CD REVIEW Blue Cathedral

Blue Cathedral, the third CD from Comets on Fire, is a throwback rock album. At times the band produces Pink Floyd-like guitar solos and at others they’re reminiscent of the Doors and their psychedelic instrumentals.

The band was put together by Ethan Miller (guitar/vocals) and Ben Flashman (bass) in Santa Cruz, California. The band is now five members large with the new addition of second guitarist Ben Chasny.

The album starts off quickly with the seven-minute track “The Bee and the Cracking Egg,” which goes insanely fast for the first half of the song, then finally winds down at the end. The second track, “Pussy Foot the Duke,” is slower but surprisingly happy. The song features a jazzy guitar-centered tune broken up by an upbeat chorus.

The trademark of this album is that all of its eight tracks break down in the end, and this is arguably the most enjoyable part of each song. That’s not to say that the organized sections are boring, but rather to underscore this band’s ability to improvise and go nuts.

Lyrics are few and far between on this album, but that doesn’t really matter because you can’t understand them anyway. The messages of these songs are present in their mood and tempo. Miller’s screaming definitely adds to the psychedelic effect of the music.

Nothing like this has been widely released lately, and this is an album to check out for fans of any kind of rock.

Matt Dingerdissen can be contacted at m.dingerdissen@umiami.edu.