As with a choice few truly great bands, the first self-financed cassette recording by Cathedral - made available in October 1990 - was a pioneering underground masterpiece in its own right; the sound of a young band exploring its newfound chemistry, finding confident variations on a flawless list of influences and cultivating a sound and style that would prove hugely inspirational throughout the 1990s and beyond, being a major influence on everyone from Electric Wizard through to Reverend Bizarre.

On July 10th, Rise Above Records will reissue this classic demo as an exclusive LP format, which can be pre-ordered here. The CD/DVD version will be released July 24th and can be pre-ordered on Amazon.

A clip of live footage recorded in Groningen from 1991 of the song "All Your Sins”, taken from the DVD portion of the In Memoriam CD/DVD package, can be seen below:

 
Where most demos are little more than a dry run for the first album, In Memoriam still has its own distinct and important identity in the Cathedral canon. The debut LP that followed, Forest Of Equilibrium, has a sombre, devout, melodic and mystical grandeur all of its own - but In Memoriam has a far murkier, earthier, more deathly intent. Creepy, cryptic and bowel-looseningly heavy, it represents the first time that the doom metal stylings of Trouble, Saint Vitus, Pentagram and Witchfinder General had been rendered in a new, more extreme metallic form.

 

 

At the beginning of the new decade, it was really only Cathedral who were proud to assert the influence of true doom metal - a perennially unfashionable genre, but especially in a turn-of-the-decade metal scene so obsessed with speed, technicality, brutality and modernity.
 
The CD edition comes with a bonus DVD, featuring a rare live performance from 1991. It also incudes a booklet with extensive notes and rare photos. The vinyl edition comes as a double 180gm LP set in gatefold sleeve and full sized eight-page booklet.

Tracklisting is as follows:
 
Demo 1990:
"Mourning Of A New Day"
"All Your Sins"
"Ebony Tears"
"March"
Live Holland / Belgium 1991
"Intro / Comiserating The Celebration"
"Ebony Tears"
"Neophytes For Serpent Eve"
"All Your Sins"
"Mourning Of A New Day"

DVD Live in Groningen (NL) May 1st 1991:
"Intro / Comiserating The Celebration"
"Ebony Tears"
"Neophytes For Serpent Eve"
"All Your Sins"
"Mourning Of A New Day"