I AM THE BLOODY EARTH

"I Am the Bloody Earth" is an EP release by UK doom/death metal act My Dying Bride. The EP was released through Peaceville Records in January 1994. It features 3 tracks and a full playing time of 26:26 minutes. The material from the EP has since become available on various compilations or as bonus tracks on reissues of studio albums. A promotional video was made for the title track.

"I Am the Bloody Earth" opens with the title track which is an outtake from recording sessions for the band´s second full-length studio album "Turn Loose the Swans (1993)". "I Am the Bloody Earth" is a doom/death metal track with growling vocals by Aaron Stainthorpe and an interesting dissonant violin in one of the sections of the song. While it´s a relatively well written track it is obvious why it was left off "Turn Loose the Swans (1993)". It simply doesn´t reach the high quality of the material featured on the album. The track also features guest vocals by Ghost of GGFH (US industrial music act). GGFH toured with My Dying Bride as one of the opening acts on the European tour supporting "Turn Loose the Swans (1993)".

"Transcending (Into the Exquisite)" is a remix track by Stevie Dachau which contains elements from various tracks off "Turn Loose the Swans (1993)". It´s relatively interesting to begin with but outstays it´s welcome by several minutes and becomes a bit too repetitive. The third and closing track on the EP is titled "Crown of Sympathy (Remix)" and is as the name suggests a remix of "The Crown of Sympathy" from "Turn Loose the Swans (1993)". To my ears it sounds like someone just put the drum track through a chorus effect and not much else. The remix version is around a minute shorter than the original version though, so they´ve cut something from the original track too, although I´m not sure that should count as a positive.

In fact "I Am the Bloody Earth" is not exactly a recommendable release. The title track is of course relatively interesting and worth a listen, if you enjoy the material on "Turn Loose the Swans (1993)", but the remaining part of the EP is to my ears pretty redundant. You could make a case for the inclusion of "Transcending (Into the Exquisite)", as it at least tries for something original, but the inclusion of "Crown of Sympathy (Remix)" is bordering ridiculous. It was always going to be difficult to better the brilliant original version of the track but this remix version sounds like there was almost made a purposedly effort to detroy it. If putting annoying chorus sound effects on the drums and shortening the song by one minute constitutes a remix, then it´s too easy, and not worth the effort or the money of the fans. A 2 star (40%) rating is warranted.