TO THE BONE. 

 

To begin with, it is obvious to everyone who cares for the development of the doom metal scene that this genre is currently in its heyday (if you look at the past twenty years). Therefore, many new bands emerge - some decent, some really crappy. With the beginning of this review I'd like to point out that Witchsorrow are of the few bands that can bear the flag of doom with pride.

Everything about these guys is doom. In the good, real sense. From the name, to the cover of the record to the most important aspect - the music. I'm going to shoot straight - this album is for the keenest doom metallers out there - SLOW as fuck and it might not be appealing for the ordinary metalhead. No sludge inspired vocals, no "vintage" sounding girls covered with leather. This is pure, slow doom in the veins of Reverend Bizarre. Even the fastest song on this album is like a snail, so beware. There are many bands who tend to combine fast with slow songs in their doom records in order not to bore the listener. There are very few bands like Cathedral who have the balls to produce records like "Forest of Equilibrium". Here is where we come to the point - Witchsorrow definitely have the balls to do that, because this is perfect slow doom with no compromise.

I'm not going to judge the songs seperately, because all of them are really good songs, but here are some details. "Aurora Atra" is a fantastic opener, because it prepares you for what is going to follow. If you don't like it - don't listen to the next songs. It is very slow, with dreamy, but heavy vocals. And last but not least, it has the typical fast solo in the end of the song, which is very common in doom metal and especially in most Witchsorrow songs. It is easy for one to notice that most songs follow this song structure - slow riffage, tortured vocals and then bum! super fast solo. Which is good, because it apperently works. The next song "God curse us" is also perfect doom, because it serves ideally for its purpose - it is fantastically slow, but totally not boringl. Also, the repeated verse "God curse us, everyone" could be a highlight at live shows. "Master of Nothing" is probably the slowest this album can become. You would like this song if you love really slow stuff, which I especially do. But I guess it can be quite boring for someone who is not into that kind of stuff. The next songs are really gloomy, slow and mythical. So the whole record follows pretty much the same path.



As people say, there are passangers for every train. If you like heavy doom with pure vocals, this is your record!

Electric Wizard - Supercoven (1998)

 

Whirlwind. Braindamage. SUPERmindcrash. These are words that 'try' to describe SUPERCOVEN - an ep that I consider better than most full-length albums ever recorded. But words are only words, and they so brutally fail to capture the beauty of Electric Wizard. That's why you will never read a proper review of the mighty wizard, for Jus Oborn's music is just so good and not out of this world. Supercoven gathers in itself '60s psychedelia, doom metal, stoner rock, and of course some material from the cosmos that is still not named.

The first track, SuperMIGHTYcoven, starts off with something that to me sounds (and looks) like a pink bubble dissolving into fluorescent green gas of the oceans of Saturn. I say 'gas' because water is just not thick enough to describe the sound of the song, the EP, or early Electric Wizard in general. After the dissolving of the bubbles that to someone might also sound like the departure of a rocket to outer space, you receive riffage that goes for some time and then the God-like voice of Mr. Oborn joins the engine of the machine and starts summoning the black sun master. The guitars and riffage try to prepare you for the climax of the song where you should already be in the end of your mind's capacity:

"Mindless fuckin' slaves, You're mindless slaves."

After these lines I just fail to say what the guitar does. If I had to paint it, it would look like a huge river where other small rivers mix their waters in the colours of the rainbow, but in more fluorescent overtones. And gasoline bubbles surrounding them in the air. Wait, is there any air in space? To me, this song is absolutely flawless and perfect in the framework of perfection that The Wizard built during the years. It will sound to your ears like reading the best H.P. Lovecraft story combined with drinking ambrosia.

Burnout follows in the footsteps of its brother. It has the same amount of psyche in the music, only the lyrical content is EVEN more drugged and "chemical stained". It is the story of a guy who is so high and out of his mind (but unlike other songs about drugs he is okay with that) that he can't feel anything about the world. I, not being a drug abuser (how lame), relate it to myself in a deeper way, especially:

"Dreams turned black I'll never see

Can't you see, nothing is real

Transparent world I cannot feel

I cannot feel."     

This is the best thing about Electric Wizard, and even the outsiders of the outsiders have something to relate to. For me, this EP passes not like 13 minutes and then 18, but like 3 seconds and then 8. Judge for yourself. As my best friend often says, "If I hear that live, I'd blow my soul off".

Overall, the production sounds very analog, the vocals and drumming are not being emphasized on, but the guitar does its magic. Electric Wizard are to be listened to in the dark when you're alone or in a smoke-filled club. Or anywhere maybe because they just steal the light away.