Forest of Equilibrium

1991 studio album by Cathedral

Studio album by

Cathedral

Released

14 October 1991 (1991-10-14)

Recorded

July–August 1991

Studio

Workshop Studios, Redditch, England

Genre

Doom metal

Length

54:09

Label

Earache, Relativity

Producer

Steve Gurney (a.k.a. PBL)^[1]
Lee Dorrian
Gary Jennings

Cathedral chronology

In Memorium EP
(1990)

Forest of Equilibrium
(1991)

The Ethereal Mirror
(1993)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[2]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	6/10^[3]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	^[4]
Kerrang!	(1991)^[5] (2011)^[6]
Metal.de	9/10^[7]
Ox-Fanzine	^[8]
Rock Hard	9/10^[9]

Forest of Equilibrium is the debut studio album by British metal band Cathedral, released on 14 October 1991 on Earache Records.^[10] It is considered a classic of its genre, doom metal.^[6]^[11]^[12] Forest of Equilibrium was notably inducted into Decibel magazine's Hall of Fame in February 2006 being the 12th inductee for the Decibel Hall of Fame.^[13]

In 2009, Earache Records reissued the album along with four "bonus" songs that comprise the long out-of-print 1992 Soul Sacrifice EP. This deluxe digipak reissue also includes a poster of Dave Patchett's cover art and a new 40-minute documentary entitled "Return to the Forest" on DVD.^[14]

Track listing

All lyrics by Lee Dorrian unless noted; all music by Garry Jennings unless noted

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Picture of Beauty & Innocence (Intro)/Commiserating the Celebration"			11:16
2.	"Ebony Tears"			7:46
3.	"Serpent Eve"	Mark Griffiths	Jennings, Adam Lehan	7:40
4.	"Soul Sacrifice"	Griffiths		2:54
5.	"A Funeral Request (Ethereal Architect)"	Griffiths, David Park Barnitz	Lehan	9:17
6.	"Equilibrium"			6:08
7.	"Reaching Happiness, Touching Pain"			9:08

Personnel

Personnel per liner notes.^[15]

Cathedral

Lee Dorrian – vocals, production assistant
Garry Jennings – guitar, production assistant
Adam Lehan – guitar, acoustic guitar
Mark Griffiths – bass guitar
Mike Smail – drums

Additional personnel

Reverend Wolski – keyboard
Helen Acreman – flute

Production

Steve Gurney – production (credited as PBL)^[1]
Mark Tempest – engineering
Dave Patchett – sleeve artwork
Jason Tilley – photos
J. Barry – layout

References

^ ^a ^b Bennett 2006, p. 46.
^ Birchmeier, Jason. Cathedral: Forest of Equilibrium at AllMusic. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
^ Popoff 2007.
^ Larkin 1998, p. 991.
^ Gitter 1991.
^ ^a ^b Ruskell 2011.
^ Matthias (30 April 2013). "Cathedral - Forest of Equilibrium Review". metal.de. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
^ Bohnensack, André (August 2009). "Review - Cathedral - Forest of Equilibrium". Ox-Fanzine (in German). Retrieved 14 January 2024.
^ Rock Hard Editorial (22 November 1991). "Forest Of Equilibrium". Rock Hard (Vol. 56) (in German). Retrieved 14 January 2024.
^ Alexander 1991.
^ Ayers 1996.
^ Badin 2006.
^ Chase, Jesse. "Cathedral – "Forest of Equilibrium"". Decibel. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
^ "CATHEDRAL: 'Forest Of Equilibrium' Reissue To Include 40-Minute Documentary". Blabbermouth.net. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
^ Cathedral (1991). Forest of Equilibrium (booklet). Earache Records. MOSH 43.

Bibliography

Alexander, Phil, ed. (31 August 1991). "Record News". Raw. No. 79. EMAP. p. 7.
Ayers, Chris (19 April 1996). "There's no Trouble in the Cathedral when these bands play". The Herald. Rock Hill. p. 7D.
Badin, Olivier (May 2006). "The Depths of Doom". Terrorizer. No. 144. Dark Arts Ltd. p. 52.
Bennett, J. (February 2006). "Doom On: The Making of Cathedral's Forest of Equilibrium". Decibel. No. 16. Red Flag Media, Inc. pp. 42–44, 46–48, 50.
Gitter, Mike (26 October 1991). "Rekordz". Kerrang!. No. 364. EMAP. p. 22.
Larkin, Colin, ed. (1998). "Cathedral". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 2. MUZE Inc. pp. 990–991. ISBN 0-333-74134-X – via Internet Archive.
Popoff, Martin (2007). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 73. ISBN 978-1-894959-62-9.
Ruskell, Nick (November 2011). "Cathedral: Forest of Equilibrium". Kerrang!: 666 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die!. Bauer Media Group. p. 24.