MY DYING BRIDE
MY DYING BRIDE “A Mortal Binding”
By Octopi Mills
Anyone familiar with the music of My dying Bride will know the sound and such; the concepts that I shall not go into lengthy descriptions about nor will I give a history lesson to their legacy or works. What I will tell is what is new and at this time that is the album at hand here, my good men.
"Her Dominion" goes straight into the heart without tarry though not in the haste of a maddened steed but rather in the old trot and procession of old. I had to pull up the lyrics on this one, as it means a great deal when hearing the literary talents of Aaron Stainthorpe, a sort of genius at these things. These topics, always nearly, dealing with love, Christ, God, Death and things not far but rather akin to our own beloved poet of American genius here; Edgar Allan Poe. The violins, the weeping guitars in delay and melody, these good ingredients toil and boil the broth, as always. "Thornwyck Hymn (A Choir of Sorry Girls)" is the traditional and typical MDB song that one never gets tired of hearing in the novel sense. It is strange to me that the guitarist(s) are not mentioned more in for their style and mood, as they always deliver their brand true and well.
"The 2nd of Three Bells" says it all with the opening strings leading to the werewolf crooning of the vocalist....the melancholy, the absolutely British sound of hundreds of years of surf and ruins; the moon and stars drawn into a glass of wine aged in bitter gardens wet with rain and tears. These men wring their hands on strings and make them weep, their style is something in itself. In a poetic sense the words are sometimes minimal in their genius and at other times tell stories and the death chords of olde are always there to drive the point home. One can almost feel these bells toll though the actual bell isn't there in itself. The midnight hour draws closer to me as I listen to "Unthroned Creed" and it is one i would share with this band, gladly, and it is possibly the best time to listen. The death chords seem to take a more jagged pattern at times, perhaps knowing they have been done so many times but the placement is always well done. Another good song with a good moody use of keys. I note the black German wire haired pointer curled to my side, and the night is beautiful again in its hideousness, a beauty not understood in the same way as some find.
"The Apocalyptist (He Did Not Weep for Me)" reads and rings like an old gothic literary classic and the strings pinch harmonically in great glory and all the instruments are light and shade and electric, hearing them in harmony simple and yet vastly greater in significance than almost all other music I have heard. I realize these masters are great craftsman who kept their style. They truly are probably one of the best darker metallic bands of all time. Even though the mix seems to have a problem with my speaker , it matters not. What we find here is something like a book that comes to live and lives in it's turning pages. The beauty of the guitars at the end of this track are breath taking, "A Starving Heart" starts with a near Blackmore guitar melody, though I doubt it was meant that way. It gives me the same feel as one of the true masters of such stringing...."The old river creeps slowly to the sea to die, the hay meadows reaped at the cold blade scythe" it begins in dirge and rises in all that is MDB, something that never tires or gets old for the most part, and they have done it again here. This song holds magic in it's poetry and evokes the swan and streams in it's hold…
Finally we have "Crushed Embers" which seems like it could be a continuation of the last somewhat. "An ox pulls away her ghost, I'll be your echo again". And the song ends abruptly and fitting in its manner. "I faded from my bloodline and took leave of humanity".
This is the sort of album that is beyond a pleasure to review. Perhaps their best yet...