My Dying Bride - The Barghest O'Whitby

Genre: Doom Metal
Name: My Dying Bride
Album: The Barghest O' Whitby
"I doubt I shall ever come back..."

It's true; I have been neglecting this blog. The last post was almost three months ago, and that was hardly standard fare for DkP. I can only offer my apologies; unfortunately, personal issues have had me waylaid from my usual musical fare. However, the skies are beginning to clear, and once again, I can return to the wonderful world of web-logging.

On that note, let me turn your attention to the subject at hand. My Dying Bride, lords of all things doom, have granted us all with another release. This EP, titled The Barghest O'Whitby, is a sharp contrast to their last output; Evinta, a 3-disc, 14-track, orchestral work could not be more different to a this 27-minute, traditional, magnificently metal work.

Musically, this work is excellent. Taylor-Steels' drumming is second-to-none; Abé's bass complements it magnificently. The guitar work is masterly yet melancholy, the harmonies as heartbreaking as they are heavy; showcasing Craigan and Glencross at their best. They combines with Macgowan's virtuoso-standard violin to create howling, haunting melodies, befitting the cold, blusterous north-English moors, upon which this tale is set. That tale is expressed in as dolorous a style as might be expected by Stainthorpe. His vocal work is exquisitely agonised, and lyrically, it is exceptionally well-written. All in all, it is a brilliant release, exactly what has come to be expected from My Dying Bride.

Summary: A doleful, doom-filled, heavy-as-hell EP for all metal fans out there.
Lyrical Themes: A Barghest
Rating: 8/10

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My Dying Bride - The Lies I Sire

Genre: Death-Doom Metal
Name: My Dying Bride
Album: For Lies I Sire, 2009
Like Gods of the Sunset sounds...

Ironically, for a band I haven't reviewed, I think My Dying Bride are the most mentioned band on here - they feature at least once on 5 different pages, and on all but one of those they are referred to multiple times. Therefore, I thought it only sensible that I should at least give those who have not heard them a chance to have a listen to at least some of their music, and see why I go on about them so much.

Picking which album to review was always going to be a tough decision - their body of work is so expansive, to pick any one limb of it would be to leave the bulk of the corpus untouched and unexplained - should I go for the arm that is Like Gods Of The Sun, with the excellent violin and traditional doom sound? But what about 34.788%... Complete, the experimental brain of their work? And how could I ignore the shining, glorious face that is A Line Of Deathless Kings? There was so much from which to choose, but only one that I could pick. I briefly contemplated a Meisterwerk, but they precede some of my favourites - The Dreadful Hours and Songs Of Darkness, Words Of Light would be ignored, to say the least. Eventually, however, I made my choice.

Prior to my note-taking for this review, it would be a lie to have said that I had listened to For Lies I Sire, My Dying Bride's latest release. I had heard all of the songs, many, many times in most cases, but I had never sat down, put on the CD, turned off the lights, lain down on the floor and just absorbed the music (according to Tom Delonge of Angels and Airwaves, you should listen to albums with just the light of a single candle to see by). So, with notepad in hand, that is just what I did - turned on the album, and closed my eyes. And it was brilliant.

It is not my favourite album of theirs, but then that is like saying that of all the Fender Stratocasters in the world, you dislike that one the most. Aside from their early and more Deathening works, which I enjoy, but not as much as everything from Turn Loose The Swans onwards, I think that every album My Dying Bride have made is a masterpiece in its own right, and this was no exception. Right from the very first track, My Body, a Funeral, which opens with a lone slow guitar riff, and Stainthorpe's plaintive voice in exquisite harmony, you can tell that this album will be exceptional. However, they do not stick to purely slow and doom-laden riffs - the other side of the coin is showcased in the vary next track, Fall With Me, which is faster and heavier, the Death of Death-Doom metal, but without it jarring in the ear. The title track is similarly awe-inspiring, with the same atmosphere of dread and fear, and the album goes on to end, somewhat aptly, with Death Triumphant. Throughout the album, you find tracks of exquisite beauty and pathos interwoven with those of anger and rage, you find smooth curves juxtaposed with jagged edges, and you see harmony and dissonance each play their part in a mystifying but fascinating dance.

Through this dance, however, you can hear other albums, reflections beneath the surface, just occasionally managing to sneak a sound or a face above the water, to let you know that they're still there, that they haven't gone away. This is most noticeable in A Chapter In Loathing, the penultimate track, which begins with the same riff which closed A Line Of Deathless Kings. It's also apparent in other tracks - Bring Me Victory has drums with just smack of those of Apocalypse Woman from 34.788%... Complete, for example. All of those other albums which are the columns of My Dying Bride's temple are still there, if you only listen.

But it's not all the same old stuff, regurgitated just like a puppy that's eaten chocolate - My Dying Bride are not a puppy but a full grown hound, and it turns out that you can teach an old dog new tricks. Santario Di Sangue is a prime example of this - here, for what I believe to be the first time (other than a sample of some rain on The Dreadful Hours), they have used sound effects - specifically, that of a whinnying horse and a spade shovelling the earth, which, for me, at least, brings to mind grave robbery. These are, to some degree, awkwardly positioned - the sudden stop did make me think that they were the start of a new song, rather than the third minute of the current one - but they work well with the shrieking violin, if you can call it that, which isn't instantly identified as an instrument, since it blends so perfectly with the sample.

The lyrics, of course are as excellent as always: Stainthorpe (who is incidentally also an artist, and a rather good one at that - click the link for 12 pages of artistic and gothic nightmares. And a picture of a friend at an exhibition they were at) keeps some of his trademarks - for example, in Echoes From A Hollow Soul, he uses his traditional biblical imagery, talking of "sons of Adam" and "daughters of Eve" (Narnia, anyone?), and in ShadowHaunt there are lines which seem inspired by Wordsworth (specifically, the line "Through forests she walks every day" seems to me to be similar to She Dwelt Among The Untrodden Ways, and Stainthorpe has admitted being inspired by Romantic poetry before). However, he has also kept from his usual erotic verse, not writing (as far as my mind can tell) any of his usual poetic, imaginative, metaphorical and yet sordid but still dignified songs, songs like The Whore, The Cook And The Mother and Le Figilie Della Tempesta.
Besides from lyrics, he also employs a range of vocal styles - in this album, there are clean vocals, two different kinds of death metal grunts, whispers and a choir (whilst technically not him, this does still come under vocals).

So, in conclusion, I feel this was the best album to have chosen not only because I could come to it afresh, not jaded by any previous emotions of the songs, not only because it is an excellent album, with no single moment that seems a mistake, but because it is an excellent introduction to My Dying Bride's magna opera, being a combination of old and new techniques, and thus a good album to post for any newcomer to the Doom metal scene.


Summary: Kings of the doom metal genre once again prove to the baying crowds why they are the rulers of their kingdom
Lyrical Themes: Despair, pain, romance, losing faith
Rating: 10/10 - recommended
Track listing:
1. My Body, A Funeral
2. Fall With Me
3. The Lies I Sire
4. Bring Me Victory
5. Echoes from a Hollow Soul
6. ShadowHaunt
7. Santuario di Sangue
8. A Chapter in Loathing
9. Death Triumphant

Myspace - Although one can easily bring the officialness of this page into question, it has music to listen to.

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Ne Obliviscaris - The Aurora Veil Demo

Genre: Metal: Death/Doom

Name: Ne Obliviscaris

Album: The Aurora Veil (2007)

Drums: Fast = Good ?

Now, Australia is somewhat cut off from the world: Many of you will not know that they have managed to lose a Prime Minister, one Harold Holt, who, upon strolling down the beach one evening "plunged into the surf and disappeared". The fact that they managed to lose a Prime Minister is somewhat impressive - if only we could achieve the same. But I use this to illustrate that there is a lot in this country that you will never have heard of.

Ne Obliviscaris is but one of these. They have only one release and this is it: A three track, thirty-three minute long demo.

The first track, Tapestry Of The Starless Abstract, opens with a fantastic drum fill: alas, it is the best we shall hear (but more on that later). The melody glides in over the top and is strangely enchanting. But then comes the first flaw: despite the brilliant singer, since they are a death metal band, they feel obliged to add some screams. Although I am usually in favour of such things, this particular time I am not. They add nothing to the song, they aren't even very passionate shrieks and they quite literally follow the singing. In short, they are utterly pointless.

Another annoyance in this band is the drums. Drummer Daniel 'Mortuary' Presland won the Australian Final for the Worlds Fastest Drummer Competition, crowning him as the Fastest Feet in Australia in 2006. Now, that isn't necessarily bad. But the band's thought process seemed to go something like this:
"Aha! We've got the one of the world's fastest drummers! Clearly every second of the song must be full of pointlessly fast drums that are really very, very bad.""
Drums are not all about speed. Speaking as a drummer myself, I can attest to that although it is hard, nigh impossible to play that fast, it is more challenging, and possibly sounds better to play in 27-32 time. Having attempted both, I can speak from experience.

Fortunately, both those ills are cured by the triplet-filled acoustic bridge, where you are allowed to relax, take a few breaths and prepare yourself for the next burst of speed. And, while receiving this audible massage, my ears were pricked by a new sound. Could it be? Surely not! Yes - It's a violin. Usually, violins are thrown in at the last minute in a somewhat vain (in all senses of the word) attempt to seem cultured. Most often, it is pointless: it is either inaudible or harmonically pathetic. However here, the strings are perfect: brilliant melodies and it never falls back on repetition.

Having seen that they are not just a standard death metal band, I awaited the new break to speed with eager ears. My more favourable outlook was rewarded with more violins and a much less riff-based section. Alas, the drummer seemed intent to make me lose my faith in the world of drummers by using the much-overused "Blast Beat": 16ths or 32nds (or, as I prefer, semiquavers and semidemiquavers) are played on the bass drums, 8ths or quarters (quavers or crotchets) on the ride and a snare once a bar. It's dreadfully dull and a standard 4/4 bar is all this really fits. Admittedly, I am slightly biased, having come from an introduction to metal based on Mike Portnoy, Lars Ulrich and 'The Rev' (R.I.P.), so have come to expect more, but really: to all budding musicians out there, never fall back on Blast Beating.

After a melodic outro there is the next (effectively) self-named track. It breaks in with an acoustic intro which seamlessly fades in percussive rolls, violins and then an electric guitar, so brilliantly that you don't even notice until suddenly you realise it's happened. Although the violins here seem a little discordant at first, it's soon back to its usual standard.
Unfortunately the blast beat rears its ugly head again, after another section similar to the intro, the screams are fewer and farther between and the guitar dares to stray from the bottom three strings. Unfortunately, the bass drum is constantly pounding out 16th notes which most certainly do not add to the piece.
Screams come in towards the end, but much better this time.

The third track has another minimalist intro with soothing, if I can say that, drums. The shortest track, it is more riff-based, bar the violin, and with the obligitary blast beat in the middle, it ends in a similar manner to that with which it began.

On the whole, Ne Obliviscaris are very good: they use interesting, if not necessarily innovative, melodies and the violin is exemplary. The drums leave a lot to be desired, and the screaming is quite clearly something they were obliged to put in. But aside from those few flaws, they have potential. If they address these matters, their album, should it come out (no signs yet, alas) would fly onto my shelves.

Rating: 6/10
Summary: Death/Doom with a twist, but leaves something to be desired
Lyrical themes: As yet unknown, but caught references to paternal relations (As Icicles Fall) imply family chaos.

Track Listing:
1. Tapestry Of The Starless Extract
2. Forget Not
3. As Icicles Fall

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