Doom and death don’t die, nor do they age, and the ones that practice in these harrowing arts also seem to have an endless life supply. It’s funny thinking about that because we’re talking about music that is for the suffering, the ones who need a compatriot to survive the worst of circumstance, and here are these sounds, ready to shroud one’s wounds.
It’s been a strange, illustrious, and devastating ride for doom metal legends My Dying Bride, a band that took something planted by Black Sabbath and stretched it into an art form more dramatic and wounded. They’ve now returned with their excellent 15th record “A Mortal Binding,” a seven-track, 55-minute collection that can be put up with some of their better work, a late-era gem that feels like all the sinister forces coming together. Yet, as we have this new record, the band—vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe, guitarists Andrew Craighan and Neil Blanchett, bassist Lena Abé, keyboardist/violin player Shaun MacGowan, drummer Dan Mullins—announced all live activities are on hold due to strife within the band. It’s a sad development, and hopefully a temporary one, because these songs deserve to exist in a live setting, and this record should be celebrated. They speak to a fracture during the creation of this record and the difficult nature of the studio sessions, which sits in defiance to the bio that accompanies this album, and as of this writing, the chasm hasn’t been cured. Let’s hope for the best and that My Dying Bride persevere.
“Her Dominion” opens in a dreary haze, snarled growls clawing, the playing chugging as strings glaze. Horns call and direct deeper into the murk, and then the power clutches harder, Stainthorpe wailing, “All men will fall,” as the bass trudges, and leads burn into oblivion. “Thornwyck Hymn” hammers as Stainthorpe’s singing haunts, gazey guitars spreading the moodiness that is thickening and moving like a mysterious mist. “The twisted waters, they call my name,” Stainthorpe bellows, the playing growing blacker and washing into the shadows. “The 2nd of Three Bells” has keys glazing and the singing sludging, mournful melodies taking hold and squeezing harder. Gothy winds blow as the guitars char, the growls pounding away as the menace increases, the stings mourn, and everything bleeds into the mud. “Unthroned Creed” burns and mashes, the soot caked thick, the singing adding to the increasing clouds. Whispers trace as the playing creaks, the strings sighing deeply as the shadows thicken, steamy doom leaving a thick film on your flesh.
“The Apocalyptist” is the longest track, running 11:22 and dawning with eloquent strings and vicious growls, the burly tempo bubbling to the surface. Thick strings make your heart palpitate, the howls carving as cold rains dampen and cause relentless shivering, Stainthorpe lamenting, “I cannot hold on forever.” The playing drubs slowly, stretching as the screws are turned, the chorus crushing with weight and momentum, ending in a pile of ash. “A Starving Heart” moved steadily, yet slowly into the fog, a doomy pall stretching, visions of fire haunting your dreams. Gruff howls jolt as singing dumps oil, a gothy thickness becoming a beast with which to contend. The chorus jars as guitars ring out, swelling and disappearing in steam. Closer “Crushed Embers” runs 9:02, bathing in sorrowful waters, Stainthorpe calling out, “And at that very moment, I was your echo.” Guitars pick up momentum as the bass plods, the melodies splashing, vicious roars making the ground quake. “All the joy had gone from her,” Stainthorpe presses, a morose shadow growing more ominous, everything ending abruptly and savagely.
Well into their third decade of existence, My Dying Bride remain a vital, ever-flowing source of pain and lamentation, elegant doom that feels like it could have existed 200 years ago and felt just as at home. “A Mortal Binding” is a record that grows even better with additional listens as you work your way through each morbid layer on your way to finding uncomfortable truths. The band’s next steps remain in question, but for now, we have this 15th serving of sorrowful poetry, black arts that push on your heart and mind, and the feeling that even at the brink of apocalypse, these figures will remain standing to usher in the end.
For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/MyDyingBrideOfficial/
To buy the album, go here: https://shop.nuclearblast.com/products/my-dying-bride-a-mortal-binding
For more on the label, go here: https://www.nuclearblast.com/
Meat Mead Metal 