Cathedral vocalist Lee Dorrian belongs on a short list of key influential doom metal luminaries. Alongside the likes of Tony Iommi, Wino, Bobby Liebling and Candlemass‘ Leif Edling, he has been a principle figure in making doom metal what it is today. With guitarist Gary “Gaz” Jennings, he has continually helped reshape doom in Cathedral‘s image, inspiring a generation of heads to plug in and freak out.

The Guessing Game is Cathedral‘s first album in five years. It is their second offering through Nuclear Blast, second record in a row produced by Warren Riker (Down), and with it, the band celebrates their 20-year anniversary. Joining Jennings and Dorrian are longtime bassist Leo Smee (also formerly of Bill Steer‘s Firebird) and drummer Brian Dixon, and the album is a 2CD foray into ’70s prog, psych and folk the likes of which they’ve never before attempted. Having written a record more in line with their earliest works, the band summarily threw it out and started over, making — as Dorrian puts it — the album they always wanted to make.

I won’t delay, both because I’ve already reviewed the album and because the interview’s long and comprehensive enough, but I would like to say thank you to Lee Dorrian for taking the time for the following Q&A session, and to Nuclear Blast for facilitating. And of course, thank you for reading. The more you do, the more these things become possible.

Q&A is after the jump. Please enjoy.

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If you think 7:57 is a long runtime for an album trailer, consider the massiveness of Cathedral‘s recently reviewed The Guessing Game, the fact that it’s the band’s 20th anniversary, and that they kick ass. The Guessing Game is out this week in Europe, but the US has to wait until April 20, which for us non-stoner stoner rockers is kind of a bummer. Nonetheless, here’s this:

A double album is always a curious read, and Cathedral’s ninth full-length, The Guessing Game, with which the legendary UK doom outfit celebrates their 20th anniversary, is no exception. All the more so considering The Guessing Game is so close to the 80-minute limit of what would fit on a regular compact disc that, if the band had nixed the two two-and-a-half-minute intros, the record would have fit easily. So it’s not like they’ve come up with such an abundance of material as a follow-up to 2005’s The Garden of Unearthly Delights, but the jeans are just a little too tight to hold what they’ve got. I think we’ve all been there at one time or another.

Please don’t take that as calling The Guessing Game bloated. As one of the bands who set the course for the genre of traditional doom with classic albums like 1993’s The Ethereal Mirror and 1995’s The Carnival Bizarre, they know what it takes to make a good record, and although I generally fall on the side of cut what you need to to make it work — to the point of agreeing with George Martin that The White Album should have been a single disc (would the world really miss “Rocky Raccoon” or “Revolution No. 9?”) — if after two decades of existence, Cathedral want to make a 2CD, I’m not about to fault them for doing so. After five years, I’m just happy to have a new record. Any issue of how to interpret whether to take it as one whole work or two separate albums is secondary to that. Maybe that’s The Guessing Game.

In any case, the remaining original and principal members of the band, vocalist Lee Dorrian (whose back story by now shouldn’t need retelling) and guitarist Garry “Gaz” Jennings, both give remarkable performances throughout The Guessing Game. From “Funeral of Dreams” and down the line of the first disc’s material, Dorrian’s voice is a constant high point. Even as “Funeral of Dreams” pays bizarre homage to ritualistic ‘70s prog — think bands like Black Widow and Coven — Dorrian stays in character and on point vocally. And it’s a hearty “holy shit” moment nearly every time Jennings kicks into a solo, perhaps most especially on “Painting in the Dark.”

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…Actually, they don’t. They pretty much lay it all out there when it comes to their new album, The Guessing Game, due out in March on Nuclear Blast. Blabbermouth had the story — though it looks like something off the PR wire — but here it is, cut and pasted for your viewing convenience:

Veteran British doom/stoner band Cathedral will release its ninth full-length album and second for the Nuclear Blast label, The Guessing Game, on March 26. The CD was recorded at the Chapel studios (The Darkness, Napalm Death, Uriah Heep, Wet Wet Wet, Simple Minds) in Lincolnshire, UK and was once again produced by Warren Riker (Down, Crowbar). It also sports stunning new artwork from band collaborator Dave Patchett.

The Guessing Game tracklisting:
01. Immaculate Misconception (2:24)
02. Funeral of Dreams (8:28)
03. Painting in the Dark (6:18)
04. Death of an Anarchist (7:12)
05. The Guessing Game (3:08)
06. Edwige’s Eyes (7:08)
07. One Dimensional People (2:30)
08. Casket Chasers (6:41)
09. La Noche del Buque Maldito (AKA Ghost Ship of the Blind Dead) (5:46)
10. The Running Man (8:46)
11. Requiem for the Voiceless (9:50)
12. Journey’s Into Jade (10:36)

…And I couldn’t agree more! Hell, it’s been four years since The Garden of Unearthly Delights. Time to get this thing moving. Blabbermouth has it that long-running UK doom lords Cathedral are shortly to enter the studio with Warren Riker to record their second album for Nuclear Blast. In the meantime, Earache has been on a tear reissuing old albums, the latest of which is The Ethereal Mirror, reviewed here. Here art the informations:

Veteran British doom/stoner band Cathedral will enter Chapel Studios in Lincolnshire, UK in November to record its ninth full-length album and second for the Nuclear Blast label. Titled The Guessing Game, the new CD will once again be produced by Warren Riker (Down, Crowbar) and sport stunning new artwork from band collaborator Dave Patchett. Song titles set to appear on the CD (among others) include:

Journeys into Jade
The Casket Chasers
Funeral of Dreams
Death of an Anarchist
La Noche del Buque Maldito (a.k.a. Ghost Ship of the Blind Dead)
Open Mind Surgery

The Guessing Game is scheduled for a March/April 2010 release.

Though I?ve come over the years to appreciate the massive influence and impact long-running UK doom lords Cathedral have had on the international scene, they?re not really a band I listen to every day. Not so say I?m not a fan — ?twould be heresy — but I came late to the party and missed what?s widely regarded as their best era.

That era might be best presented in 1993?s The Ethereal Mirror, on which they kept holy the Black Sabbath while bringing more rock elements to their sound than there had been on the 1991 debut, Forest of Equilibrium. Frontman Lee Dorrian?s voice growled less (?disco supernova!?), the riffs were higher in the mix and the band, all around, seemed to have more focus. It?s an album well-deserving the reissue treatment Earache has already given Forest of Equilibrium and 1995?s follow-up, The Carnival Bizarre.

In a way, The Ethereal Mirror delivers the best and worst of the reissue process. Like Forest of Equilibrium, there?s a DVD included with a 40-minute interview about the album (actually, I think it was filmed the same day at the Forest of Equilibrium one — if not that, definitely the same bar), and even includes 1994?s Statik Majik EP, which is nearly 35 minutes of extra music. Would have been over 40, but ?Midnight Mountain,? originally the opener, is nowhere to be found.

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Usually when an allegedly limited edition reissue comes out and it’s packing a bonus DVD, it’s a completely skip worthy live set shot on one or two cameras with crappy sound that’s boring as hell. That, or like in the case of Earache‘s tackling last year of Cathedral‘s 1995 classic, The Carnival Bizarre, it’s all previously released. Review-wise, the second disc obliges a mention and little else. For their remaster of the seminal UK doomers’ 1991 debut, Forest of Equilibrium, however, the label has included a new 40-minute interview with the band about their career and making this album. Previously unreleased and relevant.

Granted, it’s shot mostly on one camera — other footage is spliced in — and it requires serious attention paid to dig words out of those Coventry accents, but it was enough for me to at least check it out before doing the review, hoping I’d learn something. I learned the “Ebony Tears” video (also included) kicks ass.

The audio portion of the release includes 1992’s Soul Sacrifice EP as another bonus and is a landmark in doom. Vocalist Lee Dorrian (blah blah Napalm Death, blah blah Rise Above Records), guitarists Gaz Jennings and Adam Lehan, bassist Mark Griffiths and drummer Mike Smail created a seven-track classic that’s morose by any standard you want to apply — even in comparing it to what was happening doom-wise in the UK at the time with My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost and Anathema. Put it next to Cathedral‘s last release, 2005’s The Garden of Unearthly Delights, and it almost sounds like a completely different band (Lehan, Griffiths and Smail being long gone might also have something to do with that).

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No, it’s not news. If it was, it would be this color. But just think about it: the tour dates are announced, you read it on Blabbermouth or on StonerRock ? or, Iommi forbid, you read it here ? and you see that coming to whatever midsized venue nearest you, wherever you are in the US, is the package tour of Cathedral, Grand Magus, Electric Wizard, Orange Goblin, with Solace opening. Full US run of shows, probably 40 dates or so. All the old-man doom you can handle and then some.