CATHEDRAL: CARAVAN BEYOND REDEMPTION

Cathedral's "Caravan Beyond Redemption" (1998). This is one of the most solid and impressive heavy metal albums ever made. Cathedral features Lee Dorian on vocals, ex-vocalist from the grind core band Napalm Death. You will be surprised at what Dorian delivers here...no death metal or grind core here, just pure hippiefied, end of the world evil. Dorian's vocals can be addictivly catchy and melodic at times. This is Cathedral's strongest release. Pure, apocalyptic metal, with a healthy dose of Black Sabbath, Kyuss, and White Zombie all mixed in together, a potent and poisonous head banging witches brew. It is hard to find such sinister, riff driven metal these days. The songs are all different, with many layered textures and samples such as the carnival sounds on the opening track "Voodoo", and the retro drug education film samples from "Revolution". The varied textures of the songs easily lift this above your usual doom metal album. But doom there is..."Caravan Beyond Redemption" is held together by an impending sense of retro-doom and acid-burned biker metal that is simply irresistible. No matter the pace of the song, whether it be fast or sense-numbing slow, Cathedral always delivers the adenaline fueled paranoid sense of doom that everyone needs. How to describe the sound of this album? It is a requiem of the apocalypse...head banging grooves, evil lyrics, strange, gory, and campy 1970's imagery, a little mellotron thrown in for good measure....and the almighty riff...sort of an out of control, high speed, roller coaster ride through hell...it seems endless...they tell you it's going to soon end but you're too caught up in the evil grooves to care...and did I mention they load you up with LSD before the ride?

Every time I hear this album I want back on the ride...can't get enough of it. If it's the end of the world and I'm around to see it, I want "Caravan Beyond Redemption" playing. I don't care if it's zombies taking me away or Jesus coming for my soul I want "Caravan Beyond Redemption" playing in the background before I go...

Here's the first two tracks. Pick this one up now if you know what's good for you...

CAPTAIN BEYOND

Captain Beyond's self titled first album from 1972 is a classic of early psych metal. It features the original vocalist of Deep Purple Rod Evans, Iron Butterfly guitarist Larry Reinhardt and bassist Lee Dorian, and Johnny Winter drummer Bobby Caldwell. This is an amazing release. Heavy, aggressive, euphoric, hippie metal with menacing prog rock undertones. They sound like a deranged mixture between several popular bands of their time. There is the dark riffing of Black Sabbath and Pentagram, the speed and spaciness of Hawkwind, the acid-drenched euphoria of Blue Cheer, the bluesiness of Jimi Hendrix, the heavy vocal harmonies of Cream, and the early prog-metal of King Crimson. They mix all of these sounds that into something that is completely their own. Captain Beyond is overwhelmingly vicious and face melting, even when they are trying to be mellow. Every track is not perfect on here, but this album works well as a whole. All of the tracks bleed together seamlessly, and there are recurring musical and lyrical themes throughout the album. The musicianship is raw yet focused. The music ventures from fuzzed out heavy garage psych to frighteningly focused bizarre, time signatures and dissonant chords, often at the drop of a hat. The vocals remind me of Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, and Pentagram's Bobby Liebling. As a whole, Captain Beyond's first album is a blinding burst of early psychedelic metal. It's influence is still being felt today. Monster Magnet has something to owe to the unbridled, spacey euphoria of their sound to Captain Beyond. Note Monster Magnet's song ''Twin Earth" . The riff is almost identical, and this song was in a a way an open tribute to Captain Beyond. Orange Goblin's doom laden hippie biker metal riffing also owes some debt to this band.

Here's "Mesmerization Eclipse" and "Raging River of Fear". Enjoy.

Mesmerization Eclipse - Captain Beyond

Raging River Of Fear - Captain Beyond