Artist: Cathedral
Label: Earache
Release Date: 2/26/01
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Title: Endtyme Artist: Cathedral Label: Earache Release Date: 2/26/01 |
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Abyss's Review:
I’ve come to the conclusion that Cathedral come out with an album every once in awhile just to show everyone in the Doom genre just how it should be done. Endtyme has quickly become my favorite doom album of the last few years, with only Agents of Oblivion giving them any sort of competition.
"If grindcore and death are cruise missiles, Cathedral are a tank." This album is trademark doom, plodding at a slow metered pace. Never in any sort of rush, but at the same time, unstoppable until it reaches its destination. If grindcore and death are cruise missiles, Cathedral are a tank. No surprise, no stealth, just a determined behemoth, indestructible and obvious.
One of the few doom bands that builds upon Sabbath, rather than just borrow from them, Cathedral’s new album combines stellar songwriting and a sound that, while maybe not the most aggressive thing out there, is undeniably heavy. And when I say heavy, I really mean fucking heavy. Doom’s best contribution to metal is its heft. Solid and dense, its molecular weight is the greatest of all of music on the periodic table. And this new album is easily my favorite since The Carnival Bizzare.
Listenable, yet far from commercial, Cathedral have a knack for writing songs that are just as droning, and in some cases as simplistic, as their peers, but one never feels anxious to get to the next song. You just sit back and enjoy every fucking note. Hell, you don’t even have to get stoned! Lee Dorian’s vocals continue to be my favorite in the genre, in some ways more satisfying than Mr. Osbourne’s. Gravelly but pure in execution, his voice moves the music as well as sets the mood.
"Just what I was looking for, and so much more." The guitar work is just fun to listen to. The songs have such subtle nuances that one riff can be repeated for minutes on end without sounding even remotely tired. Playing off of a variety of sounds, from a sweet 70s fuzz, to a brutally heavy crunch, each song is a sonic experience and commands attention.
So if you like doom but find a great deal of it a little too hypnotizing, this is the album (and the band) for you. Just what I was looking for, and so much more.
Death's Review:
Slow, Sabbathy doom. Or so they call it. I dig the dark and heavy fuzz groove. This is doom, but it is not doomy like Candlemass, this is fucking Black Sabbath. Meets Clutch. Meets C.O.C. Meets Trouble. Meets Monster Magnet. Meets fucking Sabbath again when you get to the guitar solo and are instantly reminded of the flavor of a Tony Iommi lead. Downtuned, slow and heavy: never did three adjectives string together so naturally as with Cathedral. Not as extreme as Eyehategod. But still really fucking slow and chugging and lot more of that early 70’s, scumbag -era Ozzy (you know, the Ozzy in that psychedelic “Paranoid” video with the stringy hair in his face and the brown leather jacket) kinda feel. This shit feels good going down.
Like the other band we’ve been listening to this week, Diecast, I am psyched to see what Cathedral can deliver live (I am confessedly a new inductee into the Cathedral fold) and will get to find out at Metal Meltdown 3. Cool. Until then, I’m psyched to be jamming this record right now, and isn’t that really what it’s all about? Cathedral is not perfect. With such simple riffs and manufactured lo-fi production, the shit will always get kinda old for me after a while and while I can jam to it and enjoy it I don’t feel I’ll stick listening to this one for long with all this other new shit (Megadeth, W.A.S.P., Opeth and perhaps a bit of a Diecast carryover) around right now in addition to my Metal Judgment assignments. But I do tip my hat to Endtyme and its an excellent vibe. Sabbath was more interesting overall by far, but that shouldn’t really be that much of a comment on Cathedral’s worth. Cathedral are solidly cool, and if you dig the fuzz of the Magnet or the integrity of Clutch, if you’re bummed that the new C.O.C. isn’t more like Blind or are enough of a Sabbath addict to go to Ozzfest this summer anyway, even though it is all nu-metal and you have this vague recollection that Sabbath retired like a year and a half ago or something just because you heard they would be mixing in a few lost Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and Sabbotage album tracks into the set, then check out Cathedral. You’ll dig it.
"Downtuned, slow and heavy: never did three adjectives string together so naturally as with Cathedral."
Hel's Review:
Groovy man. One of the things I always cite when complaining about a doom album such as this, is the gritty, dirty production sound, like they are attempting to replicate the hissing, popping qualities of vinyl. This record is not guilty of that crime; the dirtiness of this sound is only attributable to the incredibly low tuning on the guitars. It's like, the 70's, but digital.
"Another wonderful quality that sets this apart is the sheer creativity - the songs are actually all discernibly different from one another." And, joy, the vocals are actually above the mix, where you can hear them for a change. I dig the singer's pipes, and the way the vocals work to drive the grooves along. Another wonderful quality that sets this apart is the sheer creativity - the songs are actually all discernibly different from one another. And some of them downright rock, like "Ultra Earth". The guitar style is so Black Sabbath sometimes you can nearly taste it, but "Whores to Oblivion", the strongest example of this on the album, somehow manages to not sound like a rip-off anyway.
And finally, I like that most of the songs don't wander off endlessly to nowhere, which has also been known to occur when folks start jamming. In fact, the record is relatively meander-free until "Templar's Arise! (The Return)". I rarely enjoy an album of this kind as much as I did Endtyme, and if I'm ever going to give a band like this 5 skulls, Cathedral should certainly be the ones. Endtyme rocks, man.
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