2. Cathedral - Forest Of Equilibirium
Track List: 1. Picture of Beauty & Innocence (Intro)/Commiserating the Celebration 2. Ebony Tears 3. Serpent Eve 4. Soul Sacrifice 5. A Funeral Request (Ethereal Architect) 6. Equilibrium 7. Reaching Happiness, Touching Pain
Recommended Track: Album opener, Picture of Beauty & Innocence (Intro)/Commiserating the Celebration consists of 11 minutes of achingly brutal doom melded with acoustic folk elements; an astonishing way to kick off a crushing masterpiece. Cathedral, one of Britains finest bands of the last 20 years, hit like an atomic bomb when they released their morose and depressing debut album in 1991. Lead singer Lee Dorrian, tired of the punk scene and the limitations of the emerging Death Metal scene, followed up his Grindcore work with Napalm Death by embracing folk elements and surprisingly slowing right... right... down. This album revels in the past and proudly leaves one foot firmly in the grave of 70's psychedelic-doom while also looking to advance the genre with each mountainous track; a magnum opus and one that is consistently revered as an absolute classic. Forest of Equilibrium is a riff worshippers dream featuring crushing, sludgy guitar work supplied by arguably one of the greatest unsung riff writers to emerge from the UK; Garry Jennings (formerly of Acid Reign, Thrash Metal nutters active from 19851991). As Cathedral's journey comes to an end, they recently announced that this year's The Last Spire album will be their last and hopefully their place among the elite of British Metal bands will finally be set in stone; this album alone is undeniable proof that they have earned such an accolade.