Cathedral

Widely recognized as the creators of doom metal, Black Sabbath inspired several acts that sustained the style through the '80s and early '90s amid the originators' lean period, among them Saint Vitus, Trouble, Candlemass, and most notably the U.K.-based Cathedral. After departing grindcore godfathers Napalm Death in the late '80s, singer Lee Dorrian established a new group centered on Sabbath's deliberate pacing instead of his previous band's relentless intensity. Cathedral came together in 1989, featuring Dorrian alongside guitarists Mark Griffiths and Gary Jennings plus drummer Andy Baker. Personnel shifts began almost at once, as Ben Mochrie took over drums after a handful of rehearsals, Griffiths moved to bass, and Adam Lehan joined as second guitarist. The self-produced demo In Memoriam appeared in 1991 on Dorrian's Rise Above Records label and would later receive a CD reissue nearly a decade afterward that included additional tracks.

Earache, the prominent U.K. metal imprint, signed the band soon after, leading to the 1991 full-length debut Forest of Equilibrium. While major U.S. labels pursued grindcore acts such as Entombed, Carcass, and Napalm Death, Cathedral nonetheless secured a deal with Columbia Records despite bearing scant musical resemblance to those groups. Lineup flux did not prevent the release of what many consider the band's strongest effort, The Ethereal Mirror, in 1993. The following year the group supported their heroes Black Sabbath, specifically the Tony Martin-fronted lineup, on a European tour.

At that point only Dorrian and Jennings remained from the original configuration, and Columbia dropped the band after one album. Cathedral nevertheless returned to Earache and, across the rest of the '90s and into the early 2000s, issued The Carnival Bizarre in 1995, Supernatural Birth Machine in 1996, Caravan Beyond Redemption in 1998, and Endtyme in 2001. In 2002 the group moved to Spitfire for its seventh studio album overall, The VIIth Coming. Nuclear Blast became the new home in 2004, and two years later The Garden of Unearthly Delights followed. The ninth release, the first double album The Guessing Game, arrived in 2010. Through their persistence Cathedral helped pave the way for later doom acts including Orange Goblin, Electric Wizard, and Spiritual Beggars that emerged in the mid- to late '90s.