You could say that Cathedral is a band that sums up the phrase “something old and something new” perfectly. This is because Cathedral are not exactly a new band as they first appeared back in 1978 when they released their debut album “Stained Glass Stories”. Now almost thirty years later they have decided to “create” music once more and unleash a follow up album entitled “The Bridge”. Amazingly even after all this time Cathedral have managed to come back with the original line-up nearly intact, the only new addition is David Doig who has taken up guitar duties.

Again received via MusicSubmit.com the promo material received features six tracks, four of which are “clips” of what are, the original, longer songs. The first thing that strikes you about the music of Cathedral is the sheer amount of musical ideas that flow effortlessly. “Satellite” sounds like a wonderful fusion of early Genesis and Gentle Giant with Steve Howe (Yes) and Robert Fripp (King Crimson) like guitar playing as the icing on the cake. “The Lake” wanders down interesting pathways and had me comparing Paul Seal's vocals to Steve Hogarth whilst he was in The Europeans (before he joined Marillion).

Of the "clips" “The Secret” has an exotic quality with some very Yes like moments when the tempo picks up and the bass lines come to the fore. The only thing that left me a bit cold was the use of the electronic drum kit that sounds too sterile amongst all the other organic instruments. An acoustic kit would have added some character and resonant cymbals would have helped glue things together. “Monsterhead Suite” on the other hand sounds complex and involved and the section on offer got better on each listen. Like the most intriguing progressive rock it doesn’t give away its melodic secrets on first listen. “Hollins” is another track where the electronic drums sound intrusive and at some points almost make things feel like they are being dragged along but, thanks to gorgeous melody lines and emotive singing, things are kept on track. Final clip “Angular World” is aptly named, as there are no soft edges to this song. What it does have is some startling guitar work that brings to mind Steve Hackett in his prime. It sounds and feels gutsy and adventurous and had me wishing I could have heard the complete track.

For Cathedral fans I am sure the bands new material will be embraced with open arms but for progressive fans brought up on the new breed of bands like Transatlantic, The Flower Kings, Karmakanic or The Tangent one wonders if their seventies, and one has to say purist prog’, will make much of an impact. One has to hope that Cathedral fans that enjoyed the band first time out are still around. Things are looking promising for the band as French label Musea appear to be at the advanced stages of offering the band a deal and one hopes that when they commence writing new music they employ an external producer to help focus their considerable talents into creating a sound that progressive rock fans of today can latch onto.

Contact: www.cathedralprogrock.com

Track Listing

Satellite
The Lake
The Secret (Clip)
Monsterhead Suite (Clip)
Hollins (Clip)
Angular World (Clip)

Line Up

Fred Callan - Bass
Mercury Caronia IV - Drums
Tom Doncourt - Keyboards/Flute
David Doig - Guitars
Paul Seal - Vocals