Cathedral - Forest of Equilibrium (1991)^{Release ID: 4932}

There are a lot of things that I love about Cathedral's debut outing. Firstly, the artwork is brilliant and completely messed up! Every time I look at it, I find something interesting I haven't noticed before. As for the music, this is extremely slow, heavy doom metal and by far Cathedral's heaviest album. I really enjoy tracks such as Ebony Tears, Serpent Eve and Reaching Happiness, Touching Pain. They created such a dark, weird atmosphere and Lee's vocals are perfectly bizarre. These guys were also not afraid to experiment with little touches of flute, acoustic guitars and keyboard added to the mix. It was a completely unique sound back in 1991, and while borrowing heavily from former doom bands, took everything to a new level of doominess. I can't think of an album prior to this one, with the exception of Winter's Eternal Darkness album, that explores to these depths.

I’d like to give it a high rating, but I just don't love Forest of Equilibrium all the way through. Most of the time the slowness works in its favour, but occasionally it causes me to drift off. I'm a massive fan of funeral doom (which this album totally influenced) and so it's not simply the style that loses me. A couple of the longer tracks just don't keep me interested all the way through, and I don't think I enjoy Cathedral's forays into stoner and heavy metal as much as when they concentrate on crushing doom. I guess I don’t enjoy where this band went with their music after this release and there were already signs of what was to come. Overall though, this is an important and influential album that for many is an absolute favourite. For me, it’s a good listen, but I think I enjoy the darker bands that were influenced by it more than the album itself.

I'll be short and sweet here. There are some excellent riffs in this album, but you are going to have to fight through a lot of boring ones, bad production (IMO), and Lee Dorian's vocals. It's up to you if it's worth it, but it wasn't for me. 

I can still recall the first time I heard about English doom/stoner metal legends Cathedral. I was reading a Terrorizer magazine interview with Napalm Death that was conducted while they were out on tour back in 1991. The band were questioned on what they'd been listening to on their tour bus which saw one of the guys admitting that Death's "Human" had been the popular choice until they'd received a copy of their former vocalist Lee Dorrian's first full-length with his new doom metal band Cathedral, a release sporting the trippy title of "Forest of Equilibrium". I was very surprised to read that Cathedral's record had overtaken "Human" as the new bus favourite, particularly given that "Human" had already become somewhat of an obsession for me. I subsequently made a point of seeking out "Forest of Equilibrium", purchasing it on cassette shortly afterwards.

The sound & aesthetic of Cathedral's debut can be quite confronting upon first listen. The cover artwork is nothing short of stunning with its strong psychedelic focus being perfectly suited to the retro vibe Cathedral were going for. The production job took me a little more getting used to though as it sat well outside of my metal comfort zone with the fuzzy, bass-heavy timbre recounting 1970's progressive rock & heavy psych as much as it does early Black Sabbath, the prog rock component being further hinted at through the use of a couple of brilliantly effective flute solos that afford additional colour to the release. After a couple of attentive listens I found myself becoming captivated by this sound & committed more & more time to indulging in the material.

"Forest of Equilibrium" is renowned as being easily Cathedral's doomiest album & I'd also suggest that it was their best by a pretty wide margin too. The dedicated focus to making their particular brand of doom metal the slowest, heaviest & most melancholic ever recorded was a rousing success in my opinion & I still find myself turning to this record when chasing some truly depressing doom metal atmosphere to this very day. It's not a perfect album by any means though. The occasional hints at the stoner metal sound the band would quickly progress towards over their next couple of releases do taint otherwise strong & muscular efforts like opener "Commiserating the Celebration" a bit while I also find the sporadic use of chuggy heavy metal riffs to be more of a distraction than it is a refreshing change of pace. Then we have the ever-popular & super-groovy stoner metal single "Soul Sacrifice" to contend with too, a track that I've always found to interrupt the flow of an otherwise extremely strong tracklisting. Thankfully though, the highlights are nothing short of devastating with doom monster "Ebony Tears" (also the highlight of 1990's "In Memoriam" demo) & closing funeral doom precursor "Reaching Happiness, Touching Pain" being absolute master strokes & the outstanding "Serpent Eve" & "Equilibrium" not being too far behind.

At this point I probably should address the elephant in the room as it becomes pretty damn obvious as soon as any Cathredral virgins enter into their first listen. Lee Dorrian (also of drone metallers Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine & doomsters With The Dead) wasn't the most capable of singers while he was leading Napalm Death but here we see him sporting a delivery that is the very definition of an acquired taste. Some punters simply won't be able to come to terms with Dorrian's miserable howl & I can't deny that he can even annoy me too but it's almost impossible to deny that this music seems to be tailor-made for his depressive wallowing. The heavily down-tuned & harmonized doom melodies of former Acid Reign guitarists Gaz Jennings (also of English heavy/doom metallers Death Penalty) & Adam Lehan more than make up for any discomfort experienced due to the vocals though as there are some absolutely crushing doom riffs on display here. In fact, I'd suggest that I've rarely heard anything heavier in all my days which has seen "Forest of Equilibrium" sitting in elite company for the more than three decades since it was first released. The fuzzed-out lead licks are produced in an interesting way that sees them flying out from unexpected places in the mix &, in doing so, gently massaging your cranial cortex in a similar way to the greats of 1970's heavy psych. The spectacular success of these elements has no doubt contributed to the long-time frustration I've held around Cathedral given that they'd never again touch upon such a transcendent sound, often making a conscious effort to steer away from it & even hinting that they may have recorded another album in this style that was simply rotting away in someone's basement. 2013's "The Last Spire" swansong would finally see Lee & co. attempting a purist doom record again, & with some very solid results too it has to be said, but I can't say that it reaches the same dizzying heights (or should I say soul-crushing lows?) as this wonderful release managed to.

"Forest of Equilibrium" is a marvelous debut & should certainly be essential listening for any doomster worth their salt. It proved to be the perfect gateway between the traditional doom metal of the 70's & 80's (e.g. Black Sabbath & Trouble) & the more modern doom sound of the 90's that saw all peripherals & external influences being cast aside in the name of a more focused & pure doom sound (e.g. Electric Wizard). The "In Memoriam" demo is possibly even more heavily focused on undiluted doom & I've been surprised to find myself giving it a slight edge over "Forest of Equilibrium" in recent times but I can't deny my affection for this record which easily overcomes its shortcomings by taking its craft to the ultimate extreme &, in doing so, achieving genre-defining results.

Getting past Lee Dorian’s vocals has been a life-long challenge of mine. His exploits in Cathedral’s debut are only tolerable because everything that is going on is so good that I have sufficient distraction from his tepid attempts at vocal work. His croak is lost to some degree under the sheer weight of the mix and on any other album I would probably call this out as a problem, but on Forest of Equilibrium it is a perfect imperfection for me. That having been said, when he allows his voice to drop to a more mournful tone, he can croon well enough I find. As another criticism (let us get the moans out of the way early on) the drums are also a victim of the knob-twiddling that went on to get the album out of the door. They sound cloaked to the point of being suppressed, which overall is a shame because there are some neat fills being run here and an obvious energy to the skin work (I mean check out Ebony Tears and tell me I am wrong).

What rules the day here are absolutely the best parts of the album. A guitar tone that rattles the windows in their frames and comes with a drenching of dirge that is a functional pre-requisite for doom. Supported by heck of a chug in the bass, the deft and mournfully melodic playing of Lehan and Jennings really shines (albeit in a dark and horrific way of course). Lurching the album forwards with each torturously slow riff they create their own atmosphere – arguably an ecosystem of dank air and acrid fumes in which only the most rarefied beasts can survive, perhaps those depicted on the bizarre album cover?

The best parts of the record are when the guitars are allowed to simply run away with themselves as they pummel their agonising riffs repeatedly, knowing just when to go with the consistent punishment but then also add the necessary variety as harrowing melodies. It is an album that almost needs no vocal input (for me at least) to get its message across; quite easily these seven tracks could entertain me as instrumentals. It is not to say that I am completely ignorant of the placing of the vocals though. They are clearly there for added atmosphere and threat and I can even see how on some level they work. I guess I am just not that interested in them overall.

As a band who I have no further knowledge of beyond their debut effort I feel that their sound alone deserves more exploration through their discography, but it is not a desire that I have engaged enough with to understand whether there can be more reward to be gained from expanding my experience of a band I sort of only half like. The heavy metal credentials of Soul Sacrifice suggest more to the band than just aching doom drudgery, but I am unsure of just how far my interest can go really beyond the debut.