MY DYING BRIDE

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".

It was the previous album "Turn Loose The Swans" that put this UK band on the map. Released in 1993 it featured both clean and extreme vocals. "The Angel And The Dark River" is the followup to that from 1995, and the first of three albums to use only clean vocals. Most feel this album is the best of those three. The followup to this one "Like Gods Of The Sun" is their most accessible, straight forward release, while the one after that "34.788%... Complete" they went full steam into experimental music.

If you're going to check out just one MY DYING BRIDE record, "The Angel And The Dark River" is the one. I was so impressed with how melodic it is. But also I feel they spent much more time on the instrumental passages. It's just so much better than "Turn Loose The Swans" in that regard. It was really cool as well to read about IRON MAIDEN's leader Steve Harris being a big fan of this album. So much so he asked them to open for them on their European leg of their tour for "X-Factor". Three months on the road with MAIDEN! Aaron Stainthorpe the leader of MY DYING BRIDE called that experience brilliant. He said they were all fans of IRON MAIDEN as it was.

So we get around 52 minutes of music over six tracks. Lots of down-tuned guitars and crying vocals. But these guys let it rip often. Really this comes across as a Prog Metal album, but only in the way they contrast sections and repeat themes. This has more in common with KATATONIA right after their "Brave Murder Day" record. I still don't agree with the lyrics, but that is neither here nor there. This is a keeper! That opener "The Cry Of Mankind" is my favourite. I am so surprised at how patient this band is, especially those last five minutes of this over 12 minute piece. It just goes on and on, but it's amazing. Headphone music as well. Great drumming on this tune, and the guitars cry out. The piano is a nice touch as well. I like the haunting section around 10 1/2 minutes. Oh, and that repetitive guitar line that comes and goes.

"From Darkest Skies" is where the violin comes in. The violin is such a huge part of the mood here. It helps make this band stand out from the rest who play in this style. A bass intro is joined by that violin then vocals before kicking in with power. I just really appreciate the way they mix things up, the way they transition to a different section. Again, I feel the instrumental compositions have improved big time over their first two recordings.

That is heard again on the next song "Black Voyage" where again the violin is huge, but also the heavy riffs that come and go. An eerie section with creepy vocals arrives around 5 minutes in. Not liking this part of the voyage. But then it turns heavy again, as the violin, drums and driving guitars impress. "A Sea To Suffer In" rocks pretty hard over the 6 1/2 minutes. "Two Winters" contrasts the heavy and relaxed passages really well over the 9 minutes. Finally "Your Shameful Heaven" is a interesting title. Makes me think of Revelation 13:6 and my reading today Psalm 75:5. A great way to end the album though with solo violin to start as vocals and a full sound follow. The tempo picks up at 2 1/2 minutes as they rock hard followed by a calm that doesn't last long.

A very solid 4 star record, and my favourite from the band. A keeper.

While I have a huge appreciation for melancholic music that has a beauty to it, this isn't it. When the music drifts into that depressive state, I'm out. And of course their anti-God stance basically takes away any of that true light that humans are drawn to. This is a negatively dark album, like all of their music. And while I agree this is a huge upgrade over their debut, I'm just not into their cold and empty sound. That debut was extreme all the way. This second release at least has contrasts to that extreme side of their music. Clean guitars and vocals have a place here.

They were a five piece on that debut, but that one guest Martin Powell who added violin becomes the sixth member here on album number two. He also adds piano making him an important part of their change in sound. This record has plenty of violin and piano. We get just under an hour of music over seven tracks. This album is hugely influential. That doesn't mean it's good of course, it just means that a young band at the time like KATATONIA suddenly has new heroes, along with PARADISE LOST who were from this same period. Some bands mention early ANATHEMA as well, again this is all during the early nineties.

So we get lots of slow and repetitive music that has more in common with DEAD CAN DANCE than the Prog Metal going on at this time. They are about creating as depressing a mood as possible. Hopeless music. I think there are comparisons to be made between this band and KATATONIA. Both released debuts that were their most extreme, and both are my least favourites. Album number two for both would be what hard core fans consider their best. Their classic records in "Brave Murder Day" and "Turn Loose The Swans". Both bands bring in clean vocals and music that is less abrasive that at least create some good contrasts. But it's the third albums from both where they find their signature sound and where I feel they start releasing their best music.

Like KATATONIA's "Brave Murder Day", 3 stars is all I got for this one. Now "The Angel And The Dark River" is another story.

"A Mortal Binding" is the fifteenth full-length studio album by UK doom/death metal act My Dying Bride. The album was released through Nuclear Blast in April 2024. It´s the successor to "The Ghost of Orion" from March 2020. There have been a couple of lineup changes since the predecessor as guitarist Neil Blanchett has joined as the band´s second guitarist (he actually already joined in 2019 but didn´t perform on "The Ghost of Orion"), and drummer Jeff Singer has left and has been replaced by a returning Dan Mullins, who previously played with My Dying Bride in the 2007-2012 period.

It´s been quite a few years and albums since My Dying Bride released anything which surprised the fans of the band (the last time was with the release of "Evinta" in 2011), but My Dying Bride actually used to be (pre-2000) a pretty experimental death/doom metal act in terms of developing their music greatly between releases (the first five studio albums are quite different in sound and style), while still staying on the path of their trademark death/doom metal style. After 2000 they´ve released many high quality releases, but also a few less inspired ones. The latter are still quality releases, which could easily be other death/doom metal artists masterpieces, but when you set the standard as high as My Dying Bride have done throughout their great career, the fans also have very high expectations each time a new My Dying Bride album hits the streets.

"A Mortal Binding" is not one of the most unique nor is it one of the most adventurous My Dying Bride releases, and as a listener you get pretty much what you expect. So all the ingredients of a My Dying Bride album are in place. Lead vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe switching between death metal growling and darkly poetic goth tinged clean vocals, heavy doomy riffs and rhythms, atmosphere enhancing keyboards, and melancholic leads delivered by both guitars and violin. What "A Mortal Binding" does different than the last couple of releases is the focus on rhythm. My Dying Bride were always a relatively rhythmic death/doom metal act, but the return of Mullins has definitely pushed My Dying Bride in a more rhythm focused direction. So it´s not all just long droning power chords and slow minimalistic drumming.

The sound production is more raw, less polished, and more immediate than the last couple of releases, and at this point it´s a relief to hear that My Dying Bride still have a bit of grit in them. Opening track "Her Dominion" is the best example of that, as it´s a pretty heavy death metal track solely featuring growling vocals. Although other tracks on the album also feature death metal growling, "Her Dominion" is however a bit of the odd one out track on "A Mortal Binding", and I´d say the remaining tracks are more in line with what you´d expect from post-2000 My Dying Bride material. Highlights include "Thornwyck Hymn" and the 11:22 minutes long "The Apocalyptist", but as always My Dying Bride are impressive in terms consistency, and there´s nothing on this album, which isn´t quality material. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

For a BRIDE that has been DYING since 1990, she sure has more lives in her than a cat which supposedly has 9. In fact the English band MY DYING BRIDE led by the distinct vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe and guitarist Andrew Craighan formed over three decades ago is still showcasing an immortality beyond the longevity of most bands from the same era. Still alive and kickin' in 2024 MY DYING BRIDE has released the 14th album of its never-ending procession of gloomy Goth-tinged doom metal with death metal decorations with A MORTAL BINDING which after a turbulent first two decades of lineup changes finds a bit of stability in the form of the same cast of members that were featured on 2020's "The Ghost of Orion" with the sole exception of Dan Mullins rejoining and replacing percussionist / drummer Jeff Singer.

Another chapter in the MY DYING BRIDE book but pretty much the same thematic developments as this band that was once wildly experimental between albums has long ago found the perfect comfort zone that seems to keep the fans coming back for more thus showcasing the desire to pacify the buying public rather than risk the golden goose by releasing some fusion of polka-based Gothic doom dance pop or anything of the sort. Au contraire. At this stage one can ostensibly predict without much chance of error exactly what any particular edition of the MY DYING BRIDE canon will sound like and in the case of A MORTAL BINDING, you guessed it! Another slice of oozing doom metal accompanied by Stainthorpe's plaintive Gothic vocal style set to the oozing dread of doom metal with the melancholic atmospheric backing to guarantee another soundtrack of dread and damnation only with the occasional outbursts into death metal.

Augmented by the band's now classic violin backing, A MORTAL BINDING for the most part follows the playbook cemented into place so long ago which means that one can only judge the quality of any particular MY DYING BRIDE release by the strength of the songwriting alone as the performances are always top notch and despite doom metal bands springing up from all four corners of the planet since this band's inception in 1990, MY DYING BRIDE still sounds as utterly unique as it has since day one. As far as consistency is concerned, this band certainly has it with one strong album after another, a few bonafide masterpieces and a few bellyflops in the pool that got drained over night. While A MORTAL BINDING does not reach the lofty pinnacle heights of the band's earliest death-doom works or the lugubrious perfection of albums like "The Dreadful Hours" or "Songs Of Darkness, Words Of Light," neither does it sink to the dreadful lead-lined depths of throwaway albums like "Evinta" or the lackluster mediocrity of many of the 2010 releases.

In fact as a true fan of this band having heard every album and EP, i'd have to say that the band sounds somewhat rejuvenated here with tracks that take a somewhat different approach than the automatic pilot get the job only but not much more albums since "A Line Of Deathless Kings." Sure this is undeniably a MY DYING BRIDE release through and through but the chunky guitar riffing offers a bit more of an energetic upgrade on many tracks including the opening "Her Dominion" and the lengthiest track on board, the 11 minute and 22 second "The Apocalyptist" which evoke the band's return to some of the death-doom sounds that brought them into the world's scene in the first place. The album features all those slow-burners of course with the weeping violin lamenting the tales of woe and despair but the diversity not he album gives A MORTAL BINDING a nice spicy return to the classic style of the band that once had a fiery passion to keep the BRIDE from falling into the grave.

As such MY DYING BRIDE always walks that fine line between exhilaration and ennui as the tight wire balancing feat is something that requires the ultimate finesse to maintain the attention span of an ever-increasing A.D.D. listening public and while the last few albums seemed to simmer on cruise control, A MORTAL BINDING hits me in all the right ways and gives me faith that the band still has a second wind that will propel it into a new era of prosperity however it is true that there will come a time when the band will have to rebrand itself as MY IMMORTAL BRIDE because whoever this mysterious maiden is, she seems to have a life support system and has discovered the fountain of youth while so many have crashed, burned and become buried. While A MORTAL BINDING certainly won't be declared the band's triumphant comeback of the century, it more than offers enough magic mojo by my discerning ears to grasp onto. As i stated it all boils down to the songwriting with this band and on this album the band seems to have put it all together in the right way for my liking. Better than i was expecting to say the least.

For some bands - especially once they have become as established as My Dying Bride are - EPs are an afterthought, if they're even bothered with at all. However, for my money a My Dying Bride EP is always worth at least a cusory listen, because right from the start of their career their EPs have accounted for some of their best material. Take Macabre Cabaret - produced by the same lineup as The Ghost of Orion (and likely a product of the same sessions), I actually think it has a mild edge on that studio album, with a more immediate and gripping sound and some wonderfully pensive moments.

Emerging as My Dying Bride suffered a swathe of personnel issues and behind-the-scenes difficulties, The Ghost of Orion finds the veteran death-doom unit in fine form. (It's a genre which thrives on gloom and world-weariness, after all.) In some respects it's a bit of a back-to-basics album, because the musical backing is very much in their classic style, though Aaron Stainthorpe's vocals tend more towards a clean approach than in the band's earliest days.

Their Spinal Tap-esque turnover of drummers, with Jeff Singer (formerly of their Peaceville Three compatriots Paradise Lost) slipping into the drum stool and doing a decent job. Meanwhile, Andrew Craighan takes on all the guitar duties, rhythm guitarist Neil Blanchett having only joined to help out live at this stage, and does a credible job there.

It's not a genre landmark or classic of the field, but it's a much better album than one might have expected from the band given the challenges facing them at the time, and will be enjoyable to anyone who enjoyed their early style.

Later paired with The Barghest o' Whitby on the compilation The Vaulted Shadows, whereas the Barghest EP consisted of only one long track, this consists of a clutch of (comparatively) shorter songs which didn't quite make the cut for A Map of All Our Favours. With Shaun Macgowan's violin cutting a particularly haunting and beautiful air on the title track, this is an EP which finds the band deep in the gothic death-doom realm they defined with their early work and have further refined ever since, and refine further here. The quiet section at the end of the title track, in particular, feels like it's influenced somewhat by early Opeth, which feels new in My Dying Bride's sound.

I can only assume there was some thematic reason why they weren't included on Map of All Our Failures, because goodness knows the quality here is very solid - if not even stronger than that album.

This EP, consisting of a single 27-minute epic track, finds My Dying Bride deep in the death-doom style they pioneered, and makes sure to include prominent keyboard and violin parts to introduce new member Shaun Macgowan to the fanbase. Shaun Steels, former member, comes back on a guest session musician basis to provide drums, so between a new member coming in and a post in the drummer's stool still unfilled this is clearly catching My Dying Bride in a bit of a transitional period between lineups, but it's still an interesting release.

Aaron Stainthorpe seems to be trying out a new lyrical approach here, going in for more harsh, sharp snarls than the deep guttural roars usually associated with death-doom. In the latter half of the song he slips back into the stentorian style of clean vocals which has so often been his trademark. Musically speaking, you know what you are getting with My Dying Bride, and you get about 27 minutes of it here. It's good, and I like the experimentation with longer song lengths, but I wouldn't say it's genre-redefining or absolutely essential.

My Dying Bride's second major live album sounds just a little off to me. I think part of the problem is that the crowd noise seems a little more evident here than is typical in professionally-produced live albums. Whilst I can see the point of a bit of this to help give the live ambience, usually the crowd noise gets isolated for a reason and it's just a little more intrusive here. In addition, the mix isn't what it could be, with the vocals sometimes overwhelmed. Potentially some of the issues come down to this being their first release since founding bassist Adrian Jackson left the band, replaced by Lena Abé, and with Dan Mullins on drums - so if you want to hear them in the process of gelling with a new rhythm section, that's a point of interest, but they'd do better once Abé and Mullins were settled in.