The Carnival Bizarre finds Cathedral nailing down their neo-Black Sabbath sound consistently from beginning to end with no filler, setting them apart from nearly every other band in the mid-'90s heavy metal scene. The album's consistency arises most likely from the band's streamlined line-up with only vocalist/lyricist Lee Dorrian and guitarist Gaz Jennings remaining from proceeding releases. These two collaborate on each of the ten songs, perfecting their formula for gothic fairy tales set to monstrous grooves of castle-sized guitar riffs. The album's title track serves as a perfect example of how Cathedral has grown and polished its unique style more easily explained by what it isn't than what it is. On this particular song, Jennings breaks off almost immediately into the song's central riff as Dorrian begins to map out his fantastic motifs: "Ride with me on a shooting star/Through galaxies of death we chase/Skeletal king of paradise." The song has a catchy chorus that has Dorrian changing the pitch of his voice from his deep, dark gravely tone to a juxtaposing high-pitched voice nearly as rough. Several tangents make this song more than just a standard rock tune in the style of "Ride" from the group's preceding album. It is at these moments that Jennings proves just how amazing of a guitar player he has become, moving through an ambient section of psychedelic-phasing guitar tones to a contemplative guitar solo with an overdubbed backing riff that takes the song on a journey to its post-eight minute conclusion. Nearly every one of the other ten songs makes small alterations on this same template, with Dorrian's mapped-out lyrics keeping the songs within the confines of traditional rock structuring and Jennings' ever-mobile guitar serving as the musical equivalent to the other-worldly lyrical topics.
Lee Dorrian (vocals)
Garry 'Gaz' Jennings (guitars)
Brian Dixon (drums)
Leo Smee (bass)
1 Vampire Sun 4:06
2 Hopkins (The Witchfinder General) 5:18
3 Utopian Blaster 5:41
4 Night of the Seagulls 7:00
5 Carnival Bizarre 8:35
6 Inertia Cave 6:39
7 Fangalactic Supergoria 5:54
8 Blue Light 3:27
9 Palace of Fallen Majesty 7:43
10 Electric Grave 8:25
Do you like heavy metal? I mean good old heavy metal like the good old Black Sabbath? If this is the case, you probably have already heard of Cathedral, but maybe not. This record features a deep '70 years like sound, inspired lead guitar parts, heavy and loud rhythms, and is by chance neither monotonous nor surpriseless. There are great things to listen to, like the slow and creepy "Night Of The Seagulls" with it's strange noises, the end of "Inertia's Cave" with it's long solo under spoken lyrics and, way above all, the fantastic "Hopkins (The Witchfinder General)", which is probably one of the best classic heavy metal track even written. This is not to say that this album is perfect however: at some brief moments, the lead vocals are off-tone, and a few songs could be better constructed. However, I'm quite sure that most of the heavy metal fans will dig this record.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!Rip from CD 256@ (full artwork included)
Download links
http://link-protector.com/260952/http://link-protector.com/260953/
1 Vampire Sun 4:06
1 комментарий:
Thanks for this post and the great description. I listened to Cathedral quite a bit on their first EP and record. I got a little bored with them later on, and have never heard this record. Sounds interesting to give it a shot, Cheers from Texas, USA!
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