CATHEDRAL „The Garden of Unearthly”

First of all, this album has something very special for me: This is a very rare case in which a classic band (like Cathedral) has a new superb album considering their long career. This album is for me, and is really difficult to state, the best album I ever heard of Cathedral, it freaking rules! I have been a Cathedral follower since their Ethereal Mirror / Carnival Bizarre era and appreciate their older works and newer (Endtyme), but this album is a hit! This album is like merging their more groovy classic songs like Ride, Midnight Mountain, Soul Sacrifice, Hopkins, Utopian Blaster and their (obviously) 60s/70s rock and folk influences into a blender and the result was this Garden… This without a doubt is the most groovy and faster album of all their releases.

After intro, Dearth AD, killer riffs are showed since the beginning with their track 2, “Tree of life and death” (this song remind me a lot White Zombie – la sexorcisto era, hehehe). “North Berwick Witch Trials” have another killer riff, and without a doubt, one of the most mesmerizing and great riffs I ever heard on years within the whole metal kingdom. Comparison to old Celtic frost on “Upon Azrael’s Wings” is notorious, but man, CF is as cool as Cathedral! and the end of the song, come on, this is almost like hear old Napalm Death. Track # 5, “Corpsecycle” is a nice verse – chorus- verse song with a hippie touch very ‘a la cathedral’ and a great middle riff and solo. Then this short song called “Fields of Zagara” comes, with only guitar and violins sounds, with some crowd’s yells in the background like if a battle is on place, a very convenient “intro” for maybe the fastest song ever recorded by Cathedral : Oro the manslayer; come on man, one more tempo up and this is thrash metal! For me this is a good movement by these guys, kinda surprising and electrifying. Last two tracks, “Beneath a funereal sun” and “The Garden”, are the more experimental and adventurous songs of the whole album; very psychedelics, with an old progressive rock halo and with, believe it or not, female and children vocals involved. By the way, last song, “The Garden” last around 20 minutes and that’s right, is a true epic one. A gift at the end of CD appears after 5 minutes on silence: a bonus track that is a clear tribute to old 70s hard rock groups (Black Sabbath comes to mind inevitably).

Without a doubt, one album that deserves to stay on your metal collection, even if you are not a Doom Metal or Stoner Rock follower. Conservator Fans of “Forest of Equilibrium” type of sound maybe will not love this album, but, for the rest of mortals, this album owns.