First things first...damn this CD is HEAVY!! Fans who have waited a long time for British doom act Cathedral to return to their roots and really deliver a truly sinister and crushing album again have gotten their wish. At a price however, as the band have chosen to muster up their inner Black Sabbath, Pentagram, Trouble, and Saint Vitus once again right at the same time as they are calling it a day. That's right, The Last Spire is indeed intended to be the last album the band will ever release, so take a big sip and savor all its goodness.
And goodness The Last Spire certainly has plenty of. Forgot the forays into groove metal, rock, and prog, this album is pure DOOM from start to finish, the guitars of Garry Jennings absolutely monstrous, and rhythms of Scott Carlson & Brian Dixon pounding, and the vocals of Lee Dorrian menacing. Each track plods along with pulverizing intent, waves of mountainous riffs just crushing all in its path yet it's all quite memorable and well put together. "Infestation of Grey Death" combines all the heavy doom with some interesting musical passages for a truly epic event, and tunes like "Pallbearer", "Tower of Silence", and "Cathedral of the Damned" stack up as some of the heaviest fare the genre has seen in some time. If you like the epic style of almost funeral doom the band created back in the Forest of Equilibrium days, you'll love the menacing "An Observation", and "This Body, They Tomb" is so slow, so heavy, so grueling...yeah, doom baby, doom.
It's still hard to put into words just how massively heavy and evil this album sounds. While it's a shame that the band will soon be no more, if they are going to go out on a high note, this was the way to do it. Immense!!!
Track Listing
1) Entrance to Hell
2) Pallbearer
3) Cathedral of the Damned
4) Tower of Silence
5) Infestation of Grey Death
6) An Observation
7) The Last Laugh
8) This Body, Thy Tomb
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