Gargoylian

I had heard this single was one of Cathedral's better songs and the band had left it off its album "Endtyme" in most territories except Japan where it was added to the Japanese album version as a bonus track. It's a curious song in some ways: it rocks but at a sedate speed, the tune is poppy enough yet the sound errs on the right side of alternative rock / metal and the song fits in some really heavy riff passages. Lee Dorrian isn't the most precise singer, often sounding wildly out of tune and his style of half-singing / half-chanting seems awkward in parts and not always serious for the lyrics. But for all the things that should make this song wonky, the surprise is that it not only works well overall but has a strong groove and a great if sometimes drunken-sounding low-end sound.

Best part of the song comes after the halfway point with the instrumental section where the steely low-end bass dominates; the whole thing passes into the background and a dark and uncertain pause reigns briefly before the song picks up cheerily with Dorrian taking to the microphone again.

The B-side track "Earth in the Grip of a Skeletal Hand" has a mild and interesting noise-guitar introduction of oily shifting guitar-tone blob wobbles before the song suddenly rushes forward with a hurried rhythm and Dorrian barks into the mike. Lead guitar sparkle-blob notes bewitch the mind for a while and then the song adopts a different but more familiar doom metal template: the rhythm slows right down and for a short while Cathedral are back in familiar glacial-paced heavy doom metal territory. Although the rhythm of most of the song is foreign to my expectations of Cathedral and the song itself may not represent the bulk of what Cathedral does, it's not a bad track at all though it's inferior compared to "Gargoylian" itself. The guitar tones on "Earth in the Grip ..." are quite beguiling, having something of a bright and sparkly liquid quality that shimmers and changes shape but still clear in tone.

Whatever Cathedral put their collective mind to, they do it wholeheartedly and that enthusiasm comes through on both "Gargoylian" and "Earth in the Grip ...". The song might look awkward on paper and Dorrian's style of vocals sometimes leaves a fair bit to be desired in range and delivery but to my knowledge the band members have done few things half-heartedly. There is an interest here in the use of unusual, even experimental, effects on both tracks as well.

Up for the chopping block today is the criminally kick ass ‘Gargoylian’ by England’s stalwarts of Doom, Cathedral.

There isn’t much to say about this two song EP except that it’s PHENOMENAL! The first track ‘Gargoylian’ is quite possibly the best Cathedral song ever! It’s slower than a snail trying to make its way up a hill covered in molasses, in winter on a planet with jovian gravity. It’s heavy, moody and balls out DOOM! This is something that could have easily been on ‘In Memoriam’ (with the exception of the cleaner vocals).

The second and final track ‘Earth in the Grip of a Skeletal Hand’ is good but not nearly as good as the title track. It’s a little faster but still incredibly doomy.

Also, lets not forget the beyond killer art work! Whatever those skeleton Jedi things are, they’re awesome!

The only drawbacks are: the production is lackluster at best; these tracks sound like they were meant for ‘Endtyme’. Another drawback would be that these are available on 7” only (!) and that there were only 2000 made. This is seriously worth hunting down just for the title track alone.