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...

PANIC IN YEAR ZERO

Actor/director Ray Milland's "Panic in Year Zero"(1962) is a masterpiece of apocalyptic cinema. It brings the fear of a nuclear holocaust down the human level by dealing with what happens to one family as they are fleeing for their lives and struggling for survival after a nuclear disaster. They know little of what is going on in the rest of the world except for information they get from the radio. This movie is so suspenseful it brings to mind George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead", but it would be years before that movie would be released...

PANIC IN YEAR ZERO is filmed in black and white with an edgy jazz soundtrack and a claustrophobic vibe. A family is going on vacation when a nuclear bomb goes off. They see the cloud and don't know what is going on because their radio does not work. People are fleeing the city(Los Angeles) and looting and driving like maniacs. Lawlessness prevails. Eventually their radio starts working and they realize that all major cities have been nuked...everyone is fleeing to the country. Watch as a well-respected family learns how to fiend for itself in a lawless society and watch as even the best of men can become the most savage criminals. See for yourself the degradation of mankind, the decline of civilisation, as primitive man plots to take the wilderness for himself. Anarchy prevails. But this is nothing compared to what is going on in the major cities, where almost everyone is dead. Can mankind reclaim itself or will it fall into ruin?

What makes this movie tick is that you are learning about things just as the characters discover them. A top of the line post-Apocalypse movie. Highly recommended.