The Ethereal Mirror

The Ethereal Mirror is the second studio album by British doom metal band Cathedral. It was first released in the UK on 24 May 1993 by Earache Records, and in the United States on 6 July 1993 by Columbia Records. Earache re-issued the album in 2009 with the Statik Majik EP as bonus tracks and the DVD Ethereal Reflections as DualDisc.

Artwork

The album's front cover artwork unfolds and expands into something "much larger and weirder," according to Kenny Schticky of MetalSucks.

Reception and legacy

The Ethereal Mirror received critical acclaim. Peter Atkinson of the Record-Journal stated that "By tempering the oppressive gloom of its debut for a more spirited thunder, Britain's Cathedral has crafted the heaviest and most brutally satisfying album of the year." Kerrang! Xavier Russell considered it a stronger album than Forest of Equilibrium, praising Lee Dorrian's discernable vocals and the interplay between guitarists Adam Lehan and Garry Jennings. In their retrospective review, Metal.de called the album "a work of transition that seems almost formless in a positive sense, which draws its charm from the close proximity of styles and moods: dark doom here, right next to loosely rocking brain drills". Martin Popoff, writing in The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal Volume 3: The Nineties, called the album "Fantastically powerful throughout" and singled out "Ride" as the best track in Cathedral's discography up to that point.
In 2000, Terrorizer listed the album as one of the "100 Most Important Albums of the Nineties". In 2005, Kerrang! ranked the album at number 83 on their list of the "100 Best British Rock Albums Ever", stating that it "confirmed status as the real Brit metal warlords." In 2014, Decibel ranked the album at number 56 on their list of the "Top 100 Doom Metal Albums of All Time". On Loudwire 2017 list of the "Top 25 Doom Metal Albums of All Time", it was ranked ninth.
In 2022, Kenny Schticky of MetalSucks included the album in his list of "10 CD Booklets That Should Be Remembered as Fine Art."

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Lee Dorrian, except where noted.

Personnel

Cathedral

Garry Jennings – guitar, bass
Lee Dorrian – vocals
Mark Ramsey Wharton – drums
Adam Lehan – guitar

Technical personnel

David Bianco – recording, production, mixing
Shaun DeFo – engineering
Dave Patchett – cover painting
Summer Lacy – inside layout