2004-06-18
Ever watch an ice cube melt, or a snail makes its
way from the sidewalk to your door? That’s what
the better tracks on this double disc
retrospective felt like. Brilliantly, Lee
Dorrian, the visionary behind the doom-to-the-max
group Cathedral, slips the agonizing deceleration
of rock itself among other numbers that could
have been any number of respectable jukeboxes in
1974.
The Serpent’s Gold is the result of
Cathedral growing up before our eyes, and feeling
the same growing pains (“Ride”) every great band
does before they reach their pinnacle (“Enter The
Worms”, oddly enough, on the same album). The
inclusion of their earliest, most extreme songs
(“Equilibrium”, “Ebony Tears”, "Autumn Twilight")
makes their foray into superbly strange seventies
necrophilia “Vampire Sun” (“Aw, c’mon! Let’s get
it on!”) and images of electric vultures perfect,
like something from a Ralph Bakshi film.
Disc Two is packed with rarities and demos, so
you feel like you’re in the rehearsal room with
Cathedral as their thinking of new ways to baffle
the world – often at about 20 bpms. As
The
Serpent’s Gold ends you appreciate the
precision of the slogan “Slow and steady wins…”,
and you'll plan to step cautiously around snails
from here on.
10/10
Jason Thornberry
