My Dying Bride is over 20 years old. While most bands that would exist for this amount of time would notably mature in sound and style, it may be hard to convince people of that in regards to MDB. I say this because, stylistically, the band have always trudged through murky, doomy waters. This, in turn, did more to make them sound older than they were at the time. The band, having essentially managed to create gothic metal (of the not-so-cheeseball variety), have taken steps to both cement and destroy their place throughout the years. For every modern classic (A Line of Deathless Kings), there is a miscue (the unnecessarily over indulgence that would go on to be titled Evinta). Beyond all of this the band have earned a bunch of respect and continue on the same path they started on all that time ago.
The album opener “Kneel till Doomsday" plays with both sound effects (tolling bells) and undulating riffs for nearly 8 minutes. This would be unforgivable if the adornments didn't manage to create something emotional and beautiful while remaining heavy. Throughout the course of the album the songs crawl along within the songs creating a deathly feeling. This helps to create room for the band's most notable aspects, namely Aaron Stainthorpe's vocals and Shaun Macgowan's violin work. Throughout the album Stainthorpe’s memorable and melodramatic vocals lead the way, giving an emotional and distant counterpoint to the melodicism the band exhibits. Where as Macgowan lets his keyboard and violin add to the atmosphere giving everything an age old pallor.
It would be easy to hold the more recent glut of unfortunate excuses of "sad boy" metal against them. Instead of feeling any concern for this, My Dying Bride move on with their own career, never basking in the light of what they have earned. Instead, the band stay consistent and stick with what they started, making truly depressive metal.
See also
www.mydyingbride.net/
