THE DREADFUL HOURS

3.5 stars. Of the three MY DYING BRIDE albums I own, this is right in the middle as far my favourites go. And this is my last review of their music. So a bit of an overview might be appropriate here. Both this site and RYM have the same clear top five when it comes to their studio albums, its just the order differs. And if extreme vocals are your thing, or aren't your thing, there is an album for you amongst these five. The five? "Turn Loose The Swans" from '93, "The Angel And The Dark River" from '95 and my favourite. The only one of the five to have completely clean vocals. "The Light At The End Of The World" from '99, "The Dreadful Hours" from '01, and lastly "Songs Of Darkness, Words Of Light" from '04.

This has been an interesting few weeks checking out their albums. KATATONIA is the one band that I kept being reminded of. Their debut was very much straight up extreme music, but on "Turn Loose The Swans" album number two they brought in clean vocals and sounds as contrasts. An improvement. "The Angel And The Dark River" in my opinion is their best. Clean vocals sure, but the compositions really impress. I was genuinely surprised at what they came up with on that one. Mentioning that IRON MAIDEN's Steve Harris was a huge fan of that one, inviting them to tour with them as a result.

The next two releases continue with the clean vocals, but then '99's "The Light AT The End Of The World" brings them back to the extreme vocals which will continue here with "The Dreadful Hours" and the next one "Songs Of Darkness, Words Of Light". It's really interesting reading the different opinions from reviewers on here for those five records. The '01 release is a long one at 71 minutes, and I'm not sure why they didn't call the close to 15 minute closer a bonus track. Since it was on their debut already, but re-worked here. Sounding like it doesn't belong though. Very extreme vocals and sound throughout. A tough way to end it.

I do like the way they use the synths on this one. It provides some cool sounding atmosphere, which is a nice addition. Sadly, the violinist is gone. I miss that flavour. He left after my favourite release in '01. The one track that really stood out for me was the 10 minute "Le Figlie Della Tempesta". Spacey for the first 1 1/2 minutes, then bass, drums and guitars kick in. Clean vocals after 2 minutes. Catchy and melodic here. It turns heavy duty before 3 1/2 minutes with more passionate sounding vocals. A nice groove with that bass around 6 1/2 minutes. Then atmosphere again as themes are repeated. Just a great track that would have fit nicely on "The Angel And The Dark River".

Just my two cents on this very talented band. They deserve the accolades. This album may not be in my wheelhouse as far as Metal goes, but it was awesome to find an album from them that is in that wheelhouse in "The Angel And The Dark River".

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