Cathedral - The Last Spire (CD Review)

01.Entrance To Hell
02.Pallbearer
03.Cathedral Of The Damned
04.Tower Of Silence
05.Infestation Of Grey Death
06.An Observation
07.The Last Laugh
08.This Body, Thy Tomb

Lee Dorrian (Vocals)
Garry Jennings (Guitar)
Scott Carlson (Bass)
Brian Dixon (Drums)
David Moore (Keyboards/Synths)
Rosalie Cunningham (Backing Vocals)

Chris Reifert (Guest Vocals on 'Cathedral Of The Damned')

So after 23 years of Doom Lee has finally called it a day...

"Announcing that we were splitting way in advance of recording 'The Last Spire' gave us time to adjust to the fact that the end really was in sight. This took a lot of the pressure off off us, as it meant that we no longer had anything to prove and could make this album purely on our own terms, especially by releasing it through Rise Above."

"Personally speaking, this is the album I've been waiting to do since the first one, it almost feels like we made our second album last in some respects. We actually recorded a lot more material but decided to sacrifice many of the tracks to make the overall album feel more complete in its nihilism. I don't like happy endings, I never have. So many good films are ruined by happy endings and I didn't want that to be the case with Cathedral, it was my dream to bring everything full circle."

"When the last mix was finally done, there was a massive sense of relief. I think this was partly due to the fact that it meant Cathedral could finally be put to rest but also because we felt we'd done something that we were all very pleased with. I feel comfortable leaving 'The Last Spire' as our legacy."

Fortunatley this is not the last we will hear from Lee, Scott and Garry as they have a new band called 'Septic Tank' who will be playing gigs from may and releasing a 4 track EP.

 'Entrance To Hell' is an atmospheric intro piece with the calling to 'Bring Out Your Dead!".

This leads us to 'Pallbearer', a 12 minute epic, guess what? It's slow and doomy! some nice backing vocals in their as well.
When it hits 6 minutes you get a nice acoustic breakdown with classic hammond organ in the background.

Up next is 'Cathedral Of The Damned' a nasty little track with fuzzed out guitars and a guest appearence from Repulsion's Chris Reifert.
Heavy and raw then you get thrown by this old sounding keyboard then dark spoken piece, this has the hallmarks of early Celtic Frost.

'Tower Of Silence' is the one that has the video to go with it, im sure you have seen it?
Its 7 minutes of doom perfection, great vocals, powerfull drums, pounding guitar and a nice solo thrown in.

The song 'Infestation Of Grey Death' is a little more avante-garde, a nod to the bands of the 70's who liked to push boundaries, we get the doomy elements, blended with some nice acoustic guitar, then a melodic guitar riff over some stunning bass playing, before it explodes into some serious heavyness with some crazed drumming and guitar playing to match.

More epic sounds with 10 minutes of doom heaven in 'An Observation' sounds like some cello thrown in at the beginning (Guess its on a sythn though), a very dark, funeral style to the vocal with phased guitar, more old school keyboard sounds, eventually this builds to some serious keyboard playing (reminicent of early Rainbow), my favourite track on the album!

'The Last Laugh' is just that, 39 seconds of laughing which then leads into 'This Body, Thy Tomb' which starts with Lee singing "I exist in this coffin of life".
So the final track, and it throws everything into the mix, from the Doom, to the ambient breakdown, classic 70's hard rock, Prog and metal.

Lee said he didnt like "happy endings" well sorry Lee this album makes me happy, its a stunning testament to a band who understand the genre and in particular the origins to it, therefore not creating another Sabbath cloned sound, but a highly orginal one that stands as a unique document and parting shot from the best Doom band in Britian since the mid seventies.

Rating 10/10

For Fans Of : Electric Wizard, Moss, Pagan Altar, Witchcraft