Nuclear Blast
2010
Disc 1
1. Immaculate Misconception
2. Funeral of Dreams
3. Painting in the Dark
4. Death of an Anarchist
5. The Guessing Game
6. Edwige's Eyes
7. Cats, Incense, Candles & Wine
Disc 2
1. One Dimensional People
2. The Casket Chasers
3. La Noche del Buque Maldito (aka Ghost Ship of the Blind Dead)
4. The Running Man
5. Requiem for the Voiceless
6. Journeys into Jade
I've gotta tell you that the very concept of this album had me pretty excited. Cathedral putting out this much material at once in a double album after a 5 year wait. I'm an absolute Cathedral fan and I liked the long and experimental approach the last album took on the track The Garden. Basically I was looking for something as awesome as The Garden Of Unearthly Delights.
No such luck I'm afraid. Not only does this one not really resemble the last album, but it doesn't resemble Cathedral much at times. I know Cathedral has always had a strong sort of 60s/70s sorta vibe, influence, and even moments of this sort of sound, but something is definitely amiss with this album. It takes not a step, but a dive past a simple influence and into some sort of funky retro rock sound.
The first disc is pretty much dominated by this sort of a sound. There are some heavy, signature Cathedral riffs sprinkled into the mix, but much of the album is dominated by Lee Dorian singing cleanly and lacks a lot of his signature heavy vocal deliveries. While Lee Dorian switching to a cleaner vocal approach has been done sporadically before, here it takes over and I'm sorry but he is not that great of a singer. Dorian is one of those guys I love as a Vocalist because he has a cool heavy sound, but as a clean singer trying to hold up this sort of material he doesn't fair nearly as well. This is not to mention weird little passages like in the opener, Funeral Of Dreams, which left me scratching my head. It sounds almost like Lee Dorian doing beat poetry. The song was actually not too bad with a driving riff up to this point, but these slow downs completely derail what could have been a good song.
The second disc does get a bit heavier and Lee Dorian does sort of refind his voice. Certainly the material on the second part of this double release seems a bit more traditional. Tracks like Requiem For The Voiceless and The Running Man sound much more doom oriented and have a good slow rolling heaviness about them. Also worth mentioning is Casket Chasers which is a solid upbeat Cathedral track which sounds much more like their signature. There are moments I'd rather forget though, such as the track Ghost Gallon which is once again taken over by that funky rock sound and some kind of annoying vocal deliveries.
All in all, the highlights are what I'd consider 'pretty good' tracks on another Cathedral album and this album hits a sour note most of the time. This is just really not what I was looking for out of this album and the band. I'm a pretty big fan and I cannot see myself buying this so I'm not sure I can even really recommend it to big fans. This one wants nothing to do with the album really. Not unlistenable, not always terrible... but probably not worth the price of admission either. I am really disappointed in this and will be surprised if this isn't the big letdown of 2010 for me. Already had a couple of those between Armored Saint and this release, but this one is worse.
Highlights: Casket Chasers, Requiem For The Voiceless
Rating - 2.0/5
1. Immaculate Misconception
2. Funeral of Dreams
3. Painting in the Dark
4. Death of an Anarchist
5. The Guessing Game
6. Edwige's Eyes
7. Cats, Incense, Candles & Wine
Disc 2
1. One Dimensional People
2. The Casket Chasers
3. La Noche del Buque Maldito (aka Ghost Ship of the Blind Dead)
4. The Running Man
5. Requiem for the Voiceless
6. Journeys into Jade
I've gotta tell you that the very concept of this album had me pretty excited. Cathedral putting out this much material at once in a double album after a 5 year wait. I'm an absolute Cathedral fan and I liked the long and experimental approach the last album took on the track The Garden. Basically I was looking for something as awesome as The Garden Of Unearthly Delights.
No such luck I'm afraid. Not only does this one not really resemble the last album, but it doesn't resemble Cathedral much at times. I know Cathedral has always had a strong sort of 60s/70s sorta vibe, influence, and even moments of this sort of sound, but something is definitely amiss with this album. It takes not a step, but a dive past a simple influence and into some sort of funky retro rock sound.
The first disc is pretty much dominated by this sort of a sound. There are some heavy, signature Cathedral riffs sprinkled into the mix, but much of the album is dominated by Lee Dorian singing cleanly and lacks a lot of his signature heavy vocal deliveries. While Lee Dorian switching to a cleaner vocal approach has been done sporadically before, here it takes over and I'm sorry but he is not that great of a singer. Dorian is one of those guys I love as a Vocalist because he has a cool heavy sound, but as a clean singer trying to hold up this sort of material he doesn't fair nearly as well. This is not to mention weird little passages like in the opener, Funeral Of Dreams, which left me scratching my head. It sounds almost like Lee Dorian doing beat poetry. The song was actually not too bad with a driving riff up to this point, but these slow downs completely derail what could have been a good song.
The second disc does get a bit heavier and Lee Dorian does sort of refind his voice. Certainly the material on the second part of this double release seems a bit more traditional. Tracks like Requiem For The Voiceless and The Running Man sound much more doom oriented and have a good slow rolling heaviness about them. Also worth mentioning is Casket Chasers which is a solid upbeat Cathedral track which sounds much more like their signature. There are moments I'd rather forget though, such as the track Ghost Gallon which is once again taken over by that funky rock sound and some kind of annoying vocal deliveries.
All in all, the highlights are what I'd consider 'pretty good' tracks on another Cathedral album and this album hits a sour note most of the time. This is just really not what I was looking for out of this album and the band. I'm a pretty big fan and I cannot see myself buying this so I'm not sure I can even really recommend it to big fans. This one wants nothing to do with the album really. Not unlistenable, not always terrible... but probably not worth the price of admission either. I am really disappointed in this and will be surprised if this isn't the big letdown of 2010 for me. Already had a couple of those between Armored Saint and this release, but this one is worse.
Highlights: Casket Chasers, Requiem For The Voiceless
Rating - 2.0/5
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