Cathedral
ULU, London
29 April 2010

To say Church Of Misery are just a direct Black Sabbath rip-off might sound a touch simplistic, but it is alarmingly close to the truth; shut your eyes for a minute and it could almost be 1970. Even front man Yoshiaki Negishi has that manic energy propelling him all over the small stage that Ozzy had back in the good old days; and that bass sound, oh that feels so good thundering out the PA in a perfect imitation of Geezer. They may be a glorified tribute band, but we’ll enjoy it whilst it lasts.

Cathedral on the other hand are still brilliantly unique after these twenty years; no band can create such gloomy music and yet make a packed hall of people smile so much. They might be a little slow to start tonight, with new tracks ”Funeral Of Dreams” and ”Painting In The Dark” sounding, well, new and not quite bedded in yet; but as soon as ”Ride” comes thundering along it all falls into place magnificently. With the band now fully in their stride, the tracks off ”The Guessing Game” come more easily; even ”Cats, Incense, Candles & Wine”, the most unusual of Cathedral numbers, finds a home in the middle of the set.

The appearance of ”Serpents Eve” towards the end of the night pleases the old guard in a return to the old school doom oft copied these days. But it”s the encore pair tonight that prove beyond any doubt that Cathedral still have “it”; ”Corpsecycle” has quickly become a real classic, sounding as if we”ve all known it for 15 years rather than the mere 5 since its release; and of course, we aren”t left without a devastating rendition of ”Hopkins (Witchfinder General)”, a truly brilliant slab of the finest doom Cathedral style.

Review by Dominic Hemy