The Ethereal Mirror

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The Ethereal Mirror
CathedralEtherealMirror.jpg
Studio album by
Released24 May 1993
Recorded1993
Studio The Manor Studio, Oxfordshire, England
Genre
Length54:26
Label
Producer David Bianco
Cathedral chronology
Forest of Equilibrium
(1991)
The Ethereal Mirror
(1993)
Statik Majik
(1994)

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]

Contents

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [2]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal 9/10 [3]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [4]
Kerrang! Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [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

All lyrics are written by Lee Dorrian, except where noted.

No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Violet Vortex (Intro)" (instrumental) Garry Jennings1:54
2."Ride" Jennings4:47
3."Enter the Worms"
  • Lee Dorrian
  • David Bianco
Adam Lehan6:05
4."Midnight Mountain"
  • Dorrian
  • Bianco
Lehan4:55
5."Fountain of Innocence" Jennings7:13
6."Grim Luxuria" Lehan4:46
7."Jaded Entity"
  • Dorrian
  • Bianco
Jennings7:53
8."Ashes You Leave"
  • Dorrian
  • Bianco
Jennings6:22
9."Phantasmagoria"
  • Dorrian
  • Bianco
Jennings8:44
10."Imprisoned in Flesh"
  • Dorrian
  • Bianco
Jennings1:47
Total length:54:26
1996 CD re-issue bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
11."Sky Lifter" (instrumental)3:27
12."A Funeral Request (New 1993 Version)"7:37

Personnel

Cathedral

Technical personnel

Release history

Release history for The Ethereal Mirror
ReigonLabelFormatDateCatalog #Ref.
EuropeEarache
24 May 1993MOSH 77 [13]
United StatesColumbia
  • CD
  • CS
6 July 1993CK 53633 [14]
United StatesEarache
  • CD
  • CS
10 September 1996MOSH 77 [15]
Various DualDisc 1 July 2009MOSH077CDD [16]
LP5 April 2019MOSH077LPUS [17]

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References

  1. "Cathedral: 'The Ethereal Mirror' Reissue Details Revealed". Blabbermouth.net . 30 May 2009. Archived from the original on 5 August 2009. Retrieved 13 July 2009.
  2. Birchmeier, Jason. Cathedral: The Ethereal Mirror at AllMusic. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
  3. 1 2 Popoff 2007.
  4. 1 2 Larkin 1998.
  5. 1 2 Russell 1993.
  6. 1 2 Christoph (13 April 2013). "Cathedral - The Ethereal Mirror Review". metal.de . Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  7. 1 2 Atkinson 1993.
  8. "The Ethereal Mirror". Rock Hard (Vol. 73) (in German). 27 May 1993. Retrieved 14 January 2024.(subscription required)
  9. Kerswell 2009.
  10. Bird 2005, p. 22.
  11. Fury 2014, p. 21.
  12. 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.
  13. Anon. 1993.
  14. Duffy 1993.
  15. Anon. 1996.
  16. Carman, Keith (3 June 2009). "Cathedral Reissue Classic Bout of Groove The Ethereal Mirror". Exclaim! . Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  17. BraveWords (21 January 2019). "Cathedral - The Ethereal Mirror Reissued On Vinyl". bravewords.com . Retrieved 24 January 2024.

Bibliography