Alongside Sons Of Otis, Church Of Misery and Cathedral are two of the leading underground Doom/Stoner Metal bands working in today’s Heavy Metal scene. Their mix of psychedelic sounds and haunting lyrics have struck a chord with the underground music scene. So it was a great privilege to see both bands perform in a sweaty, beer soaked venue in Birmingham, where Doom fans came to worship at the black altar of the riff.
Pitched somewhere between Black Sabbath and Electric Wizard, Church of Misery are a force to be reckoned with as their gargantuan slashed and giant amplifiers take the audience on a dark trip into the minds of warped serial killers and social anarchy.
As my friends and I squeezed into the packed venue the heavy, distorted sound of Church Of Misery’s ‘El Padrino’ greeted our ears. While the band worked through their set of heavy riffs, the atmosphere grew to a frenzy as fists punched the air, heads banged and drunken remarks were slurred out as the charismatic front man bolted around the stage snarling and flashing the devil signs. This excitement climaxed to a stand-out performance of ‘Killifornia’, a twenty minute jam of strange astral sounds and cosmic grooves. Half way through this behemoth song the smell of marijuana floated over the audience, and the room transformed into a zombie mosh pit as the tuned downed bass and guitar rumbled thorough the crowd.
As Church Of Misery left the stage, a high level of anticipation grew and shortly the tiny venue was packed out. As the bright lights shone down on the crowd, Cathedral took to the stage blasting into their set which incorporated new Avant-garde materiel, and fan favourites such as ‘Ride’, ‘Hopkins (The Witchfinder General)’ and ‘Serpent Eve’. The stand out tracks included ‘Painting in the Dark’, ‘Funeral Dreams’ and ‘Requiem For The Voiceless’; all from their new EP The Guessing Game. These tracks were evident of Cathedral’s ever changing musical style from the rocking opening riff of ‘Funeral Of Dreams’ juxtaposed against Dorrian’s surreal dream like lyrics, to the gargantuan doom laden riff of ‘Requiem For The Voiceless’, which sees the band return to their earlier roots of Funeral Doom.
Furthermore front man Lee Dorian’s theatrics have became more elaborate, from flashing the peace sign to curling wires around his throat and kneeling on the floor praying to the Pagan Gods, he is a charismatic front man who draws the audience into his carnival of the bizarre.
This gig proved that Cathedral are still one the loudest and heaviest bands in the underground, constantly putting on strong shows with cracking showmanship and quality riffs. Their next album can’t arrive sooner.
Posted In Live Reviews, May 24 2010.
Words - Saul Crowley