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My Dying Bride


Requiem

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7 minutes ago, RelentlessOblivion said:

I'm honestly not thrilled with Feel The Misery either. It's just awkward at times and doesn't stack up compared with their stronger works. I actually dig the hell out of A Map Of All Our Failures. I think it's brilliantly writen progressive doom.

I like them both, although Map is a little too slick for me sometimes. I agree that Feel The Misery has awkward moments, but MDB have always been an awkward bunch. I'll always prefer their early stuff, but I'd take either of the most recent albums over Like Gods Of The Sun, 34.788%, or the rest of their output after The Dreadful Hours.

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18 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

I like them both, although Map is a little too slick for me sometimes. I agree that Feel The Misery has awkward moments, but MDB have always been an awkward bunch. I'll always prefer their early stuff, but I'd take either of the most recent albums over Like Gods Of The Sun, 34.788%, or the rest of their output after The Dreadful Hours.

'Like Gods' and '34%' feel fresh, motivated and adventurous in their own ways - products of a band still glowing from its glorious birth. 'Feel the Misery' and 'Map' feel kind of tired and a little lost. I guess aurally I can understand why you feel this way, though, because, without putting words in your mouth, you're a man who likes his doom/death and that older school sound. I like 'love metal' for crying out loud. 

When I listen to 'Map' and 'Misery' I can't escape the image of Andy sitting on his bed with his Jackson coming up with fairly weak variations on the single string and harmony riffs he's been writing for 27 years and just struggling with it. Then he brings riffs to the band who must - they simply must - think "oh well, it's good enough". Then they go ahead and put the song together. Seriously, some of those riffs on both of those albums are plain Jane in the extreme. 

Having said all this, I do still really like this band. The actual music (riffs/songwriting) on the title track of 'Feel the Misery' is brilliant - it's just Aaron that ruins it with his uncomfortable caterwauling. I actually quite enjoy each song, but the sum of its parts sort of doesn't work. It's just weird. Who are these goddamn band members? Bring back Rick Miah and Martin Powell!  

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  • 4 months later...

This was posted on MDB's Facebook earlier today, which helps make sense of the show cancellations and semi-cryptic messages we've seen over the past year:

____

A message from Aaron.

“Many of you have been wondering what has happened to the band since we cancelled all our shows back in late 2017. Well, here is the answer.


In September 2017 my beautiful little daughter, just five years old, was diagnosed with cancer. This event devastated the whole family as well as close friends and of course all of My Dying Bride and related colleagues. A black hole of worry and panic opened up before me and I was fearful of what was to come. The horror that surrounds this terrible disease is real and brutal and relentless.


The highly destructive but very necessary poison that is chemotherapy was started and after a time, surgery removed the main tumour but it had spread. Early 2018 a second major operation was needed to finally get rid of the visible mass but cells were still in her body so radiotherapy took place to destroy these. The side-effects of both chemo and radio therapies left her a broken and sorry little thing and my heart was aching like never before. As the father of a deeply sick child, I was on the brink of total implosion.


After the worst year of our lives, and stress beyond belief, we were gifted the news that so many other people never get; she is clear. She has beaten one of the cruellest of Gods bitter and loveless creations. Despite this positive outcome, there will be years of tests and potential complications which may result in many returns to hospital. I will fear for her every day for the rest of my life and hope that when I finally go to my grave she will be a strong and forthright woman.


We really need to thank the wonderful people at the NHS Childrens Hospital in Leeds for everything they have done and also the wonderful Candlelighters, childrens cancer charity for their endless and loving support.


The band took a small hiatus at the devastating news but gradually began to muster forces and start work on the next LP which we can happily tell you all, is well under way and in fact, is almost complete. I have not taken part in any writing as yet but will return to the fold this week, pen in hand and a new focus and eagerness to fulfil my role as wordsmith and vocalist for this remarkable band. We have returned!

Cheers
Aaron”

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2 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

This was posted on MDB's Facebook earlier today, which helps make sense of the show cancellations and semi-cryptic messages we've seen over the past year:

____

A message from Aaron.

“Many of you have been wondering what has happened to the band since we cancelled all our shows back in late 2017. Well, here is the answer.


In September 2017 my beautiful little daughter, just five years old, was diagnosed with cancer. This event devastated the whole family as well as close friends and of course all of My Dying Bride and related colleagues. A black hole of worry and panic opened up before me and I was fearful of what was to come. The horror that surrounds this terrible disease is real and brutal and relentless.


The highly destructive but very necessary poison that is chemotherapy was started and after a time, surgery removed the main tumour but it had spread. Early 2018 a second major operation was needed to finally get rid of the visible mass but cells were still in her body so radiotherapy took place to destroy these. The side-effects of both chemo and radio therapies left her a broken and sorry little thing and my heart was aching like never before. As the father of a deeply sick child, I was on the brink of total implosion.


After the worst year of our lives, and stress beyond belief, we were gifted the news that so many other people never get; she is clear. She has beaten one of the cruellest of Gods bitter and loveless creations. Despite this positive outcome, there will be years of tests and potential complications which may result in many returns to hospital. I will fear for her every day for the rest of my life and hope that when I finally go to my grave she will be a strong and forthright woman.


We really need to thank the wonderful people at the NHS Childrens Hospital in Leeds for everything they have done and also the wonderful Candlelighters, childrens cancer charity for their endless and loving support.


The band took a small hiatus at the devastating news but gradually began to muster forces and start work on the next LP which we can happily tell you all, is well under way and in fact, is almost complete. I have not taken part in any writing as yet but will return to the fold this week, pen in hand and a new focus and eagerness to fulfil my role as wordsmith and vocalist for this remarkable band. We have returned!

Cheers
Aaron”

This is harrowing. I'm so glad things seem ok at the moment. I have a five year old daughter and couldn't imagine anything like this. 

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6 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

This was posted on MDB's Facebook earlier today, which helps make sense of the show cancellations and semi-cryptic messages we've seen over the past year:

____

A message from Aaron.

“Many of you have been wondering what has happened to the band since we cancelled all our shows back in late 2017. Well, here is the answer.


In September 2017 my beautiful little daughter, just five years old, was diagnosed with cancer. This event devastated the whole family as well as close friends and of course all of My Dying Bride and related colleagues. A black hole of worry and panic opened up before me and I was fearful of what was to come. The horror that surrounds this terrible disease is real and brutal and relentless.


The highly destructive but very necessary poison that is chemotherapy was started and after a time, surgery removed the main tumour but it had spread. Early 2018 a second major operation was needed to finally get rid of the visible mass but cells were still in her body so radiotherapy took place to destroy these. The side-effects of both chemo and radio therapies left her a broken and sorry little thing and my heart was aching like never before. As the father of a deeply sick child, I was on the brink of total implosion.


After the worst year of our lives, and stress beyond belief, we were gifted the news that so many other people never get; she is clear. She has beaten one of the cruellest of Gods bitter and loveless creations. Despite this positive outcome, there will be years of tests and potential complications which may result in many returns to hospital. I will fear for her every day for the rest of my life and hope that when I finally go to my grave she will be a strong and forthright woman.


We really need to thank the wonderful people at the NHS Childrens Hospital in Leeds for everything they have done and also the wonderful Candlelighters, childrens cancer charity for their endless and loving support.


The band took a small hiatus at the devastating news but gradually began to muster forces and start work on the next LP which we can happily tell you all, is well under way and in fact, is almost complete. I have not taken part in any writing as yet but will return to the fold this week, pen in hand and a new focus and eagerness to fulfil my role as wordsmith and vocalist for this remarkable band. We have returned!

Cheers
Aaron”

Hope Aaron’s daughter is ok 

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  • 3 months later...
12 hours ago, HolyUnWholly said:

This is a bit belated but Feel the Misery was a play on words. Aaron was telling people to lighten up. I also think it was a shitty album. And I think part of that was due to Peaceville and I think it lead to them leaving the label for Nuclear Blast.

Interesting post. What makes you think the title was a play on words? The music is grim, the circumstances were pretty dark and it seems to me that My Dying Bride were trying to make a depressive, miserable, record. There's nothing in the music or lyrics that suggests to me that he wants people to lighten up or that there is any irony at play. The first track is about his father dying! 

I also don't see how Peaceville had anything to do with the quality of the album. Every single MDB album has been released on Peaceville, and they obviously had a good working relationship where the band could do what they wanted, as evident on the varied releases they've done over the years. I think changing labels is probably a good chance for a stocktake and a bit of fresh air, but I'm not sure we can blame Peaceville for the musical quality of a MDB album. 

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14 hours ago, HolyUnWholly said:

This is a bit belated but Feel the Misery was a play on words. Aaron was telling people to lighten up.

Andrew was the one who came up with the album title, and here's what he had to say about it:

"(((o))): Feel The Misery is a self explanatory title. Are dark thoughts something that are still on your minds?

Andrew: Yes, always, the album title is probably being misunderstood though. It’s not My Dying Bride that’s saying “Feel The Misery”, it’s a statement of society in general. Our jailers are being exposed for what they are and in an attempt to keep control, we have more conflict, more division, more hate and lies. None of it is actually necessary. Feel The Misery is actually a question designed to provoke (probably naively) a thought as to why it’s like this, have anyone of us actually thought who benefits from bombing each other constantly for example? Follow the money and it becomes pretty clear who’s in charge and who benefits from the division. Not us regular folk the great unwashed."

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  • 1 year later...

Well, here I am again, raising a thread from the dead. I think I should start asking for a cheque. Come on, this is big news for MDB! Anyway... 

As most My Dying Bride fans know, the band has a new album coming out soon called 'The Ghost of Orion'. The album art looks amazing, and the title is pretty cool, although not up to the epic standards of the first four albums. 

The first single, 'Your Broken Shore' is a great track - it's bloody awesome. Much cleaner in production than the past few albums - they're really going for a modern crisp sound, and it's fantastic. It's mid-paced all the way, with great twin guitar harmonies and some violin that sounds good but is a bit flat riff wise. The vocals are fantastic, both cleans and growls. It sounds like a much more professional product than the lacklustre 'Feel the Misery'. 

The only area of unease for me is that it's also the first track on the album, and it doesn't sound like an epic opener by doom standards, and I hope that they haven't just put their only half decent song up front with a bit of filler behind it. I'm sure this won't be the case, but you have to admit that 'Your Broken Shore' is a weird song to open an album. 

So yeah, this should be interesting. If the rest of the album sounds like this track, it's going to be amazing. 

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I haven´t given this band nearly enough attention. I have only one "best of" album, Meisterwerk 2, and i adore almost every track there. I´ve heard some other songs every now and then, i´ve never really gotten familiar with the band beyond that. This is again a question of not having enough time, and even more being plain lazy. I´m going to fix that error, following Requiems ranking list. :) 

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1 hour ago, CaptainFrosty said:

Like Gods of the Sun is definitely the best album, and the most gothic sounding if that's your thing...I also like the Trinity compilation which is the most traditional doom/death sounding.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 

Trinity is great, but Like Gods Of The Sun never did much for me - always sounded like a more polished but less inspired version of The Angel And The Dark River. Turn Loose The Swans is still my favorite.

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On 1/8/2020 at 9:43 AM, CaptainFrosty said:

Like Gods of the Sun is definitely the best album, and the most gothic sounding if that's your thing...I also like the Trinity compilation which is the most traditional doom/death sounding.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 

'Like Gods of the Sun' is amazing, especially tracks 1, 3, 6 and 9. That final song 'For My Fallen Angel' just mesmerised me back when it came out. What an amazing album. In full disclosure, I have great memories of listening to 'For My Fallen Angel' with a certain fallen angel with whom I was diabolically amorous around that time. 

While I really like 'Trinity' and 'As the Flower Withers', I find them a touch primitive and not as engaging, as my ranking of their albums suggests. 

As for the new track, 'Your Broken Shore', it bodes really well for the romantics in the fan-base. Like I said in my last post, however, I hope it isn't all downhill from there, as it's not your traditional album opener. 

While I like 'Feel the Misery' and the albums that preceded, it I didn't love it, and it felt a bit clunky to my ears. I hope this album will be a great return to form for the band to really bump them up into my favourite current bands list again along with Paradise Lost, Amorphis, and Moonspell, who have all had stellar albums out in the last five years. My Dying Bride just needs that kick to get up there again. This could be it! 

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Furthermore, one of the things that really stood out to me back in the mid 90s when I first heard that band were the twin guitar harmonies. 

Which is weird, because my friends and I had been listening to Iron Maiden and bands like that for a few years, but it was really only with 'Like Gods of the Sun' when I was 16 in 1996 that I said, "Hang on, there are two guitars here and they're doing different things at the same time". I still enjoy that beautiful dynamic, so songs like 'The Wreckage of My Flesh', 'Sear Me III' and 'Like Gods of the Sun' are among my favourites.

Scarily, I consider 'Songs of Darkness, Words of Light' to be one of their latter albums, but it came out in 2004 when I was 24 and I'm now 40 years old. hahahaha. Shit. 

That's the beauty of music on CD. I'll drag something out that I got when I was 15 and I can listen to it and flip through the same booklet even now in my 40s. What a band. Metal: what a lifelong miracle of joy. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I tend to separate My Dying Bride into three eras.

'Classic Bride' which consists of their first four albums; these, despite the evolution of their sound, feature everything that is iconic and instantly recognizable in My Dying Bride.

'Modern Bride' which consists of the next four; that's 34.7888% up to Songs of Darkness... Maybe it has something to do with the 'modern' production style that is less raw than the early albums, or perhaps it is the further change in direction.

'New Bride' which consists of the last four proper albums: A Line of Deathless Kings, For Lies I Sire, A Map of All Our Failures, and Feel the Misery. I've definitely spent less time listening to these.

It should be noted that I got into My Dying Bride after Songs of Darkness had been released so that A Line of Deathless Kings was the first new album that I had anticipated with high expectations. This dynamic of heightened expectation combined with the increased potential for disappointment has always had a peculiar psychological effect on me with regards to how I view new albums versus those already existing in a band's back catalogue. It's much harder for me to consider a new release to be a classic; however, an older album that is new to me isn't likely to suffer from that mental obstacle. But, then again, I tend to think music in the 90s is a lot better than the 00s, which is certainly a lot better than the last decade...

 

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20 hours ago, Vampyrique said:

I tend to separate My Dying Bride into three eras.

'Classic Bride' which consists of their first four albums; these, despite the evolution of their sound, feature everything that is iconic and instantly recognizable in My Dying Bride.

'Modern Bride' which consists of the next four; that's 34.7888% up to Songs of Darkness... Maybe it has something to do with the 'modern' production style that is less raw than the early albums, or perhaps it is the further change in direction.

'New Bride' which consists of the last four proper albums: A Line of Deathless Kings, For Lies I Sire, A Map of All Our Failures, and Feel the Misery. I've definitely spent less time listening to these.

It should be noted that I got into My Dying Bride after Songs of Darkness had been released so that A Line of Deathless Kings was the first new album that I had anticipated with high expectations. This dynamic of heightened expectation combined with the increased potential for disappointment has always had a peculiar psychological effect on me with regards to how I view new albums versus those already existing in a band's back catalogue. It's much harder for me to consider a new release to be a classic; however, an older album that is new to me isn't likely to suffer from that mental obstacle. But, then again, I tend to think music in the 90s is a lot better than the 00s, which is certainly a lot better than the last decade...

 

Nice compartmentalising of the albums. I generally agree with the three era categorisation as you've done it here. 

I got into the band during 'Like Gods of the Sun', so the 'new' album for me was '34.788%... Complete'. I was only 18 and it was the 90s, so my friends and I really took it in our stride. It wasn't as big a shock as 'One Second' by Paradise Lost, which came out the year before and ruffled our expectation feathers enough not to be too surprised. 'Heroin Chic' was, and remains, ridiculous, however. 

I've just read back over the two pages of this thread and I'm just too all over it. I feel bad, but dammit I just want to talk about My Dying Bride a lot hahaha. 

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