| The Ethereal Mirror | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 24 May 1993 | |||
| Recorded | 1993 | |||
| Studio | The Manor Studio, Oxfordshire, England | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 54:26 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Producer | David Bianco | |||
| Cathedral chronology | ||||
| ||||
The Ethereal Mirror is the second studio album by British doom metal band Cathedral. It was first released on 24 May 1993 through Earache Records, and in the United States on 6 July 1993 through Columbia Records. Earache re-issued the album in 2009 with the Statik Majik EP as bonus tracks and the DVD Ethereal Reflections as DualDisc.[1]
Reception[edit]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 9/10[3] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |  [4] |
| Kerrang! | [5] |
| Metal.de | 8/10[6] |
| Record-Journal | A[7] |
| Rock Hard | 8.5/10[8] |
| Rock Sound | 9/10[9] |
The Ethereal Mirror received critical acclaim.[4] Peter Atkinson of the Record-Journal stated that "By tempering the oppressive gloom of its debut for a more spirited thunder, Britain's Cathedral has crafted the heaviest and most brutally satisfying album of the year."[7] Kerrang!'s Xavier Russell considered it a stronger album than Forest of Equilibrium, praising Lee Dorrian's discernable vocals and the interplay between guitarists Adam Lehan and Garry Jennings.[5] In their retrospective review, Metal.de called the album "a work of transition that seems almost formless in a positive sense, which draws its charm from the close proximity of styles and moods: dark doom here, right next to loosely rocking brain drills".[6] Martin Popoff, writing in The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal Volume 3: The Nineties (2007), called the album "Fantastically powerful throughout" and singled out "Ride" as the best track in Cathedral's discography up to that point.[3]
In 2005, Kerrang! ranked the album at number 83 on their list of the "100 Best British Rock Albums Ever", stating that it "confirmed [Cathedral's] status as the real Brit metal warlords."[10] In 2014, Decibel ranked the album at number 56 on their list of the "Top 100 Doom Metal Albums of All Time".[11] On Loudwire's 2017 list of the "Top 25 Doom Metal Albums of All Time", it was ranked ninth.[12]
Track listing[edit]
All lyrics are written by Lee Dorrian, except where noted.
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Violet Vortex (Intro)" (instrumental) | Garry Jennings | 1:54 | |
| 2. | "Ride" | Jennings | 4:47 | |
| 3. | "Enter the Worms" |
| Adam Lehan | 6:05 |
| 4. | "Midnight Mountain" |
| Lehan | 4:55 |
| 5. | "Fountain of Innocence" | Jennings | 7:13 | |
| 6. | "Grim Luxuria" | Lehan | 4:46 | |
| 7. | "Jaded Entity" |
| Jennings | 7:53 |
| 8. | "Ashes You Leave" |
| Jennings | 6:22 |
| 9. | "Phantasmagoria" |
| Jennings | 8:44 |
| 10. | "Imprisoned in Flesh" |
| Jennings | 1:47 |
| Total length: | 54:26 | |||
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 11. | "Sky Lifter" (instrumental) | 3:27 |
| 12. | "A Funeral Request (New 1993 Version)" | 7:37 |
Personnel[edit]
Cathedral
- Garry Jennings – guitar, bass
- Lee Dorrian – vocals
- Mark Ramsey Wharton – drums
- Adam Lehan – guitar
Technical personnel
- David Bianco – recording, production, mixing
- Shaun DeFo – engineering
- Dave Patchett – cover painting
- Summer Lacy – inside layout
Release history[edit]
| Reigon | Label | Format | Date | Catalog # | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Europe | Earache | 24 May 1993 | MOSH 77 | [13] | |
| United States | Columbia |
|
6 July 1993 | CK 53633 | [14] |
| United States | Earache |
|
10 September 1996 | MOSH 77 | [15] |
| Various | DualDisc | 1 July 2009 | MOSH077CDD | [16] | |
| LP | 5 April 2019 | MOSH077LPUS | [17] |
References[edit]
- ^ "Cathedral: 'The Ethereal Mirror' Reissue Details Revealed". Blabbermouth.net. 30 May 2009. Archived from the original on 5 August 2009. Retrieved 13 July 2009.
- ^ Birchmeier, Jason. Cathedral: The Ethereal Mirror at AllMusic. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
- ^ a b Popoff 2007.
- ^ a b Larkin 1998.
- ^ a b Russell 1993.
- ^ a b Christoph (13 April 2013). "Cathedral - The Ethereal Mirror Review". metal.de. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
- ^ a b Atkinson 1993.
- ^ "The Ethereal Mirror". Rock Hard (Vol. 73) (in German). 27 May 1993. Retrieved 14 January 2024. (subscription required)
- ^ Kerswell 2009.
- ^ Bird 2005, p. 22.
- ^ Fury 2014, p. 21.
- ^ DiVita, Joe (13 September 2017). "Top 25 Doom Metal Albums of All Time". Loudwire. Archived from the original on 13 March 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
- ^ Anon. 1993.
- ^ Duffy 1993.
- ^ Anon. 1996.
- ^ Carman, Keith (3 June 2009). "Cathedral Reissue Classic Bout of Groove The Ethereal Mirror". Exclaim!. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
- ^ BraveWords (21 January 2019). "Cathedral - The Ethereal Mirror Reissued On Vinyl". bravewords.com. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
Bibliography[edit]
- Anon. (22 May 1993). "New Releases" (PDF). Music Week. p. 12 – via worldradiohistory.com.
- Anon. (November 1996). "Earache Records Presents the 'Welcome Home' Campaign". Hit Parader (Advertisement). No. 386. Hit Parader Publications. p. 15 – via Internet Archive.
- Atkinson, Peter (13 August 1993). "Music: Off the Record". Record-Journal. p. 26.
- Bird, Ashley, ed. (19 February 2005). "The 100 Best British Rock Albums Ever!". Kerrang!. No. 1044. EMAP. pp. 20–32, 34–36.
- Fury, Jeanne (November 2014). "The Top 100 Doom Metal Albums of All Time". Decibel Presents the Top 100 Doom Metal Albums of All Time. Red Flag Media, Inc. ISSN 1550-6614.
- Duffy, Thom (7 August 1993). "Labels Get Earache in Licensing/Distrib Deal" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 105, no. 32. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 39 – via worldradiohistory.com.
- Kerswell, Ronnie (June 2009). "Cathedral – The Ethereal Mirror". Rock Sound. No. 123. London: Freeway Press. p. 84. ISSN 1465-0185. OCLC 63197250.
- Larkin, Colin, ed. (1998). "Cathedral". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 2. MUZE Inc. pp. 990–991. ISBN 0-333-74134-X – via Internet Archive.
- Popoff, Martin (2007). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 73. ISBN 978-1-894959-62-9.
- Russell, Xavier (29 May 1993). "Rekordz". Kerrang!. No. 445. EMAP. p. 50.
