Legendary UK doom metallers CATHEDRAL have called it quits.

Their statement reads as follows:

After a twenty-one year career, Cathedral announce their forthcoming retirement from the scene. The band will make their exit from the live arena at the end of this year and plan to record one final studio album to be released in 2012.

According to 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 the band have released nine studio albums and several EP's. 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 have continued to expand on their 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."

The band's uncompromising individual style has gained them a large cult-following around the world. They recently reunited with the original line-up 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!"