The Ethereal Mirror - Cathedral

As early as their second album, Cathedral start to display worrying signs of mainstream awareness, evidently seeking to sweeten their major record label deal with a couple of inappropriate cheery anthems that distract from the otherwise uncompromising seventies-style stoner doom. These offending songs, chief among them the frankly embarrassing 'Midnight Mountain' with its hand claps and upbeat drum rhythm, rob the album of much of its doom credibility as well as atmosphere, though even the more traditional material pales a little in comparison to the more consistent debut album. Lee Dorrian's vocals are more adventurous now, which is a good sign, even if he ...