Cathedral - The Carnival Bizarre (1995) (2008, Limited Edition CD/DVD)

Date: April 20, 2012

After displaying a remarkable sense of adventure and willingness towards creativity on their amazing second album (The Ethereal Mirror) and an interim EP Statik Majik, major things were expected of Cathedral’s third effort. To say the band delivered on all possible expectations would be an odious understatement. Even a pretty serious membership shuffle (new rythym section entirely) could not derail the band’s creative forward chug. And while there’s nothing here totally outside of the band’s established sound scope, this is their most focused album ever, forging a batch of classic songs that are on par with nearly anything conjured by the band’s influences.

Blasting off with the hip shake of “Vampire Sun,” it’s apparent the band’s moving parts are well oiled and ready to lay serious groove on all present eardrums. “Utopian Blaster” rides upon sounds cut from the Sabbath stones, and guess who contributes guitar work here? Yup, it’s Tony Iommi himself. Could a band of this ilk ask for a better seal of approval? “Hopkins (The Witchfinder General),” if it hasn’t already, will earn a place among the finest metal songs ever penned. Both an homage to the Hammer horror film and the band’s prime NWOBHM influence, this cut storms through some of the greatest guitar riffs ever laid down, set down upon the band’s now signature groove. It would be hard to beat that cut, but the epic length title song makes a good try. Another sterling song, this one stretches into a trudging doom section complete with some fine keyboard insertions. “Place Of Fallen Majesty” and “Night Of The Seagulls” make the most obvious stabs at the pure doom metal roots the band were shaking loose from, and fine they are. And although “Electric Grave” sounds like it could possibly be constructed from discarded bits of other songs on board, it still retains it’s own heart and soul. Not the best thing here, but still pretty friggin’ good.

My only (and I do mean only) issue with this album is the bottom end of the production could have been boosted quite a bit. No problem though, just crank the low end up on yer stereo and immerse your soul in the glorious vibes herein. Really people, this is not only this band’s best work, but a true accomplishment for metal as a whole. Miss it not.

~ brocashelm, www.metal-archives.com

Tracklist:

1. Vampire Sun - 4:06
2. Hopkins (The Witchfinder General) - 5:19
3. Utopian Blaster - 5:41
4. Night Of The Seagulls - 7:00
5. Carnival Bizarre - 8:36
6. Intertia's Cave - 6:39
7. Fangalactic Supergoria - 5:55
8. Blue Light - 3:27
9. Palace Of Fallen Majesty - 7:43
10. Electric Grave - 8:25

EAC extraction logfile

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 3 from 29. August 2011

EAC extraction logfile from 18. April 2012, 19:22

Cathedral / The Carnival Bizarre (2008, MOSH1312)

Used drive : PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-219L Adapter: 1 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000

Used output format : Internal WAV Routines
Sample format : 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo

TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 4:06.32 | 0 | 18481
2 | 4:06.32 | 5:18.73 | 18482 | 42404
3 | 9:25.30 | 5:41.00 | 42405 | 67979
4 | 15:06.30 | 7:00.27 | 67980 | 99506
5 | 22:06.57 | 8:35.60 | 99507 | 138191
6 | 30:42.42 | 6:39.03 | 138192 | 168119
7 | 37:21.45 | 5:54.57 | 168120 | 194726
8 | 43:16.27 | 3:27.33 | 194727 | 210284
9 | 46:43.60 | 7:43.15 | 210285 | 245024
10 | 54:27.00 | 8:25.25 | 245025 | 282924

Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename D:\.www.AvaxHome.ru\Cathedral - The Carnival Bizarre (2008, MOSH1312).wav

Peak level 95.5 %
Extraction speed 7.6 X
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 456715D0
Copy CRC 456715D0
Copy OK

No errors occurred

AccurateRip summary

Track 1 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [349ED86B] (AR v1)
Track 2 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [F69DE913] (AR v1)
Track 3 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [2E4CF2C9] (AR v1)
Track 4 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [5D082E23] (AR v1)
Track 5 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [F63AE69F] (AR v1)
Track 6 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [5D2AF810] (AR v1)
Track 7 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [682B8262] (AR v1)
Track 8 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [89FD7BC5] (AR v1)
Track 9 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [856CB4BA] (AR v1)
Track 10 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [4F1C9612] (AR v1)

All tracks accurately ripped

End of status report

–– CUETools DB Plugin V2.1.3

[CTDB TOCID: MFhqtMNMTmOdi8gMK7qJSLaIgg8-] found, Submit result: MFhqtMNMTmOdi8gMK7qJSLaIgg8- has been confirmed
[4b707c6f] (2/2) Accurately ripped

==== Log checksum ADB0F3E691EA58F67DA71FB6762F5191D22E5AF8140F3D8EB88F4ADF3541BC08 ====

auCDtect + Dynamic Range

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DON'T MODIFY THIS FILE

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PERFORMER: auCDtect Task Manager, ver. 1.5.1RC3 build 1.5.1.4
Copyright © 2008-2010 y-soft. All rights reserved
http://y-soft.org

ANALYZER: auCDtect: CD records authenticity detector, version 0.8.2
Copyright © 2004 Oleg Berngardt. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2004 Alexander Djourik. All rights reserved.

FILE: Cathedral - The Carnival Bizarre (2008, MOSH1312).wav
Size: 665439644 Hash: 306532E07301B2F02D029609FC5B26DB Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: 18FF8D2A001AEA47EBB7FC5993D3F172881AF6FD

================================================================================

foobar2000 1.1.3 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.0
log date: 2012-04-19 18:27:26

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Cathedral / The Carnival Bizarre (2008, MOSH1312)
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR8 -0.49 dB -9.12 dB 4:06 01-Vampire Sun
DR8 -0.40 dB -8.99 dB 5:19 02-Hopkins (The Witchfinder General)
DR8 -0.56 dB -9.97 dB 5:41 03-Utopian Blaster
DR8 -0.52 dB -10.19 dB 7:00 04-Night Of The Seagulls
DR9 -0.40 dB -9.78 dB 8:36 05-Carnival Bizarre
DR9 -0.76 dB -10.44 dB 6:39 06-Intertia's Cave
DR8 -0.48 dB -8.88 dB 5:55 07-Fangalactic Supergoria
DR8 -0.56 dB -9.94 dB 3:27 08-Blue Light
DR8 -0.52 dB -9.63 dB 7:43 09-Palace Of Fallen Majesty
DR8 -0.52 dB -10.27 dB 8:25 10-Electric Grave
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 10
Official DR value: DR8

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 1411 kbps
Codec: PCM
================================================================================

DVD - Our God Has Landed:

1. Ebony Tears
2. Autumn Twilight
3. Ride
4. Midnight Mountain
5. Cosmic Funeral
6. Hopkins (The Witchfinder General)
7. Stained Glass Horizon
8. Black Sunday

Live London Astoria March 18th 1992:

9. Soul Sacrifice
10. Equilibrium
11. Autumn Twilight
12. Frozen Rapture
13. A Funeral Request

• Lee Dorrian – vocals
• Garry Jennings – guitars
• Adam Lehan – guitars
• Mark Griffiths - bass
• Mark Ramsay Wharton - drums

"Utopian Blaster" features Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi on guest guitar.

Produced by Kit Woolves. Engineered by Doog Cook.
Recorded at Park Gate Studios, May 29th - June 14th, 1995
Mastered by Noel Summervile

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