My Dying Bride – A Mortal Binding
My Dying Bride – A Mortal Binding
Nuclear Blast Records
Release Date: 19/04/24
Running Time: 54:42
Review by Paul Hutchings
9/10
Four years on since “Ghost of Orion”, and it seems that My Dying Bride are in a happier place. Not that you’d know it from the overwhelming misery that is key to the Yorkshire band’s sound for over 30 years. Vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe spells out why it is much brighter for My Dying Bride today. “This album was much easier than “The Ghost of Orion”. We were coming out of cancer with my daughter. That, naturally, was always playing on my mind throughout the recording. When the album was released, the world went into lockdown. Everything went dark. We didn’t know what to do next. Of course, we released the “Macabre Cabaret” EP, which was recorded at the same time as “The Ghost of Orion”, to keep interest up. We could finally gig a bit when the world opened again. Only then could we begin, in earnest, the songwriting for “A Mortal Binding””.
Anyone who was at the oversold Shepherd’s Bush Empire show with Paradise Lost in December will vouch for the sheer dramatic intensity that My Dying Bride produce. Their 15th album is no different, except for the revised line-up that has delivered another stunning piece of Doom Metal. Guitarist Neil Blanchett is now a permanent member of the band, while Dan Mullins has returned to the drum stool.
It’s a stunning opening. ‘Her Dominion’ is harrowing, in places as raw and visceral as you’ve ever heard My Dying Bride, with Stainthorpe projecting each lyric with vicious bile. Throw in the phenomenal riffs that Andrew Craighan has effortlessly delivered since day one, and the semi-pneumatic bass of Leon Abé that buzzes away. ‘Her Dominion’ is dramatic and compelling, especially when that signature violin of Shaun MacGowan is eerily drifting in and out. It’s Stainthorpe’s snarling rage that gives the song such an edge. In comparison, the funeral horror of ‘Thornwyck Hymn’ with its gargantuan riffs is almost cheery, while ‘The 2nd of Three Bells’ sits more definitively in the classic My Dying Bride section. The latter brings atmospheric gravity, layered vocals contrast with more crushing, doom-laden riffs, that are such an integral part of this much-loved UK institution.
One expects long songs with this band, and you won’t be disappointed. The centrepiece of the album is ‘The Apocalyptist’, an 11-minute masterpiece that switches between Death and Doom with an enviable ease. Chilling violin, deep, vibrating bass lines and Stainthorpe bringing his full vocal package make it a monster that dwells mid-album, waiting to surprise and astonish.
Two further slabs of thunderous doom conclude this masterful release. The pace slows to glacial pace in parts on the misery of ‘A Starving Heart’, with Mullins drumming a standout feature. The song may be slow, but the sheer heaviness of the song is suffocating. It continues to the grand finale, the nine-minutes of ‘Crushed Embers’ which proves to be the ideal conclusion.
33 years in and with no sign of stopping, My Dying Bride’s niche in UK metal is assured. “A Mortal Binding” will ensure that they remain as important as ever.
TRACKLISTING:
01. Her Dominion
02. Thornwyck Hymn
03. The 2nd of Three Bells
04. Unthroned Creed
05. The Apocalyptist
06. A Starving Heart
07. Crushed Embers
LINE-UP:
Andrew Craighan – guitars
Aaron Stainthorpe- vocals
Lena Abé – bass
Shaun MacGowan – keyboards, violin
Dan Mullins – drums
Neil Blanchett – guitars
LINKS:
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