Cathedral - The Ethereal Mirror/Statik Majik EP Reissue

Another re-issue from Cathedral which I bought for the DVD which turned out to be a bit of a disappointment but more about that later. This one is the second album "The Ethereal Mirror" which is comes with a extra 35 minutes of music in the form of the "Statik Majik EP" and a bonus DVD. No need to go into song descriptions, most people will already know this album backwards. It was a real change for the band after the Doom-Fest which was their first album "Forest of Equilibrium". While their is still plenty of Doomy passages, the sound of the band changed dramatically. The vocal work of Lee Dorrian dropped the growling, moaning style and the guitar sound was pushed higher in the mix. While it was less Doomy, they became more polished, precise and focused. Since its release in 1993 it has become wildly recognized as one of the best albums from the band along with the first album and "The Garden Of Uneartly Delights" but that really comes down to personal preference. I rate "Endtyme" as being just as good as those albums with "Carnival Bizarre" coming in right behind them in terms of solid, no filler product. The EP "Statik Majik" is also one of their best ever recordings and you get that as a bonus here but its strangely missing the track "Midnight Mountain".If you already have all these recordings, the only real incentive to buy this re-issue is the DVD here named "Ethereal Reflections". Is it worth it you asked, well not really as it is pretty boring even for a dedicated Cathedral fan like myself. The motionless camera work doesn't help and if you have seen the DVD that came with the "Forest Of Equilibrium" then this just more of the same except talking about a different album this time. There is some questions fielded by cover artist Dave Patchett but that is the only real interesting moment on the DVD. The DVD is also dead basic, you can't even skip bits as it only has a "play all" function on the menu. The other negative thing about this re-issue is the way it is packaged. The "Statik Majik" EP is simply glued to the back of the CD case, I didn't even attempt to removed it as I didn't want to tear the CD sleeve. Why they choose to do this is just a mystery and it gives the package a cheap look about it. These type of re-issues are really only of interest to new fans or people wanting to check the band out for the first time. If you are one of these people, then this is great value as you get over 2 hours of CD/DVD for a bargain price. The album itself is of course essential and I will listen to it forever, for me its a timeless piece of work but the packaging and the less than entertaining DVD documentary spoils what could have been something really unique. If you still never bothered to seek this album out, then this re-issue would be the way to go. 9.5/10