Official Metal Blade press release

In conjunction with Rise Above Records, Metal Blade will be releasing the double-disc live album Anniversary from UK mainstays and international cult act Cathedral. Set for release on Monday, November 21st in North America, Anniversary captures Cathedral in all their raw and live glory and marks the first official live album to be ever released by the doom metal legends.

Recorded live in London, 2010, Disc 1 features Forest Of Equilibrium in its entirety, delivered impeccably by the original lineup of Lee Dorrian on vocals, Garry Jennings and Adam Lehan on guitar, Mark Griffiths on bass and Mike Smail on drums. Disc 2 is a greatest hits set courtesy of the long lasting lineup featuring Leo Smee (bass) and Brian Dixon (drums) alongside Dorrian and Jennings.

Vocalist Lee Dorrian comments on the band's first ever live album and the impending final live show: "The release of Anniversary is both exciting and sad for us. Exciting, as it is the first ever official Cathedral live album, recorded at our twentieth anniversary show on Dec 3rd in London last year, where we reunited with our original line up and performed the entirety of or debut album Forest Of Equilibrium for the first (and last) time ever. Sad, because December the 3rd this year will be the night we perform our last show ever, before calling it a day as a live band. So more than anything, we would like to dedicate Anniversary to everyone who has followed and supported Cathedral over the years. Your support really means and has meant the world to us - thanks and stay heavy!"

Words by Dom Lawson, August 2011, "... and so it ends as it began, with the grim but compelling sound of mankind's most artful and potent response against the dying of the light: the almighty riff sacred, remorseless, oppressive and sublime it towers above us like a shadow cast by the collected follies of humanity itself, giving us succour and protecting us from the lure of the grave."

Cathedral's live shows were always celebratory affairs, as the band traversed the globe spreading the bleak gospel and sharing grandiose riffs with generations of lost souls. By the year 2010, it became clear that Cathedral mission had been effectively accomplished, and Dorrian began the countdown to oblivion. The band played a 20th anniversary show at London's O2 Islington Academy on December 3rd, reconvening that legendary original line-up to perform Forest Of Equilibrium for the very first time in its devastating entirety, followed by a bold stride through the rest of that glorious catalogue courtesy of that equally classic but more enduring latter-day configuration. Fans and friends travelled from all around this wicked world to witness the event and despite the fact that many British disciples were unable to get to London due to harsh weather conditions and a dismal public transport system, Cathedral acquitted themselves with humble grace and splendor. Urged on by the news that Cathedral will completely retire from the mortal metal realm after one more show this coming December, the entire 20th anniversary gig is now to be unleashed as Anniversary, a double-disc extravaganza of crippling, ultra-doom that is as raw and uncompromising as these desolate days demand. Next year will see the release of The Last Spire, the final chapter in the Cathedral story, but for now Anniversary is doom's last word. And so it ends?

Live album Anniversary tracklist:

Disc I [Back To The Forest]

01. Picture Of Beauty And Innocence
02. Commiserating The Celebration (Of Life)
03. Ebony Tears
04. Serpent Eve
05. Soul Sacrifice
06. A Funeral Request
07. Equilibrium
08. Reaching Happiness, Touching Pain

Disc II [Bleak Winter]

01. Funeral Of Dreams
02. Enter The Worms
03. Upon Azrael's Wings
04. Midnight Mountain
05. Cosmic Funeral
06. Carnival Bizarre
07. Night Of The Seagulls
08. Corpsecycle
09. Ride
10. The Last Spire Pt.1 (Entrance)
11. Vampire Sun
12. Hopkins

Source:	facebook.com
Band profile:	Cathedral