Published: 23 Apr 2025
Forest of Equilibrium
- Release date: 1991
- Genres: Doom Metal
- Rating: 4/5
Forest of Equilibrium is a truly monolithic slab of gloomy, depressive doom metal - plodding along at a dirge’s pace and creating an oppressive and occultic atmosphere that is present throughout, yet with more bluesy traditional riffling and soloing and a vocal performance from Lee Dorrian (formerly of early Napalm Death fame, a real change in career) that is rough, gruff, and rather unhinged sounding. Individually, some of these parts could be cause for complaint (e.g. the vocals are goofy, long stretches of monotony, rough and quiet mixing) but when totally enveloped in the gloom it all fits together - making it both difficult to penetrate beneath the layers but also extremely rewarding once you can get it to click. There are some personal highlights here, the flute plus acoustic guitar introduction sets the album up fantastically, while Serpent Eve is my favourite individual track of the several monolithic slabs presented here. The sole/soul exception is Soul Sacrifice, which while a serviceable palate-cleanser midpoint with a groovier, stoner doom approach which would instruct Cathedral’s sound on subsequent albums, which personally is a shame - but makes Forest of Equilibrium further stand-out as an early peak in Cathedral’s doomy discography as a whole.
Best Tracks: Picture of Beauty & Innocence (Intro) / Commiserating the Celebration, Serpent Eve, Equilibrium, Reaching Happiness, Touching Pain
