Ride with me on a shooting star – 85%
The_Desolate_One, February 11th, 2026
Written based on this version: 2007, CD, Earache Records (Reissue)
Cathedral’s sound started changing pretty much immediately after releasing Forest of Equilibrium back in 1991. In the EPs and singles that followed, they began to explore a more upbeat path and the groovy version of “Soul Sacrifice” they present in the so-titled EP from 1992 sounds nothing like the dirge we hear in their debut. This culminates in their 1993 full-length The Ethereal Mirror, a mostly doom effort with some stoner elements and an album nowadays seen as a beloved classic, though it probably alienated everyone back in the day. Aside from a few tracks, however, like the mad scientist disco/doom experiment that is “Midnight Mountain” I don’t think it worked quite yet. I might be in the wrong here, as that’s not a popular opinion, but The Ethereal Mirror never really hooked me, and a lot of its run time feels a bit monotonous.
Enter The Carnival Bizarre from 1995. Now this is where Cathedral really defined their stoner metal formula for the remainder of their career. If you’ve never listened to them, this is what you may expect: 1) heavy, groovy riffs backed by a fat-ass bass; 2) normal verse-chorus-verse song structures with shorter length, though there are a few longer epics here; 3) tempos that don’t really drag anymore, rather it’s stuff you can headbang to, or “shake that funky thing”, as Lee Dorrian puts it himself, if that’s your inclination; 4) and when the songs do get slow, it’s either in a doomy sense or (more commonly) in a mellower, more relaxed vibe, while the lead guitar kicks in for some Pink Floyd meets Sabbath’s “Planet Caravan” psychedelia (see the 8th track, “Blue Light,” for a striking example). Eventually they touch on a more melancholy sound, but it’s quite rare. It’s also important to emphasize how Lee Dorrian’s vocals had changed by then. During their early career, his hoarse singing was a very divisive issue, as people either loved it or hated it. Now, though he does use that weird, somewhat cartoonish voice often, he also sings with more conventional vocals, and there are some great hooks to sing along to.
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