Kinda far-fetched there. I personally like it a lot when bands go unpredictable and play around with different styles and genres, and I think it’s pretty awesome to see a “classic” band like Cathedral do it. But this album isn’t close to being class A material, IMO: it’s solid, has good moments and all, but it’s pretty self-indulgent and has a bunch of fillers. They could have easily cut 30 minutes from it and I doubt anyone would have cared.

I love the way it leaves a certain room, and respect for other opinions. It doesnt judge, point fingers or look down on music just because a band was “more true” in ancient/previous times.

I wish metal fans were less narrow minded, not all are but many. I’m a major metal fan and listen to Meshuggah and Strapping and whatnot every day but can still appreciate a band moving on to different territories, such as Paradise Losts’ brilliant album Host.

Cheers Donald!

i still like the old devourment of course

I’d hoped that my review would say that the album has appeal for all kinds of music fans… not just those who hear the name “Cathedral” and immediately have a (sound) vision of what the album is or should be. I also hoped, as mentioned, that some folks would listen to the album without preconceived notions. I hang onto that hope.

As to the “he didn’t even name songs or get specific,” you’re absolutely right–but I didn’t name specific tracks in part because this is one of those listens that exists as a whole, not as iTunes single-track downloads, if you ask me. Take ANY album (ahh, that word… so much in danger of extinction these days), and you get a snapshot of a band in a moment. And to me, The Guessing Game AS A WHOLE is Cathedral right now.

Let me echo Apollyon’s comment: we appreciate feedback, and we listen to/read it. As a music fan I will read every comment folks offer in response to my reviews and will, in all likelihood, go back and relisten through the lens of those comments. I can only hope some of you who read reviews here and disagree with them will consider doing the same.

Cheers…

What is wrong with me today? :D

A band with as many albums as Cathedral, it would be kinda boring if they had too many that sounded the same…

Personally I’d hold a thorough, more wordy review of a mediocre album head and shoulders above a glancing skim over a great (or terrible, as the subject matter dictates) album any day.

In this particular case, however, I can’t comment as I haven’t heard the actual release to know whether or not something truly crucial was missing from the review. Perhaps some tracks could have been named and perhaps the music could have been opened a bit more — or perhaps not. But please take comfort in the fact that we, here at TotD, listen to the feedback that we get.