 
 My Dying Bride
Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium
As The Flower Withers
Peaceville, 1992
My Dying Bride were part of an emerging Doom Metal scene including
fellow British bands Paradise Lost, Anathema and Cathedral, and would eventually
grow to become one of the most influential acts of this movement.
The three songs that make up the EP, the title track, "God Is Alone", and "DeSade
Soliloquy" stand as the bands darkest and most aggressive compositions to date.
The title track is of the most significance here, with its mournful vibe hinting
at what would eventually take shape as the band's trademark sound. "The Silent
Dance" opens the debut album with the darkest of symphonies. "Sear Me" has
become a classic in the band's extensive catalogue. Nine minutes of pure
funereal tragic darkness, it begins with a slow, creeping rhythm that builds
into a mournful orchestra, Aaron's sick and demented growls spewing forth the
lyrics in Latin prose. "The Forever People" keeps a rapid pace through much of
its duration, the most brutal composition on the disc. "The Bitterness And The
Bereavement" is all about mournful sorrow, its intro one of the most oppressive
passages of Doom one's ever likely to hear. Thrashy tempos and brooding
atmospheres are the embodiment of "Vast Choirs," one of the more
aggressive numbers here. My Dying Bride were all about creating funereal
atmospheres and mournful, Romantic tragedy, and "The Return Of The
Beautiful" is the soundtrack to such. Nearly 13 minutes of twisted,
sorrowful Doom. "Erotic Literature" possesses an eerie, almost Middle
Eastern atmosphere, varying tempos and spiteful vocals ending this dark journey.
2000
Tracklisting
Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium EP
1. Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium
2. God Is Alone
3. DeSade Soliloquy
As The Flower Withers
1. Silent Dance
2. Sear Me
3. The Forever People
4. The Bitterness And The Bereavement
5. Vast Choirs
6. The Return Of The Beautiful
7. Erotic Literature
  
My Dying Bride
The Thrash Of Naked Limbs EP
Turn Loose The Swans
Peaceville,1993
On their second album, My Dying Bride released what is still to
this date, their crowning achievement. Sporting a much better production than
their debut, Turn Loose The Swans defines My Dying Bride, seeing them
making great strides in terms of songwriting and execution. A lone piano
accompanied by violin and Aaron's spoken word forms the intro "Sear Me MCMXLlll",
"Your River" ushers in with strands of sadness, weaving in and out of venomous
rage and tragedy. Aaron's clean, mournful crooning is heard for the first time
here, complementing the more atmospheric moments while utilizing his harsh
screaming for the aggressive parts. This is where My Dying Bride's approach took
on a Romantic flair, a sort of misty eyed melancholy evident in "The Snow In My
Hand", the violin breakdowns in "The Songless Bird" and moments of the title
track. "The Crown Of Sympathy" is monumental, the despair so heavy in this song
it brings you to your knees. "Black God" ends the album on a bleak note, piano
and violin and Aaron's mournful tone accented by a female voice. Complete
darkness.
A three song EP entitled The Thrash Of Naked Limbs was released shortly
before this album, featuring two tracks, the title track and "Gather Me Up
Forever" sounding like cleaned up As The Flower Withers leftovers, and an
instrumental, "Le Cerfe Malade".
Tragic misery and enraged
darkness, Turn Loose The Swans stands as a tremendous monument in the
genre and one that many a doom band would be measured up against in years to
come.
2000
Tracklisting
The Thrash Of Naked Limbs
1. The Thrash Of Naked Limbs
2. Le Cerfe Malade
3. Gather Me Up Forever
Turn Loose The Swans
1. Sear Me MCMXCIII
2. Your River
3. The Songless Bird
4. The Snow In My Hand
5. The Crown Of Sympathy
6. Turn Loose The Swans
7. Black God
My Dying Bride
The Angel And The Dark River
Peaceville, 1995
For the first time in the band's career, Aaron abandoned the Death
vocal, instead expressing his tragic poetry in his clean, mournful moan,
sounding every bit as you would imagine someone who writes such lines as "self
pity strangles me, I'm lashed by grief and I'm killing me" and "as I stand here
now, my heart is black, I don't want to die a lonely man", to sound. Weary.
Sick. Suffering. This stands as his most impressive vocal and lyrical work to
date.
Musically, Martin's violin and keys are prominent in the recording, seeming to
overshadow the guitars, and the drums, while played expertly as always by Rick,
sound a little powerless. The emphasis here seems to be on atmosphere and
creating a strong, emotional impact, rather than heaviness. As usual for this
bunch, the songs are long. Six songs in over 50 minutes. "The Cry Of Mankind"
stands as classic in the band's discography. No matter what mood you are in
while taking in this over 12 minute voyage into dark misery, you will be left
weakened and troubled. The final five minutes of this piece is an ambient
soundscape, with the track's main guitar melody fading out in the distance,
while all sorts of sounds such as choirs, whispering voices and foghorns weave
in and out as the song eventually fades away. "From Darkest Skies" begins with
bass and violin, Aaron's voice weeps words of tragedy as the song thunders in,
possessing some of the heaviest moments of the album. "Black Voyage" is just
that, a voyage into blackness, with a midsection that reminds of the "Le Cerfe
Malade" instrumental from The Thrash Of Naked Limbs EP. This section can
be a bit troubling when not in the right mindset, and corrupts the atmosphere of
the song. Piano opens "A Sea To Suffer In", a bitterly sorrowful piece of
emotional turmoil caused by the cruelty of one once held dear. "Two Winters
Only" is my personal favorite off this disc, drifting through moments of gentle
and heaving soundscapes. "Your Shameful Heaven",
save for the utterly beautiful violin intro, is the more uptempo track on offer
here and consequently my least favorite. Nowhere near a second rate song, its up
tempo sections and overall vibe do not make as heavy an impact as the previous
five do.
The Angel And The Dark River
is a masterwork of melancholic metal. Beautiful in its sorrow. Romantic in its
tragedy. A remarkable piece of work.
2000
Tracklisting
1. Cry Of Mankind
2. From Darkest Skies
3. Black Voyage
4. A Sea To Suffer In
5. Two Winters Only
6. Your Shameful Heaven
My Dying Bride
Like Gods Of The Sun
Peaceville,1996
The fourth chapter in the My Dying Bride story sees the band carry on with their
trademark style of melancholic Doom Metal while incorporating a sense of urgency
in its approach, resulting in what was the bands most accessible recording up to
that time. Presented with their most rewarding production, Like Gods Of The
Sun's songs were written with a more direct approach than on past works,
with songs averaging 5-7 minutes in length (short by the band's standards) as
opposed to their usual 7-12 minute compositions. Guitars were brought up in the
mix this time, sounding loud and in-your-face while the violins and keyboards
were relegated to enhancing the riffs and moods rather than being lead
instruments, which was sometimes the case in the past, especially on the
previous The Angel And The Dark River where the guitars were overshadowed
by Martin's playing. Rick gives his most impressive percussive performance, his
playing at times giving certain songs boosts of energy and power. Sadly, and
unknown at the time of this recording, it would be his final appearance. Aaron's
lyrics took on a more simple, yet no less poetic, structure, still dealing with
themes of religious contempt and Romantic tragedy, while songs as the title
track and "For You" expressing passion for a loved one with no terrible tragic
ending suggesting that perhaps Aaron found some sort of happiness with the
opposite sex...
"A Kiss To Remember", "For You", "The Dark Caress", "Here In The Throat"
and "For My Fallen Angel" make up the best of the album. The remaining songs, while by no means bad or even B-side material, are a bit
less inspiring than the above mentioned songs. "Grace Unhearing" certainly has
its effective moments, but overall it tends to drag on a bit, becoming a tad
boring. "It Will Come" has Aaron morosely voicing the end of mankind over thick
guitars and slow rhythms and the title track sports some great riffs, but there
just seems to be something missing in these pieces. "All Swept Away" follows
this pattern as well, while being a notch above in terms of emotion and overall
portrayal.
Like Gods Of The Sun features some of My Dying Bride's most impressive
material in their catalog, while also hinting that perhaps the band were
becoming a bit less inspired by what they had been about since their beginning,
and wanted to explore a bit here and there throughout these songs. This is
evident in the more straight forward approach in the songwriting and shortened
song length, and something that would be realized to its fullest extent on their
next recording.
2000
Tracklisting
1. Like Gods Of The Sun
2. The Dark Caress
3. Grace Unhearing
4. A Kiss To Remember
5. All Swept Away
6. For You
7. It Will Come
8. Here In The Throat
9. For My Fallen Angel
10. It Will Come (Nightmare)
My Dying Bride
34.788%...Complete
Peaceville, 1998
Through four albums, My Dying Bride enthralled with some of the most beautifully
tragic and dark music in existence. Slight signs were shown on the previous Like Gods Of The Sun that the
band were developing a desire to explore beyond what they had become known for,
but these signs were very subtle and could have never been enough for one to
have expected something like this to come from My Dying Bride.
On 34.788%...Complete every aspect that defined the band's sound
previously was absent. The Romantic/Tragic misery, the misty-eyed emotional
atmosphere, Aaron's poetic lyrics, even right down to the album artwork, which
featured computerized imagery and font and an album cover that looked more like
a dance album.
Opener "The Whore, The Cook And The Mother" is one of the very few high points
of the album. Lasting about 12 minutes in length, it possesses the most
atmospheric moments to be found here, featuring a midsection breakdown
reminiscent of the last five minutes of "The Cry Of Mankind" from The Angel
And The Dark River. During this section, a mellow guitar melody and subtle
keyboards set a tranquil foundation for sampled voices and electronic bleeps.
This is the closest to traditional My Dying Bride as it gets. Musically, this
song is excellent. But vocally, Aaron comes off flat. His vocals sound nasal and
stripped of all emotion. Throughout the entire album, his vocals never drift
from this. His vocals had always reflected his lyrics, and that remains so here,
just not in a good way. His lyrics are simple and almost stupid. He abandons his
poetic brilliance and emotional vocal expression for childlike lyrics and
uninspired vocals. This song would have been much better as an instrumental.
"The Stance Of Evander Sinque" starts off like traditional Doom, but drifts off
into Aaron's robot like vocal delivery and musically uninspiring territory. The
opening riff repeats itself throughout and is the highlight of the track, its
just a shame they could not have built the song around that riff instead of the
lazy sounding nonsense that Aaron croons over.
"Der Uberlebende" follows this lazy format. Some nice melodic guitar work and
somewhat decent vocals from Aaron make this song one of the more tolerable. But
as in every song here, for every good moment, there is a part that you would
never think would be featured on a My Dying Bride album and just disrupts any
atmosphere that could have been created.
The most absolutely disturbing thing on this album is the song "Heroin Chic".
This is the only song that really experiments with electronic percussion and it
lays down the foundation for weird guitar noise and Aaron's most horrible vocal
performance ever, sporting lyrics like 'Na na nanana nana na" and "In, out, baby
I don't mind. Nice cunt, Nice behind".
"Apocalypse Woman" features some nice percussion from Bill and a decent chorus
section. Not a bad song overall, just nothing I'm ever going to listen to, as
goes for much of the album. It's almost as if My Dying Bride were trying to
modernize their sound to gain wider acceptance. These songs reek of
urbanization. Sometimes sounding like the soundtrack to a lifestyle of drug
abuse and prostitution.
"Base Level Erotica" is about sex. Not like Aaron used to write about it,
combining misery and romance, but rather sleazy and dirty. While the lyrics read
as something you may find in a Poison or Motley Crue song ("she licks you hard,
she will swallow it all"), the music thankfully is not, but rather uninspiring
and a bit annoying. It drags on for far too long at nearly 10 minutes.
Closer "Under Your Wings And Into Your Arms" is a good song. It's one of the two
best songs on the album, with the other being the first track. Uptempo and
rocking, it features a very effective chorus refrain and Aaron's best vocals on
the album. During this song I can feel the real My Dying Bride lurking within.
Definitely my favorite song on the album and its maybe the only one I would
take, besides the opener, to be included on a best of compilation for the band.
Thankfully, the band would return to what they are known for and
what they do best on their next album, claiming that this album was just an
experiment that they had to get out of their systems.
2000
Tracklisting
1. The Whore And The Cook And The Mother
2. The Stance Of Evander Sinoue
3. Der Uberlebende
4. Heroin Chic
5. Apocalypse Woman
6. Base Level Erotica
7. Under Your Wings And Into Your Arms
My Dying Bride
The Light At The End Of The World
Peaceville, 1999
In a somewhat surprising move, My
Dying Bride have gone back to their past, even as far back as their first album
in fact, with Aaron returning to the venomous Death vocals for the first time
since Turn Loose The Swans...nearly 7 years back.
With the departure of longtime guitarist and songwriter Calvin, only three
remain from the original six piece lineup. Andrew now handles all guitar work as
well as the bulk of the songwriting as original bassist Ade lays down the
rhythmic foundation along with new drummer Sean Steels (ex-Solstice and
Anathema). In opener "She Is The Dark", Aaron's Death growl makes its return for
the first time in three albums, sounding every bit as venomous as it did before,
maybe even more so now. This song is classic Bride and one of the best the band
has penned to date. "Edenbeast" opens with a middle eastern flavored riff
harking back to The Angel And The Dark River a bit, before they launch
into the song's torpid, mournful yet bitter soul. The title track is an over 10
minute dark epic, possibly their most over the top creation featuring Aaron's
most elaborate lyrics yet. He's always been a poet at heart and this album
contains some of his best work ever. "The Fever Sea" is a vicious beast,
definitely the most aggressive song on the album, and since the debut. My
personal favorite here is "Into The Lake Of Ghosts", with its utterly mournful
guitar harmony and Aaron's woeful moan...this song takes me to my knees and
reveals the secret of life to me within the blackest void of hopelessness...all
is for naught...everything is nothing....any attempt to make things right again
are completely useless...The spirit of this song alone is reason why I have been
a slave to this band's dark spell over these years. "The Isis Script" could be a
part two of "Into The Lake Of Ghosts" as it follows the same musical vision and
harbors a similar emotion. Closer "Sear Me lll", the third chapter in the "Sear
Me'" series, is beautiful melancholy, Romantic Misery as only My Dying Bride can
orchestrate.
The Light At The End Of The World is My Dying Bride returning to what
they do best, while in turn showing all the imitators how it's done. Of course,
there are some uninspiring moments where it seems that they are going through
the motions, and certain riffs sound quite similar to past works, mainly within
"Christliar" and "The Night He Died", but these are far overshadowed by the
geniusness that saturates the rest of the album. Indeed, this is the album that
should have followed Turn Loose The Swans, and had this been the case
The Light At The End Of The World would have made an even greater
impact.
2000
Tracklisting
1. She Is The Dark
2. Edenbeast
3. The Night He Died
4. The Light At The End Of The World
5. The Fever Sea
6. Into The Lake Of Ghosts
7. The Isis Sript
8. Christliar
9. Sear Me III
My Dying Bride
The Dreadful Hours
Peaceville, 2001
Returning with their seventh full-length recording, My Dying Bride continue with
the musical themes and atmospheres of their previous "return to form" opus,
The Light At The End Of The World. While the band have certainly made a name
for themselves by creating beautifully dark and tragic doom metal, it is
beginning to feel as though we may have witnessed the best they have to offer.
Certainly My Dying Bride are still quite capable of putting together a
collection of woeful doom metal songs, but when compared to earlier masterworks
such as Turn Loose The Swans and The Angel And The Dark River,
it's questionable whether recent efforts measure up. For sure, The Dreadful
Hours is a recommended work for anyone who found fulfillment in previous
material, but it's never going to be included in the top three in my list of My
Dying Bride Classics.
There are, however, great Bride moments scattered throughout this recording.
Mostly, these moments can be discovered within a given song, rather than an
entire song being a great moment. The closest the band get to a truly great and
complete song can be heard in album highlight "My Hope, The Destroyer". It
begins with a gorgeous keyboard melody that remains present throughout most of
this song's duration, and features a sorrowful doom metal riff to end all
sorrowful doom metal riffs (after the keyboard break which follows the second
verse). But a blemish on this otherwise emotionally engaging and atmospherically
fulfilling track arrives when the music takes on a sinister tone and Aaron
starts growling. Thankfully, this moment is brief, but it's presence dilutes the
song's overall aura. I've got nothing against sinister My Dying Bride and
certainly have no problem with Aaron's growling, but this turn of events has no
purpose in such a moving composition. More out of place moments occur during
"The Deepest Of All Hearts" and "A Cruel Taste Of Winter". The switch from
melancholy to bitterness worked brilliantly on Turn Loose The Swans, but here it
sometimes comes off as forced and uncomfortable. The title track, "The Raven And
The Rose" and "Black Heart Romance" are each solid in their construction and
delivery, complete with striking moments of piercing dark ambience. Nothing that
we haven't necessarily heard from the band before, but they serve their purpose
adequately. The overlong and boring "Le Figlie Della Tempesta" and the
unnecessary reworking of the As The Flower Withers classic "The Return Of
The Beautiful" serve as the album's only complete misses.
In all, The Dreadful Hours is a solid release which includes a handful of
inessential moments that prevent it from achieving classic status. There are
moments throughout the album that stand as some of the band's finest, and very
few bands possess the ability to conjure up emotional atmospheres this
convincingly. As long as My Dying Bride continue to release music of at least
this caliber, I will continue to purchase it. After all, a less than 100% My
Dying Bride is significantly better than most gothic doom bands at their fullest
potential. But I remain unsatisfied. Here's hoping the band can summon the
inspiration that led to the creations of their earlier material and return with
an unquestionable classic effort.
2003
Tracklisting:
1. The Dreadful Hours
2. The Raven And The Rose
3. Le Figlie Della Tempesta
4. Black Heart Romance
5. A Cruel Taste Of Winter
6. My Hope, The Destroyer
7. The Deepest Of All Hearts
8. The Return To the Beautiful
My Dying Bride
Songs Of Darkness, Words Of Light
Peaceville, 2004 When following functional procedure takes precedence over artistic
aspiration, bands produce albums that while containing the identifiable
characteristics of their established sound, are void of the passion that swirls
through art of a purpose driven nature. This is where My Dying Bride have
arrived in their now eight-album long career. On the surface, this music is
trademark My Dying Bride, yet underneath the basic formula lies a soulless
current ultimately condemning these songs to the realm of forgetfulness.
There are brief moments during which the tragic beauty that elevated earlier
works to status of brilliance struggles to rise above the mire, particularly
within "The Wreckage Of My Flesh", "Catherine Blake", and "A Doomed Lover", yet
these events are few and are of a restrained nature. The band employ an
identical formula to each song, allowing very little to stand out as anything
monumental or even remotely memorable. The formula itself is fine, being as it
is one that My Dying Bride have long since established, however, unlike earlier
efforts (namely the first three albums), variation in compositional structure
and dynamic emotional expressions are virtually nonexistent. The
dark-oceans-of-sorrow atmosphere this band once conjured to magnificence is
simply diluted with streams of lifelessness. When a potentially moving
atmospheric theme is introduced, such as in "My Wine In Silence", this flow is
terribly disrupted for the sake of remaining true to the pre-established formula
of transition from melancholic serenity to ferocity, ruining a song that could
have achieved an expression of romantic tragedy accomplished by early classics
"For My Fallen Angel", "Sear Me MCMXCIII", or even the more recent "Sear Me
III". Once, they utilized this method not as novelty to fulfill an obligation of
expectation and identity, but rather to portray in unwavering conviction the
delicate balance of emotional harmony and human bitterness. Effective use of
haunting and tranquil keyboards and a never-ending supply of mournful guitars
keep most of these songs listenable, if not entirely satisfying in expressions
of emotional grandeur.
"Our dying love, it prays in vain to live,
And pleads for help, I simply cannot give."
This band now makes music that gratifies what has become expected of them.
The anguished spirit that flowed in poetic movement through the music of My
Dying Bride has faded into obscurity, and what is left is a shell of what once
was. Surface appeal and novelty dynamics hold this band’s work hostage, as it is
tinted with the austere and damned to oblivion. Like most bands whose recording
career runs at such a length, everything profound My Dying Bride had to offer
can be discovered in their earlier works (1991-1996), and they now create
albums simply because it is what they have always done, and though they will
forever maintain technical competency their true voice has now become silenced.
1/28/06
Tracklisting:
1. The Wreckage Of My Flesh
2. The Scarlet Garden
3. Catherine Blake
4. My Wine, In Silence
5. The Prize Of Beauty
6. The Blue Lotus
7. And My Fury Stands Ready
8. A Doomed Lover
My Dying Bride Homepage
My Dying Bride Discography
God Is Alone 7" EP (Peaceville, 1991)
Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium EP (Peaceville, 1991)
As The Flower Withers (Peaceville, 1992)
The Thrash Of Naked Limbs EP (Peaceville, 1992)
Turn Loose The Swans (Peaceville, 1993)
I Am The Bloody Earth EP (Peaceville, 1994)
The Angel And The Dark River (Peaceville/Music For Nations, 1995)
The Angel And The Dark River/Live At The Dynamo (Peaceville/Music For
Nations, 1996)
Trinity Compilation CD (Peaceville/Music For Nations, 1995)
Like Gods Of The Sun (Peaceville/Music For Nations, 1996)
For Darkest Eyes VHS (Peaceville, 1997)
34.788%...Complete (Peaceville/Music For Nations, 1998)
The Light At The End Of The World (Peaceville/Music For Nations, 1999)
Meisterwerk l Compilation CD (Peaceville/Snapper, 2000)
Meisterwerk ll Compilation CD (Peaceville/Snapper, 2001)
The Dreadfull Hours (Peaceville/Snapper, 2001)
The Voice Of The Wretched Live CD (Peaceville/Snapper, 2002)
Songs Of Darkness, Words Of Light (Peaceville/Snapper,
2004)
Anti-Diluvian Chronicles Boxset (Peaceville, 2005)
Sinamorata DVD (Peaceville, 2005)
Deeper Down EP (Peaceville, 2006)
A Line Of Deathless Kings (Peaceville, 2006)
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