Death Penalty
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Death Penalty Interviews and Features
Below are our features and interviews with Death Penalty.
Interview
Cathedral Guitarist Gaz Jennings Discusses Demo
Black Sabbath’s first devilish tri-tones on their namesake track gave birth to the doom metal riff in 1970. However, the ‘80s was the decade that truly defined doom. Trouble, Candlemass, Saint Vitus and Pentagram all debuted with monumental full-lengths in the mid-Eighties. Greatness had already been achieved and ideas used. When Cathedral emerged in 1989 they weren’t trying to reinvent the wheel. The band sought to recreate the sounds of the bands they loved, doom bands.
Cathedral is heavily influenced by Black Sabbath, but the group is far from being a cover band. Gary “Gaz” Jennings has a signature guitar sound. His guitar speaks its own language. Also, Cathedral expanded the conversation on metal bands for how slow a band could get. They took the rhythms of doom bands and slowed them down even further. Not that these paces were always expected of them. Fans of Napalm Death did not expect the newest band from Lee Dorian, one of the singers on Napalm Death’s debut “Scum,” to sing so slowly.
Lumbering riffs, psychedelic space jams and Dorian’s slow and low gruff voice made this band a new favorite in the still blossoming doom scene. The group released nine albums, influenced countless acts and played all over the world, often with bands they idolized like Black Sabbath and Saint Vitus. They released memorable videos like “Ride” and “Hopkins (Witchfinder General).” Above all the group was having fun. When they stopped having fun was when they decided to call it quits.
Cathedral has been on hiatus since 2013, but their music lives on. Lee Dorian has a place to re-release the band’s albums on his label, Rise Above Records. One such release was the band’s demo “In Memoriam.” While drone and funeral doom bands of today play even slower tempos than “In Memoriam,” the demo was at the time hailed for being excruciatingly slow. I spoke with founding member and guitarist Gaz Jennings about this reissue. He reflected on the band’s early days, its eventual demise, and brought us up to date with his new projects Lucifer and Death Penalty. More...