Cathedral and Rise Above main man Lee Dorrian talks about his time with Napalm Death and the lasting impact it has had on him…

A lot of people probably still think I’m the same person I was in 1988 because they’ve got a record there which makes Napalm Death timeless for them. Their vision of you is from that time. But in reality I might be the same in many ways but I’m certainly not a person who wants to hide the way I’ve grown up and the fact I like to try new things with Cathedral. I want to bring that into what I do musically. I don’t see the point in trying to stay ‘true’ to what I was. If it’s not how I feel then what’s the point of it? That kind of music that I did in the old days is still true to my principles and beliefs but if I was to do that style of music now just for the sake of it then it wouldn’t be true, it would just be pretending.

The new Cathedral album uses fantasy as a means of storytelling and social allegory but that is not how I grew up though. I grew up listening to Discharge and hardcore and stuff like that; there was no time for fantasy or escapism in Napalm Death. That was literally just like banging your head against the wall until the wall broke or whatever. But the wall didn’t break. All that probably broke was your head. You have to get to some point in your life where you can start enjoying your life to a certain extent and not feeling responsible for everything that goes on round you.

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