My Dying Bride
Feel the Misery
Peaceville Records
2015
My Dying Bride along with Anathema and Paradise Lost are largely credited as being the progenitors of Doom/Death, despite a few other bands, from other countries, coming out around the same time, being also potential candidates. These three bands all came out around the same time and in quite different ways, manifested the extremity and heaviness of death metal mixed with doom elements, but also copious amount of melody that each of them manifested in quite different ways. Paradise Lost, soon after their debut, started mixing gothic doomy melodies and progressively mellowed the vocals, before the decided to go completely Depeche Mode, for an album and only to attempt a rather forced return to their “classic” style some twenty years and eight albums later. Anathema quickly shed off their metal skin to become something like prog pop rock with a lot of David Gilmour influences, which they’ve withered more and more with each release and all the line-up changes to the point that the current reincarnation of the band has little to do with the original one. My Dying Bride, on the other hand, had violin and did quite vary their style of vocals etc. trying to convey their misery. They did attempt, a “different” album with “34.788%... Complete”, which failed miserably and they’ve ever since reverted to their previous style more or less with little deviation and medium signs of maturing. Calvin Robertshaw who was part for the band’s earliest albums made a return last year and I should say, with him, a good portion of what made the band interesting back in the day is somewhat resurrected.
But let’s take a look into the songs that are supposed to wallow us in sorrow: “And My Father Left Forever”, a song about a “last farewell” while quite sad, initially sounds rather up-tempo to the point of almost sounding cheery in places, which makes it a bit odd, but “darkness” and gloom take over, as reality sets in, towards the end of it…
“To Shiver in Empty Halls” goes for a much more blackened almost black/death approach, with the only glimmer of light being its riffology…
A “Cold New Curse” seems to combine both the gloomy, wallow parts with the more extreme moments, while maintaining the same “schadenfreude” type of riffs…
“Feel the Misery” is, well… miserable and a bit of a throwback to older eras of the band.
“A Thorn of Wisdom” with its nice combination of keys and discreet guitars in the background, manages to be quite the elegy… while “I Celebrate Your Skin” both continues the monotonous odyssey. It does so sounding a lot more “blackened” and “desperate”…
“I Almost Loved You” strips the guitars away leaving only keys and violin to do the talking and it sounds more appropriate.
Finally “Within a Sleeping Forest” the albums epic conclusion that clock just a little south of eleven minutes, tries to combine almost all facets of the band into one…
Overall a quality release by My Dying Bride almost on par with some of the bands earliest efforts. They are to be commended, because through thick or thin and with only a couple of missteps – a couple of experimental albums that really tanked and didn’t allow the band to diversify, at least of the “initial” trinity they’re the only band that has kept its style quite consistent, not trying to go for a mass “appeal” and in the process losing its core supporters only to “remember” their past some twenty years later, or just being so amorphous that hardly seem to have an identifiable style. So, yeah MDB, at least have stayed quite true to their original sound and vision, for whatever reason and that’s something that one can celebrate or commiserate with… at any rate.
But let’s take a look into the songs that are supposed to wallow us in sorrow: “And My Father Left Forever”, a song about a “last farewell” while quite sad, initially sounds rather up-tempo to the point of almost sounding cheery in places, which makes it a bit odd, but “darkness” and gloom take over, as reality sets in, towards the end of it…
“To Shiver in Empty Halls” goes for a much more blackened almost black/death approach, with the only glimmer of light being its riffology…
A “Cold New Curse” seems to combine both the gloomy, wallow parts with the more extreme moments, while maintaining the same “schadenfreude” type of riffs…
“Feel the Misery” is, well… miserable and a bit of a throwback to older eras of the band.
“A Thorn of Wisdom” with its nice combination of keys and discreet guitars in the background, manages to be quite the elegy… while “I Celebrate Your Skin” both continues the monotonous odyssey. It does so sounding a lot more “blackened” and “desperate”…
“I Almost Loved You” strips the guitars away leaving only keys and violin to do the talking and it sounds more appropriate.
Finally “Within a Sleeping Forest” the albums epic conclusion that clock just a little south of eleven minutes, tries to combine almost all facets of the band into one…
Overall a quality release by My Dying Bride almost on par with some of the bands earliest efforts. They are to be commended, because through thick or thin and with only a couple of missteps – a couple of experimental albums that really tanked and didn’t allow the band to diversify, at least of the “initial” trinity they’re the only band that has kept its style quite consistent, not trying to go for a mass “appeal” and in the process losing its core supporters only to “remember” their past some twenty years later, or just being so amorphous that hardly seem to have an identifiable style. So, yeah MDB, at least have stayed quite true to their original sound and vision, for whatever reason and that’s something that one can celebrate or commiserate with… at any rate.