VILLAGE CRYPT: Cabal - Midian

​Here at the Sleeping Village, we keep our most revered albums in....a very special place. Their time may have gone, but they are certainly not forgotten. Today's pick: one of  The Voiceless Apparition's favorites--an album with which this slumbering administrator was sadly unfamiliar. Until now. Read on! 

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Written by: The Voiceless Apparition

I've decided to do a small retrospective series during this quarantine and review some of my favorite classic and underrated metal bands. Today's review is the sole studio album from Cabal entitled Midian. This album features legendary Necrophagia singer Killjoy on vokills. 

"Images in Blood" begins on a mighty note. Strong frantic riffs, groove, and hooks. Killjoy's vocals are absolutely unhinged on this album, ranging from maniacal throaty screams and evil growls. "Midian" starts out with this really airy and sinister riff before exploding into a thrashing fury. There's one particular section in the song I want to talk about and it's around the 2:47 mark: this riff is beastly and I love the way they open with the tom hits and keep building up until we go into the most insanely catchy groovy section ever. "Dark Desires" is once again another highlight. While still having fast parts, this song is far more groovy in my opinion. The riffs are infectious. So memorable and catchy, I guess that could be said about all of the riffs on the album. A fantastic way to close out the first half of this album.

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"God Complex" opens the second half of the album and starts out with a really atmospheric clean guitar intro, it's quite soothing and relaxing. It eventually leads into some strong groovy riffing throughout the whole song. The guitar solos in this song are excellent too, some of the best on the entire album. "Past Sins" is another mighty stomper of a track. The main riff in this song is very epic and triumphant to me, it has an urgency to it. A stellar and violently atmospheric song. "Khaos Theory" is just a short little "interlude" with a fantastic main riff, it's a nice small, compact song, "Nocturnal Reign" is the best song on the entire. It is a journey. It's epic in scope and so dynamic. My favorite part in the entire song is at around the 5 minute mark the brutality segues into a nice atmospheric section with a beautiful bluesy guitar solo and Killjoy's eerie whispers. This song is a masterpiece in my opinion. It's so well-composed and dynamic, and vast in scope and execution. A perfect end to this album.

​What's crazy to know about this album is the fact that it was actually never finished--it was shelved for 10 years, until finally being released on CD by Red Stream Inc. For this not being a finished album I will say that the 7 songs that were finished are fucking masterpieces. Dynamics, atmosphere, brutality, and RIFFS: that's the best way to describe Midian. In my opinion, it's the second greatest album ever made. YOU NEED TO LISTEN TO THIS ALBUM!!!

​​Cabal - Midian was released in 2000 by Red Stream. 

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Cabal...can't really be found anywhere. Check 'em out on youtube or spotify, I guess?