Review: Cathedral ‘The Guessing Game [Rethink]’

Cathedral have always experimented, from the downbeat, sludgy doom metal of the debut full-length Forest Of Equilibrium to the stoner-oriented Supernatural Birth Machine. The Guessing Game was yet another step in the band’s evolution with a more experimental approach. Speaking of the latter, it was somewhat overlooked to the point that Dorrian and co clearly thought it was high time attention was brought to it, especially as it was deemed that the original mix was ‘a bit lack-lustre’, hence teaming up with long-time collaborator Jaime Gomez Arellano. Cathedral split before I started reviewing, so I never got to cover their work until now; I hope I do them justice.

Immaculate Misconception is a brilliantly bombastic opener, full of drama and sharing a similar spirit to Black Sabbath’s Supertzar what with its classical inclinations before leading onto the crushing Funeral Of Dreams, with elements of folk music interjected at various points. It’s an odd effect, recalling at times bands such as Blood Ceremony, that’s to its credit and demonstrates that it was a band no longer playing by the rules; I mean, what could be more punk than that? A belter.

Painting In The Dark bears similarities to Ozzy’s better solo work; in fact, there is a gloriously unashamed nod to ‘80s hard rock with some anthemic choruses. This is pretty fucking excellent, even for someone like me with a distaste for that era and sound. Death Of An Anarchist (a nod to the Dario Fo play?) shows that Dorrian hasn’t completely abandoned politics despite performing in a doom band. The latter part of the track, in fact, has a punky spirit which positively gallops through like Iron Maiden in their heyday, wow.

The title track, The Guessing Game, has an irresistible avant-garde quirkiness and is something of an atmospheric interlude-style piece, while Edwidge’s Eyes is a tribute to Giallo actress Edwige Fenech and melds the band’s core doom/stoner sound with prog and psych flavourings, solid.

the punchier mix breathes new life into what are intelligently written and well-crafted songs…

Cats, Incense, Candles & Wine is tastefully eccentric with a trippy, acid-rock Pink Floyd groove and One Dimensional People is an instrumental and more of a traditional doom number in the vein of The Obsessed; nowt wrong with that of course. The Casket Chasers kinda reminds one of Stourbridge’s underrated Witchfinder General; there’s a definite hint of NWOBHM in there, which usually would curdle the blood, but it’s delivered with so much panache that I can easily overlook this fact.

The riffing on Ghost Galleon sounds a little on the ZZ Top bluesy side with a little Trapeze funkiness going down, though with a darker, menacing undertow. Not what I’d expect from the lads, but pretty interesting, nonetheless. The Running Man from the first time I heard it had a 21st Century Schizoid Man sensibility, indeed, a very clever reimagining of that classic track with all the jazzy rock power of the original, superb.

Requiem For The Voiceless is seriously heavy, so much that it harkens back to the funeral doom stylings of the aforementioned Forest Of Equilibrium, there’s a little Celtic Frost nastiness present too. This will surely satiate old-school fans; very cool, that’s fo’ sure. Who needs AllMusic Guide when you have Journey Into Jade, a handy summation of the band’s recorded legacy. Musically, it taps into the band’s ’90s stoner sound, which I’ve always enjoyed, as it was delivered with a real exuberance and is thus what makes it the perfect concluding track.

There’s no getting around it, this is a long record, BUT the punchier mix breathes new life into what are intelligently written and well-crafted songs.

Label: Rise Above Records
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify

Scribed by: Reza Mills