CATHEDRAL
ISLINGTON ACADEMY, LONDON - 03/12/10
Cathedral were performing a special double set tonight with no support band, I was particularly looking forward to this as Cathedral are in my top 2 bands of all time, and to witness the ‘Forest of Equilibrium’ line up playing the entire album to celebrate its 20th Anniversary, it was something that simply could not be missed. Only one gripe – I thought there might have been special event t-shirts printed for this gig, but never mind, more cash left for booze!
Forest of Equilibrium Set
After some excruciatingly painful sounds coming from the DJ/sound desk, was it witches speaking on tongues? It was rather annoying shrieking to say the least, the funeral commenced following a video screen presentation laden with Cathedral’s and religious images from various points in history around the world. From the opening note, the sound is killer, it gets better later on through the set when the vocals become more audible in the mix, and are set in stone by the power of ‘Serpent Eve’, ‘Ebony Tears’ and a rare outing of ‘Funeral Request’. It was good to see co-founding bassist Mark Griffiths and guitarist Adam Lehan laying waste to the songs, even though the intensity shone through without the guys having to move a muscle, it was eerie, but to the point. Mr Dorrian even participated in some doom head banging and stage craft that I have not witnessed in a few years on the live stage from the ever intense but charismatic front man. Magical is a word I would use; Mike Smail battered the drums for a good hour and kept things to time quite spectacularly. The slower, original version of ‘Soul Sacrifice’ got the crowd moving a bit whilst a real flute player (not sure if this was Helen Acreman from the original recording or not though) for the start of ‘Reaching Happiness, Touching Pain’. This is the first time I have heard this entire album played live, a great experience and a one off event that I am pleased to have been a part of.
Current Line Up – Set 2
Now having been warmed up, it is pretty noticeable that the crowd are more in favour of the upbeat numbers coming from this set, whether it is the alcohol or maybe the adrenaline of the occasion, but when you have stompers live ‘Ride’, ‘Midnight Mountain’ and opening tune ‘Funeral of Dreams’ you have to just move and go with the flow. The sound is again, excellent, ‘Carnival Bizarre’ and ‘Vampire Sun’ sound particularly loud and crowd pleasing. You have to hand it to Cathedral, no matter how many times I see them play live; I still have not witnessed a poor show. Musically, the line up is solidified and tight as hell; Brian Dixon keeps everyone in time, even when the strange serpent thing comes on stage again. Obviously, the crowd are waiting for their signature tune, ‘Hopkins (The Witchfinder General)’, it does not disappoint. Crowd singing and plenty of movement means a cracking end to the evening, and I am still chuffed to bits to have witnessed the past and present of this talented band that should get the credit they deserve for being one of the trailblazers of British doom, stoner, prog, psychedelic (call it what you will) metal music in the last 20 years.
Review by Paul Maddison
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