For a band with a somewhat complex legacy, Cathedral really knew how to wrap things up with a very high quality bow back in 2013. The Last Spire was a heavy, deathly serious slab of traditional doom that placed a killer closing bookend on a hugely influential but also rather self-indulgent and occasionally goofy career. It also stood out as one of their better albums, a sign that the band meant absolute business during the sessions, perhaps because they knew they were hanging it up right after.
The EP starts in a manner more befitting of the occult cover art, with eerie voices and maniacal laughter and other such spooky sounds before an incredibly slow and simple but gigantic Gaz Jennings riff cuts through the din. The guitars and drums eventually drop for a simple organ line and Lee Dorrian’s voice–here presented with a touch of sadness as he weaves a tale of societal hopelessness:
Lords and leaders of all nations
Made a pact with Satan
Damnation, devastation
Our destruction they have chosen
It’s Cathedral making some social and political commentary in a manner that still befits their slightly Scooby-Doo-ish personality; still, the spookiest moments here don’t remotely come close to some of the goofiness they’ve displayed in the past. This is overall a very serious form of this band.
Things stay ultra slow for a few minutes before the song really picks up, both in tempo and in terms of how much it just flat rocks. The Jennings riffage – and with it the killer rhythm section work of bassist Scott Carlson (bass tone is THICK) and drummer Brian Dixon – kicks it up a major notch during these sections, as does the fatalism in Dorrian’s lyrics:
Hate dictators, greedy vultures
Hungry bankers, shall destroy us
However, the great trick that Cathedral plays during these minutes is that they allow their own desire to rock your face off to cut through all the hopelessness of the words. The passages with lyrics are more upbeat, yes, but where it really ups the brightness is during multiple lead sections. It’s almost as if Dorrian is here to herald the coming of our doom and Jennings is trying his best to fight back against it purely through the power of great rock and roll. It’s a really fun contrast and represents some of the best material on the EP, especially when one of the liveliest solos is backed by really bouncy accompaniment with particularly nice drumming from Dixon.
At one point, the song begins to trade off quieter passages – one eerie, one folksier – for more doom metal heft, some of which carries a bit of a Pink Floyd vibe both due to nice use of organ and a particularly “Echoes” quality to one of the riffs. During these passages, Dorrian continues to pepper lyrical doom over musical doom, really diving into the inevitability of our collective plight:
Join the rat race until the final bell
Or fight the system from a prison cell
Divert your mind away from this living hell
And drift through space so deep, it’s never ending…
There eventually becomes a moment when not even Jennings’ solos seem to want to rescue us. Not long after Dorrian sings “We destroy ourselves / We destroy everything else” and finally “Last goodbye,” the song finds itself back in the ultra slow, monolithic material of its earliest minutes, and finally back in the unsettling sounds that open it. The message is clear: despite the fact that much of the song presents a sort of battle for our societal soul, there’s really no winning. It’s a rather harrowing message from a band best known for writing songs about Vincent Price movies, and one that seems even more timely now than when it was originally recorded. It’ll stick with you long after the EP finishes.
But the upbeat, unabashedly rocking parts also stick with you, and it’s really that contrast – not to mention universally great performances and killer production – that make Society’s Pact with Satan such a pleasant addition to the Cathedral catalog. This is clearly more for the Cathedral die-hards than casual fans, but to those die-hards it’s a great surprise and kind of final gift from a long-beloved band.
