Review
My Dying Bride
A Map Of All Our Failures

Peaceville (2012) Jon E.

My Dying Bride – A Map Of All Our Failures cover artwork
My Dying Bride – A Map Of All Our Failures — Peaceville, 2012

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.

8.1 / 10Jon E. • May 14, 2013

See also

www.mydyingbride.net/

My Dying Bride – A Map Of All Our Failures cover artwork
My Dying Bride – A Map Of All Our Failures — Peaceville, 2012

Related news

MY DYING BRIDE TO RELEASE 20TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION

Posted in Records on August 26, 2010

My Dying Bride Prep New Album

Posted in Records on February 23, 2009

Recently-posted album reviews

Økse

Økse
Backwoodz Recordz (2024)

Økse is a gathering of brilliant, creative minds. The project's roster is pristine, with avant-jazz phenoms Mette Rasmussen on saxophone, Savannah Harris on drums, and Petter Eldh on bass/synths/samplers joining electronic artist and multidisciplinery extraordinaire Val Jeanty (of the fantastic Turning Jewels Into Water project.) The result is a multi-faceted work that stands on top of multiple sonic pillars, as … Read more

Final

What We Don't See
Room40 (2024)

Justin K. Broadrick's prolific output keeps giving, and may it never stop! The latest release is one of Broadrick's earliest projects, Final, which started in the power electronics tradition but since its resurrection in the early '90s, it is solidly standing in the ambient realm. Final's new full-length What We Don't See continues on the same trajectory, relishing drone's minimalistic … Read more

Bambies

Snotty Angels
Spaghetty Town Records, Wanda Records (2024)

The digital files I’ve been listening to as I write this review are all tagged to begin with the band name, e.g. “Bambies Teenage Night,” “Bambies Love Bite,” etc. It seems like a fitting metaphor. The Bambies play the kind of Ramones-adjacent garage-punk that’s often self-referential and in on their own joke. The Bambies play leather jacket-clad, straight-forward punky songs … Read more