After a twenty-one-year career, British doom/stoner veterans CATHEDRAL have announce their "retirement" from the scene. The band will make its exit from the live arena at the end of this year and plans to record one final studio album to be released in 2012. Commented vocalist Lee Dorrian; "It's simply time for us to bow out. Twenty one years is a very long time and it's almost a miracle that we managed to come this far! "We've had a great time during CATHEDRAL's existence and it has literally been our life. It's just time to move on and leave our recorded legacy to linger". Since forming in 1990, CATHEDRAL has released nine studio albums and several EPs. A large part of their career was spent recording for Earache Records, debuting with the landmark 1991 doom metal classic "Forest of Equilibrium". This was followed by the seminal 1993 "Ethereal Mirror" album which was released by Columbia Records in America to large critical acclaim. More recently CATHEDRAL has continued to expand on its overall sound, releasing two albums for the Nuclear Blast label. Dorrian continues, "Our latest album, 'The Guessing Game', is exactly where we wanted to be after all this time. Staying in one place, being repetitive and predictable is something we wanted to avoid right from the off." CATHEDRAL recently reunited with the original lineup for their twentieth anniversary concert to perform their aforementioned debut in its entirety. They are scheduled to make several final live appearances 2011, including dates in Japan and at the Maryland Deathfest. More dates will follow, including a farewell London show later in the year. Dorrian concludes: "We would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to those special people who have supported CATHEDRAL over the years. It may sound like a cliché but it's certainly true — we simply wouldn't have been able to do it without you. Thanks!" by Blabbermouth.net
