I always had a strange relation with this U.K. band. Having always hated their first two pseudo doomy efforts (how can you seriously play Doom when you have a dog barking on top of your not so inspired material?!), I suddenly changed my mind when I heard "The Carnival Bizarre" and even more when "Supernatural Birth Machine" was released as it was an outstanding effort in all senses of the term. Killer music, great vocals and lots of feeling surrounding the material as a whole. It was definitely a new band that was born. Then the next two albums were very so and so as they featured a bunch of uninspired / filler tunes on both, fortunately "The Seventh Coming" got the ball rolling again to a certain extent as a certain degree of inspiration / effectiveness had been injected into the songs again. So it was natural that this new record (on a new label) would be the object of a lot of expectations (just like it had been for CANDLEMASS) but at the end it’s again not the album that I was waiting for. Some are gonna say ‘What’s your problem? This is pure heavy shit here! What are you asking for?!’ Sorry, but I need more than a heavy sounding record, I need SONGS!!! And this is what this record here lacks again in, classic songs à la ‘Blue Light’, ‘Hopkins (Witchfinder General)’, ‘Stained Class Horizon’, ‘Urko’s Conquest’ etc. Besides ‘Oro The Manslayer’ there’s nothing that really catches my attention here, sorry but the songs lack of memorable riffing / parts. Another set back is the guitar sound which sounds like it’s distorted for the sake of it, it simply does not fit CATHEDRAL. A particular aspect that needs to be noticed is the inclusion of CELTIC FROST riffs in the songs, to the point that it’s nothing but pure ripping off at times. I personally don’t see the point for a band like CATHEDRAL to include CELTIC FROST riffs / inspired riffs because both bands really have nothing in common, it’s simply not the same heaviness. Again, a great album if you like your stuff heavy but if you’re looking for more then it’s another disappointment coming from CATHEDRAL.