28/06/04

CATHEDRAL / THE SERPENTS GOLD

To use the football analogy, this is a game of 2 half’s, Disc 1 (Serpents Treasure) is a best of and is essential if you are a Cathedral fan. It charts the bands history with Earache (which came to an end earlier this year) and with the co operation of the band the best of is as you would expect the cream of the crop and a good introduction to the un initiated, showing the bands many periods of change. Al the ones you would expect are here with a couple of exceptions.

The Second CD (Serpents Chest) is the one of real interest to the die hard’s as it features rare and previously un released tracks from early demos, live tracks and rare studio tracks. The best tracks of this CD rare the instrumental version of the track "Imprisoned Flesh" called "Hide & Seek", "Magic Mountain" and "Schizoid Puppeteer". There are a couple of nice touches, a track by track breakdown of disc 2 and an interview with Lee. This band have been very influential in the Doom market, not lest for some very original output but also for supporting other likeminded bands through their label Rise Above. Here is a complete list of the tracks.

Disc 1 – The Serpent’s Treasure Disc 2 - The Serpent's Chest

01. Ride 01. Hide and Seek

02. Hopkins (Witchfinder General) 02. Neophytes for Serpent Eve (demo)

03. Autumn Twilight 03. Violet Breath

04. Midnight Mountain 04. Night of the Seagulls (demo)

05. Soul Sacrifice 05. Magic Mountain

06. Enter the Worms 06. A Funeral Request (live)

07. Stained Glass Horizon feat. Victor Griffin/Joe Hasselvander

08. Vampire Sun 07. The Olde Oak Tree

09. Cosmic Funeral 08. Schizoid Puppeteer

10. Ebony Tears 09. Carnival Bizarre (demo)

11. Melancholy Emperor 10. Rabies (Witchfinder General)

12. Equilibrium 11. Blue Light (live)

13. Utopian Blaster 12. Commiserating the Celebration (of Life) (demo)

14. Voodoo Fire

15. Imprisoned In Flesh

DOWNLOAD "Old Oak Tree" from the Earache site

TOTAL PLAYING TIME DISC 1 = 80 mins TOTAL PLAYING TIME DISC 2 = 77 mins