Cathedral

In Memoriam (TMC)
by Brian Varney

My God this is slow! Painfully slow. Maddeningly slow. Excruciatingly slow. How do people play this slow? I’ve heard and liked other Cathedral stuff, but I don’t remember it being quite so, well, slow. This is slower than St. Vitus, OK? Now, I’m all for slow, heavy music, which this certainly is, but this just doesn’t cut it. This CD comprises an early band demo tape from 1990 and a live show from 1991. And, as is to be expected from a demo tape, it shows a band in its infancy, still struggling to find itself. The tunes are non-existent and Lee Dorrian’s slo-mo cookie monster vocals get annoying very quickly. The only comparisons I can think of are the early Melvins without the perversity, and St. Vitus without the songs. Either way you look at it, you’re in for a long, slow, painful ride. If you’re interested in Cathedral, I can see how this might be of some historical interest to you. If you’re just looking for some good heavy rock though, I’d check out later stuff like Carnival Bizarre or Supernatural Birth Machine, where they throw some chug into the equation and Dorrian uses his actually not-bad voice to considerably greater effect.
(www.music-cartel.com)