The Last Spire

The Last Spire
Studio album by Cathedral
Released	April 29 2013
Recorded	2011 - 2012 at Orgone Studios in London, England
Genre	Doom Metal
Length	58:19
Label	Rise Above Records Metal Blade Records
Producer	Jaime Gomez Arellano, Lee Dorrian, Gaz Jennings
Cathedral chronology
A New Ice Age (2011)	The Last Spire (2013)	Happy Fucking Birthday (2018)

The Last Spire is the tenth and final studio album by the British doom metal band Cathedral. Intended by the band as their farewell album, it was released in April 2013 on Rise Above Records and Metal Blade Records. The album was praised for returning the band to its doom roots, with Nick Green of Decibel Magazine observing that "few bands get to write their own epitaphs in such vivid, exacting terms".

Background

Development

Cathedral announced on 6 February 2011, that they would release one final album and then disband. This announcement occurred well prior to the recording of The Last Spire. Lee Dorrian described the band's planned retirement as a "funeral" for the band, which was a "long and gratifying process". For Dorrian, the announcement enabled the band to record the album without pressure, "as it meant that we no longer had anything to prove and could make this album purely on our own terms".

The band would feature notable guests such as Rosalie Cunningham (Purson) and Chris Reifert (Autopsy, Death). Scott Carlson (Repulsion, Death, etc.), who performed bass for the band in 1994, rejoined the band and plays the bass on this album replacing Leo Smee. A music video was made for "Tower of Silence", featuring the band along with Cunningham.

Building upon the "funeral" metaphor, Dorrian later stated that the band's decision to plan for its own demise ultimately, stating the following: hasn't made the end as painful as it would have been if we...finished without doing an album we [were] happy with, or we had a massive fight and the band ended for no apparent reason other than that; I think it would have been harder to deal with. But the fact that we've let it evolve into this situation where it is almost like giving ourselves a funeral, I think it's made it a bit easier to bear.

The Last Spire returns to a slower, doom-oriented sound akin to the band's debut, Forest of Equilibrium. Dorrian explained that the return to Cathedral's roots for its final album was not only intentional, but long anticipated: This [The Last Spire] is the album I've been waiting to do since the first one, it almost feels like we made our second album last in some respects. We actually recorded a lot more material but decided to sacrifice many of the tracks to make the overall album feel more complete in its nihilism. I don't like happy endings, I never have.

The album was recorded intermittently over several months. Dorrian said that, while in the studio, the recording went quickly; however, the band stretched out the time between recording days to give "us time to let the songs sit for a bit, and know exactly where to go with them". The album cover art was done by Arik Roper, a reinterpretation of the band's logo. The interior of the album sleeve features artwork by long-time Cathedral artist Dave Patchett. Dorrian, describing the art as "climactic", notes that "it's not like a usual epic Dave Patchett piece where he does the full spread; it's just one section of the artwork now. It's basically thank you and goodbye, fuck you God or whatever. It's just a scene inside The Last Spire I suppose; almost like a nativity scene gone wrong."

Outtakes

According to Dorrian, Cathedral's decision to omit those tracks which did not fit with the goal of creating an "unhappy ending" resulted in "six or seven songs" which were cut because they "all strayed in different directions, and I wanted this [album] to be a lot more focused than the albums we'd done in recent times". Among these would was claimed to be one unfinished "very epic" song that is thirty minutes in length which the band may finish and release as a 12" record; and four "groovy" songs closer to the band's more recent recordings. So far the following outtakes have surfaced:

• "Tombs of the Blind Dead" - Appears on the Japanese edition of The Last Spire
• "Vengeance of the Blind Dead" - Appeared on a flexi for Decibel Magazine issue no. 101.
• "Evil Wizard" - Appears on the compilation Something in The Water.
• "Cold Feet" - Chook cover, appears on the split with Admiral Sir Cloudsely Shovell entitled Happy Fucking Birthday.

Reception

Most reviews focus on the return to a doom-oriented sound and a reduction in the "quirky touches" in evidence on Cathedral albums including The Ethereal Mirror and, most recently, The Guessing Game. Chris Dick, writing for Decibel Magazine, stated that "Cathedral have reined in the purple puffy dragons and their Canterbury scene origins for a honed and toned (almost) mid-tempo thrust". Chris Ward described the album as bringing Cathedral "full circle", and serving as a bookend to the band's debut; however, he also heard "enough of the flavours the band sprinkled into all their albums in between to give it the feel of a eulogy of the band's output." Dean Brown, describing The Last Spire as a "true doom record", also credited the band with a "masterful understanding of dynamics" that integrated Cathedral's "signature curveballs". Grayson Currin wrote for Pitchfork that The Last Spire "does not feel like a microwaved visitation with the past or some self-obsessed tribute. Rather, these pieces sound like the work of a band hoping to fortify their legacy at the end of their career rather than simply prolong it". Natalie Zed, while criticising the middle of the album as "unwieldy", praised the band for incorporating "their musical demise into their very aesthetic". Popmatters' Frank Lopez departed from most critics with his argument that The Last Spire lacked a "pronounced tone of finality" suitable for Cathedral's farewell, wishing instead that the band would have "exploit[ed] their own morose theme a bit more and truly give the piece a sense of final departure".

Despite selling relatively poorly in the United States, The Last Spire would hit #24 on the Billboard Heatseekers Charts.

Other notable reviews would come from the likes of Metal Injection (8/10), Blabbermouth (8.5/10), The Sleeping Shaman (Positive Review), Angry Metal Guy (3/5), Exclaim! (9/10), Decibel Magazine (8/10) and Metal Hammer (9/10)

Tracklist

All songs written by Dorrian and Jennings. Track 9 is a Japanese exclusive.

• 1. Entrance to Hell (3:08)
• 2. Pallbearer (11:38)
• 3. Cathedral of The Damned (5:48)
• 4. Tower of Silence (6:53)
• 5. Infestation of Grey Death (9:02)
• 6. An Observation (10:20)
• 7. The Last Laugh (0:38)
• 8. This Body, Thy Tomb (8:57)
• 9. Tombs of The Blind Dead (5:18)

Personnel

Cathedral

• Lee Dorrian - Vocals, Producer
• Gaz Jennings - Guitars, Producer
• Brian Dixon - Drums
• Scott Carlson - Bass

Additional Personnel

• Rosalie Cunningham - Backing Vocals
• Chris Reifert - Vocals (3)
• David Moore aka Munch - Organ, Mellotron, Synthesizer

Technical Personnel

• Arik Roper - Artwork
• Dave Patchett - Artwork
• Ester Segarra - Photography
• Jamie Gomez Arellano - Engineer, Mixing, Mastering, Producer
• Donato Panaccio - Assistant Engineer
• Chris Chantler - Liner Notes

External Links

• Discogs
• Music Video for Tower of Silence