Here is that Adam Neely video on Scotch Snaps -- that rhythmic idea I talked about somewhere in the middle of this video. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-i7cG9QIvIWo.html And this is the Batman TAS opening theme where you can hear something similar to that melody from Black God. it's the last lick of the theme and starts at 0:50. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-rrmUk2YUm14.html
Holly, I didn't except this. This is one of my favorite albums from the Death Doom genre. The sound is depressing and at the same time romantic, really expresses the gothic aesthetics in a metal context.
A seminal album whose influence might get lost in the shuffle of the years, but it was incredibly ahead of its time. You did your death metal reaction recently so you can probably imagine the contrast and shift of direction bands like this took that blueprint of sound; less concerned with speed, and much more with atmosphere and moodyness. In that sense, the intro that sounds underwhelming to you was incredibly mesmerizing and adventurous back then. That you underpinned your argument by mentioning a bunch of things that relate to today's extreme immediacy is kind of dating the album. And you're right in saying it was a product of the times. But, like I always say in these comments, the world that was bubbling out of mainstream metal's sight was quite possibly the most weird and experimental metal has ever gotten, and it was driven forth by experimentation and the want for musical expression, even when at times the execution falters. And this was very experimental. I remember, as 15 year old, checking out albums at a record store, expecting a full blast of guitars and getting violins and piano instead. And then having it be something of a bait and switch. It was done better after this, but this is more or less the foundation a lot of the metal that came after (and indeed a lot of metal you've reacted to). Metal that was slower in nature, that was moody, that featured violins and themes of romanticism, religion and erotica were simply not done back then, and this is why this album, along Anathema and Paradise Lost. Also, "I have a cool riff anyone has anything else?" was literally how they described their songwriting process at one point. ANd a note regarding the vocals, this was really the first time Aaron Thorpe, the singer, atempted clean vocals, and he is notoriously introverted. His somewhat stilted delivery is a reflection of that lack of confidence. He would find his own footing, but I always kind of place him in a similar category to folk like Nick Cave, Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen, who aren't particularly good singers in terms of pitch or technique. He would improve with the times. Eventually. Final note for the layering of melodies, the band will eventually go on and be kind of infamous for playing counterpoint with their guitar melodies.. You've seen this on the Barghest of Bigby, their 30 minute song and a perfect example as to why doom bands should probably just write songs as opposed to albums. Finally (I am writing this as I watch and responding to your commentary, which is why the comment is this disjointed). This was very much a transitional album. The first did include the violins and slower parts, but it was far more death metal than this one. The following two albums would go on to a much more goth metal sound without harsh vocals completely, followed by an album that flirted with some electronics and even som Trip Hop, after which they return to the elements of this album and a mix of goth and death metal with cleans and growls. It was very experimental for the band and for the musical scene in general. I'd risk saying Ne Obliviscaris and the like would not exist without the blueprint that was being laid out here.
All of this is great info. You're spot on about major albums like this getting "lost in the shuffle of the years". These are honestly the most difficult videos for me to make because I know, or sometimes have a hunch, that they were massively experimental for their time but I'm hearing them *after* other bands have iterated and perfected the sound. Or even taken the sound and experimented on it even more. It's difficult to properly appreciate them on that intrinsic level.
@@CriticalReactions This album is legendary but as you found out, it was a very rudimentary blend of music. You should check "the dreadful horrors" to understand how influential this band really has been. There, in that album, they simply make this formula to perfection... I like turn loose the swans but it has aged very badly and it is hard to listen. Check that album out and you will udnerstand what i mean.
@@CriticalReactions I am sometimes surprised at how the music of my teens is perceived by me right now. A lot of metal that I listened to in 90s and 00s was inspired by thrash, heavy, trad doom of the 80s. They've built upon that genres, added more layers on top of it. And listening to bands like Iron Maiden or Metallica felt like listening to barebones guitar lessons. Now I see all the influence of my favorite bands from the 00s in the modern music, which is way denser in sound. These old bands feel hollow now in the same way 80s music felt hollow.
Historical context that might help you get some perspective on the strangeness of this album: their first EP and first album were 100% growling, and death-doom, and quite innovative. The violin player was a guest on those, but for Swans he became a full member . Turn Lose the Swans is quirky, jagged, messy, and things because they were trying to re-write the doom-metal book, trying to up the classical and gothic. Aaron had never sung before, only growled, but he wanted to try adding clean vocals. So, they essentially had no idea how to approach this new sound. They did it with conviction, and went all-in. That authentic experimentation registered as strongly as the gothic romance angle, and, while flawed it spoke deeply to a lot of people, and opened up their minds to a much more expansive version of doom.
Among other things, this album's ought to be the record that smoldered doom with violin, ultimately coming to The angel and the dark river. But the sickening strike tone presence of the violin here is completely unique and the experimental nature of the record adds to that I don't think that I've ever heard anyone ever in the history of metal or music whatsoever using violin in such a feverish way.
Well, My Dying Bride is the most influental band of the whole Doom-Death scene. Undisputed. They started over 30 years ago, and I hope this band will give us some good stuff. No other band can fill the great vacuum, if they stop this endeavor of darkly pleasure.
Thank you Brian for your comments at 02:49:50 re the guest female vocalist Zena Choi. I have shared it with her today. You are right. Aaron should have invited her to join the band for more duets back in 1993 when she was 24, definitely a missed opportunity for more great vocals. She did make her own album Aria circa 1989 where you can hear more of her vocals.
To understand this album, it would be important to have a context about the time it was released and also to appreciate the first album (as the flowers w.) as there is a relationship between both albums, especially in the opening track. But music can be timeless, what matters is what you feel when you listen to it, so it was interesting to see this analysis \m/_ (nice t-shirt!!!) MDB was one of my favorite bands in the 90s, as well as the Doom Death Metal style.
Your PB&J analogy makes sense if you understand how Aaron utilizes his different vocal styles. He has 3 main styles - a low growl, a higher growl, and his emotional cleans. Not always, but many times the different voices represent different characters in the narrative. The growls usually represent something like a god, demonic presence, or malevolence, while the cleans often represent human fragility or vulnerability. Listen to "The Dreadful Hours" or "The Return of the Beautiful" for magnificent interpretations of these ideas. Because of their purpose, the growls often come crashing in without a clean transition as you heard in "Your River". Also lyrically, Aaron tends toward extremely poetic lyrics that don't always mean what they say. He frequently uses allegory, allusions, and metaphors to refer to his relationship with religion (as much of this album does), but it may not be apparent by the lyrics. Lastly, you hit the nail on the head when you sad they were innovative in the early nineties - My Dying Bride, Anathema, and Paradise Lost (should probably also throw in Cathedral) appeared nearly simultaneously in the late 80s/ early 90s and together created this hybrid of death metal and doom.
The early '90s brought in addition to My Dying Bride, Anathema, Paradise Lost, and Cathedral a large number of European bands (generally Northern European) in much the same subgenre and style: Celtic Frost (one of the originators of this subgenre), Tiamat, Cemetary, The Gathering, Theatre of Tragedy, Amorphis, and so on, adding classical or folk instrumentation, slower and moodier passages, clean vocals, spoken word passages, and the like, punctuated by heavier, death metal style sections, and occasionally experiments with avant-garde noise and electronica. Fields of the Nephilim (AKA Nefilim) were approaching things from the other direction at the time, starting with an eccentric basis in goth-rock with growled vocals, before moving into quasi-death metal territory in their later albums starting with "Zoon", and were essentially part of the same "crossover" gothic/death/doom movement, whether they realized it or not. It didn't work for everyone, I guess, but it was a welcome change for those of us who were finally growing tired of years of generic death metal: death metal had just found its way into the popular culture by the early '90s thanks to bands like Napalm Death and Cannibal Corpse, a lot of the bigger bands were getting snapped up by mainstream labels and given bigger budgets and more professional production and so on, really cleaning up their image and taking much of the grimy underground fun out of things, at just the moment that grunge and pop-punk were finding their stride and the death metal thing deflated. Bands like My Dying Bride, which got in on the ground floor of experimenting in different directions from their death metal roots, were primed to weather the death metal implosion much better than the bigger, more traditional death metal acts of the era, and were a welcome change from the increasingly desperate and cheesy death metal genre, and those of us who stuck around and rode the wave were treated to some great little (then) experimental metal gems in subgenres that in some cases never really gelled, and in a few cases would go on to become modern mainstays of the genre, like gothic and doom metal.
Yeah I think you are just never going to like Doom Metal. I appreciate that the genre is not for you and appreciate the analysis but it does feels like you're very close to under-value anything that's simple music: if it explores just one sentiment, one mood, sets up one ambient and is not afraid to linger there to let you contemplate that, that doesn't means it's not *EXACTLY* what a lot of us sometimes intentionally look for. And that truly is the gist of Doom Metal.
I try not to undervalue simple music but it's difficult within the mindset that I have when analyzing music. A lot of the casual music I listen to is on the simpler side after all. But I know it's something that I need to work on in these videos.
I get what you're trying to achieve looking at this from a composer point of view.I too am a composer. But honestly, I found that having an education in music theory actually can ruin enjoying music for what it is. Without looking at counterpoint and cadence and just sit back and let it wash over you. It is art and isn't supposed to be dissected like a rat. This album is beautiful.
Now one other point. Even though this is probably still my favorite MDB album, they really don't have a bad album in their entire career. Some of the immaturity and randomness in mood and composition here, while for some reason it just works for me, they became far more mature in this regard later on. Especially on their albums from the early 2000s. One of the best tracks to check out from this era is The Dreadful Hours.
I don't think I've heard a single bad MDB album either - though the one-off experiment "Evinta" is side-project material intended for fans only, and only a subset of fans at that, and not really my cup of tea over the longer haul. I even like the generally reviled "34...%... Complete" album, alleged to be the band's "experimental failure": it had a few weird moments, but I have a soft spot for it, finding most of it quite familiar and classic My Dying Bride misery and sorrow that wouldn't be far out of place on any other MDB album of the era.
@@pietrayday9915 True, I haven't spent much time with Evinta, but I don't really think of it as an MDB album. Also, yes, I love 34.788% Complete. Probably the best of the late 90s experimental album phase albums that so many classic bands went through.
Musically, I would agree that this one is a very transitional album, which makes it quite hard to headbang to. Still, I think Martin's violin shined here the most. And transitions don't happen very often, thus this album is a gem by this virtue alone.
Sear Me creates space to separate the real-world from the album-world. Depression, monotonous rain drops on a dreary day. The repetition, the lack of dynamics, the minimalism, etc, are there to break focus. Let attention drift, absorb the mood, slow your brain down. If it was too dynamic, or had too many changes it would draw too much attention to itself. Similar for the chord progression and lack of resolution. You are supposed to zone-out, slow-down and absorb. And yes, the lethargy, depression, lack of release, are intentional.
And the title 'Sear Me' makes more sense with the lyrics of the first version. The musical themes for all 3 Sear Me versions are partially variations. This being the most (intentionally) hypnotic.
If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all. -John Cage
it would be interesting to watch you reaction about their next album "The Angel and the Dark River" which was a little shock for the fans, because there wasn't growls anymore, just clean vocals....production is much, much better and compositions are better refined, wtth smoother transitions
Poetry has cyclical elements in it (either through repetitions*, or by literally being songs). In fact, it is thought that various poetry forms derive from songs, such as hymns & psalms, so both are intrinsically entwined, and I don't think it's really possible to differentiate between the two. Important to note, it likely derives from ancient Greek lyrical poetry - ie, poetry (in story form) accompanied by lyre. *I would argue that lyrics for songs are in fact mostly linear. There is a repetition (the chorus), but I would argue that is not cyclical (cyclical = repetitive).
One of my favorite albums of all time. In the early 90s, this album was definitely groundbreaking. As you discuss towards the end, while their first album is still death doom, it's far more death than doom and had no clean vocals. This one is definitely very experimental, especially compared to the scene at the time. Both the first and second albums were very influential in their own way on death-doom.
This album was released at the apex of the death metal era, at a time when MDB were known for some experimental doom-influenced death metal employing violins at times - that "Sear Me" opener was a real shock when we first heard it at the time: it was unlike almost anything we'd ever heard from this band or their contemporaries before, although they were already testing the waters with the previous album. "Sear Me" was a slow burn at the time, a real "shoo out the deathcrushers" moment that would make or break the fanbase they were growing, but grew on me pretty quickly, and set the stage for what we'd hear from them moving on, helping to redefine the metal genre at the time. I don't think I remember anyone saying this song or album was a "sell-out" at the time: it was absolutely one of the most anti-commercial moves this band could have made, but I think it stood up over time and helped MDB weather the apocalypse that came to metal over the following years as the glut of generic death metal wore out its welcome. One of the things that maybe helped keep the target audience on the same page with what the band were doing with this version of "Sear Me" was that it was more a remake or reboot of an earlier, much heavier song than a sequel... those who were familiar with the riff and direction of the original were maybe better prepared for what was going on there: this is much the same thing the band was doing on their death metal albums, in a more atmospheric, delicate, atmospheric, and moody setting. Subsequent songs would tie it back together into a bigger plan: they would be heavier than "Sear Me" and would appeal more to more traditional gothic, doom and death fans, but were still cut from the same dreary, moody, dramatic cloth as the opener, and were a definite departure from what came before. (And then there was the album's closer, which almost wraps back around into the same style and mood as "Sear Me", though "Black God" is much shorter, almost too short....)
"Your River" was definitely a much-needed relief from the tension they'd built up in the opener, and is still one of the album's highlights to this day! Very dynamic and dramatic. As mentioned in some of the other comments, the contrasting vocal styles here are a sort of conversation between a frail humanity and a callous and aggressive divinity: the whole song plays out a lot like humanity daring to optimistically raise its head up to the heavens, only to get kicked back down to the earth by some sort of god or angel of death, putting us back in our miserable place....
Perhaps try a reaction to Tiamat's "Wildhoney" and/or maybe Nefilim "Zoon"? Both were released about the same time in theoretically much the same subgenre, but they're all very different animals - we loved all three bands, the variety of music emerging from this subgenre at the time was fine stuff!
Was a metal head, but discovered MDB late in the 1999-2000...thanks to piracy ( audiogalaxy ). Don't know how I ended up with them, also Theatre of Tragedy, Therion, Nightwish...Been a fan since then. Love them! They're unique, for me they define the Doom genre! ❤
MDB has this thing i dunno the English term for it but we call it:Prepared note or half-riff. they use it RIGHT BEFORE transitioning. examples: 41:55, 2:02:09
Let it be known that this man said, “It started off strongly with Sear Me” 2:33:22. MDB is my top favorite band. So I love your analysis on their music. It’s great to see a first timer actually listen to the entire record and see it for what it is. I’ll have to find the interview, but indeed Aaron mentioned that he’s usually the last to contribute to the song writing process. So the feeling of the vocals being disconnected from what the rest of the music is doing, it’s very telling. If you watch their live performances you’ll see he really gets into character with the characters/narrators of his stories/poems. As you listen to other albums you’ll notice a distinct “sound” with each drummer, and rhythm guitarist they’ve had. But that dreary, melancholic “feel” of their music is born out of the lead guitarist. When I listen I enjoy holding that melancholic “feel” while simultaneously “hearing” how they expand on their sound, mix it up a bit, and bring something different to the table. If you choose to revisit them I recommend As The Flowers Wither, and Trinity. It’s, in my opinion the best blend of death and doom you’ll ever here. As their music progressed you’ll notice a more doomier than death tone to their music. No one does it like them! A Map of All Our Failures is very sad, disheartening, heavy, doomy goodness 🤤 Like Gods of the Sun is more groovier doom. Their most latest album, The Ghost of Orion is very melancholic and sweet, and somber. That doom though. Their blend of doom is so beautiful, even if Aaron can be a bit corny sometimes 😂
It's ironic you could "hear" Sear Me with guitars, bass, and drums because this is essentially an acoustic arrangement of the original Sear Me off their debut album. Sear Me III uses the same basic themes with a slightly modified melody.
Their death/doom placement comes more from their first album with songs like the bitterness and the bereavement, sear me, and the return of the beautiful, which all contain more doom metal instrumental elements and death metal growls.
“The Return to the Beautiful” lyrics. It’s all right there, the essence of the band’s message. Right down to the name ‘My Dying Bride’ = ‘Life on Earth’. Doomed to fate on this planet, trapped in a human body & soul not of your own choosing. What’s not to like?
Re "lyrical dive": I think, it's the weakest link in your reactions thus far. It wouldn't take much effort to google for context of what's going on in the lyrics section. Or to ask those who request the reaction. Like: "guys, what should I know to understand the lyrics better?". Or, at least, to look up the lyrical themes on MA. After all, what is it that makes the difference between "cynical" and "critical" attitude, if not the readiness to try to understand?
I've been slowly finding ways to make the lyrical analysis less....bad? I used to read the lyrics on camera and try to parse it out in real time so this is an improvement. I do use Genius Annotations when I can but there weren't any for this album IIRC. I might explore getting people's interpretations prior to the reaction though. I know that's not always going to work since quite a few people in the community don't care about lyrics too much but it's worth it just in case I can get some extra insight.
@@CriticalReactions >getting people's interpretations I do think it's the context that needs to be considered prior to reaction. Interpretation must be yours and unspoiled as much as possible, while givens are necessary to be known. Imagine reading Tolkien-themed lyrics without knowing that "Midle-earth" is a toponym - not an allegory or something else. Ofc you can't be expected to know that "Save yourself" is an elephant-sized reference. Or that "Daath" is not misspelled "death". It's the community's responsibility to point out such spots for you.
Dude….I got into My Dying Bride in high school…with “As the Flower Withers”…the way they play Doom Metal is beautifully depressing…”Turn Loose the Swans” blew me away & still does. Try “The Light at the End of the World”…it’s the ultimate doom metal album 🤘🏽🤘🏽🤘🏽🤘🏽🤘🏽
this is a classic, hands down, from start to finish, perhaps the timing was right in my life but this album was correct for the time and complete... out of nowhere it just established a new thing... the MDB thing... they had no money, so this reminds me of paradise lost gothic in terms of production value/grit at the time... a masterpiece.
Listen to their first album As The Flower Withers and compare the two. There is a marked difference in sound. Similarly Paradise Lost debut Lost Paradise and the following album Gothic. Along with Anathema they were the forerunners of the Death/Doom genre.
Personally I look at MDB lyrics theme as follows: a Woman standing in the Man's way to Divine. Their first album: As the Flower Withers. On its cover it has a naked young woman torso with monster mask on her head. Their second album: disfigured female statue face on the cover. The third album: home-photo of a naked woman in a dark room, only shoulders and her smile are in the frame. And so on, to some degree. The author feels heavily Crowley-inspired (I use this name as a reference to a rather broad movement of esoteric spiritualism) in early lyrics. The Hell is real, and it's for those who din't break the illusion and ascend during their earthly "life". He tries to solve the puzzle, to find the key between the lines of religious texts, but fails. Then a Woman comes into play and allures/distracts him with her transient beauty. He understands it's the wrong way, but, again, fails to withstand Her. It's an agony of slipping down, in a sense. In their later lyrics, there's more romance and relationships and fiction and other mundane stuff. Past The Light at the End of the World (1999), I can't really appreciate them, so I might be missing something.
I think you're on the right track, but the female presence (often maligned in mdb lyric) I think is an exercise in alienation as well, as in, the voice that maligns and calls for all the extreme sadism in early lyric is often 'the voice of the priest', the voice of the followers of god that enact a strange and cruel will on the earth. A lot of early MDB is a deSade-an mockery of christ but the libertine ethos you'd expect as an antidote to the dying god instead here is intermixed with other confusions in this macabre music style... The dying of beauty to this cruelty is a core concept, and I think Aaron was a teenager virgin scared of pussy when he was writing a lot of the early stuff, and then later he got laid and had to deal with living with women, not just imagining them, you know?
I actually just sort of shrugged my way through my first couple MDB albums, and assumed Aaron and maybe the other band members were gay or something: they REALLY didn't seem to like women in those lyrics! I just kinda rolled with it - and was actually surprised to find that Aaron actually seemed to be happily married with kids (and he's actually not that gloomy in "real life"!) For the most part, women in these lyrics either comes off like an obstacle to divinity as you say, but otherwise they seem to play the role of a torture or torment inflicted on man by a capricious and malignant divinity: the more I've listened to the band over the years, the more I've come to conclude that the "women" in these songs aren't even people, but more like symbolic stand-ins in allegories and metaphors for something else: women as symbols of life, humanity, the world, and the like, contrasted against whatever malicious and abusive thing the divine or spiritual represents/is represented by in these songs....
I'm not even half way with your experience and analysis and I am so happy for you, for your good brain making all the interesting connections and understanding this style, regardless of whether you love it and want more of it now or not, it will fill in so many pieces of the aesthetic and compositional map of the larger field of heavy metal. MDB are very influential but not in clear cut ways. The bands that sound like them are the least interesting ones from the many others they influenced who do not bear the gene so obviously. Now if you return to maudlin of the Well we were discussing a while back you will see the continuation of this aesthetic effort to a more dreamlike and innocent plateau. The allowances in style that lead to this point, this MDB record come from Celtic Frost (to mega therion) and from them to Paradise Lost (gothic) then this early MDB style (especially potent even before this album you are listening to now, go back to Symphonaire EP for the most perfect encapsulation of this style). From the MDB style we go to Tiamat and their excursion from metal to other realms and from there (along with many other spices in the mix) we end up to motW. This is in 'atmospheric metal' as a trajectory, though here on this stop we are squarely listening to the romantic type of 'doom/death', that's what we called this style in the '90s. The broader 'atmospheric metal' umbrella captures a lot of artists-in-transit from a ground metal genre to a hybrid style or often completely outside, towards the periphery of metal or completely outside of it. MDB are such a band because they ended up for a while playing Trip Hop, much like Fleurety are such a band that went from black metal to some postmodern collage for a while, or how Paradise Lost became a new wave band etc etc. metal was dying in the mid 90s and all these sensitive artists that started out growling their guts out playing grind/death metal as teenagers were jumping ship from metal and thinking 'if aesthetically I can do this robust dark metal music, then I am an artist first, not a metalhead musician first, I can make all sorts of other dark, accomplished music'. Thus the hybridizations and the total excursions start, and we got a lot of interesting music by people that generally ended up completing some trajectory around popular music and ended up returning to the heavy metal home base.
as to why things are so hyper rigid and sometimes played 5 times (to get an extra, empty riff before we shift sections) and those lumbering awkwardnesses of this style... my objection to it all melted away over the years of understanding that beasts like these slouch and stagger according to mood. Atmosphere is not enough of a word to describe the motions of this kind of music, mood does so better. Moods shift, and they overtake each other. If MDB moods shift abruptly, overstay their welcome, slur into drunken variation of themselves, repeat like a neurotic thought... this is the space we are in. This is still death metal, it is about reanimating or worshipping something rotting, it's not supposed to be fun. This doom/death style focuses on the internality of those morbid themes whereas the death metal style is more about 'the monster' and the violence it inflicts. So I think the music moves appropriately, and if you check with Celtic Frost or Paradise Lost they lay about the same 'mood shift' kind of meter to their changes as well, studiously impulsive. Also, seeing early MDB live shows where it's 5 dorky teenagers talking about these completely macabre poems with vomit vocals over grinding shifts from fast to slow tells you where they were coming from: that fascination of pushing impossible heaviness and death metal macabre opereta over their teenager mates is in essence, punk rock. Everybody else is going super fast, we will intermix macabre stillness, so impossible to bear, then back to the grindstone. What you're listening to now here on Turn Loose is, hilariously, the third and most refined iteration of this band as an ostensibly death metal band, they used to be quite brutal beyond belief.
Love me some death doom. My dying bride always comes through with the doom part Also I’ve been making music on my iphone lmao I wouldn’t recommend it either
the tempo is from the 3rd vocal line each time he uses a vowel..... seriously? im gonna use tempos from violins rather than cellos while listening to classical stuff
The best MDB album ever. It was groundbreaking at that time because nobody played such things before. OK, Paradise Lost started incorporating these melodic and classic elements into death doom metal and released 2-3 death-doom before "Turn Loose The Swans", but MDB seemed to be gloomier and more doom-oriented (i. e. not so approachable as PL). And because of this the mix of dark, powerful and heavy parts with the melodies was so innovative then. Anathema? Anathema's discography was even shorter in 1993. They just started releasing music. So, MDB's second album was sort of revolutionary and trendsetting. NOBODY PLAYED SUCH THINGS BEFORE. Nobody had courage for such ideas. The metal community was much more conservative than today. Unfortunately, the sad part about MDB is that - in my opinion - they evolved the least, compared to their colleagues from Paradise Lost and Anathema. But it's another story. Thank you for your review:)
A better way to look at it is MDB didn't abandon their roots as much as PL or Anathema, both PL and Anathema are unrecognizable from their beginnings unlike MDB, if you listen to The Crestfallen or Lost Paradise then listen to alternative 4 or paradise lost (the album) blindly you would think you are listening to records from 4 different bands where as if you listen to turn loose the swans and then song of darkness words of light you know they are both MDB albums and can still hear the evolution in composition and themes without losing their roots.
Double posting sue me. But the line during triumphant brass is "no sad adieus, on a balcony, for one last time just walk with me" not "so sad" If dual vocals are your jam I'm not sure if you have listened to them before but bands like Draconian, and Theatre of Tragedy might be the middle ground you seek.
Two things: 1) I love My Dying Bride. 2) I never really understood why this album is the one everyone puts up as their ultimate classic when they have better releases before and after. This has always felt like an awkward transitional album to me. They hadn’t figured out what they wanted to be yet on this album, and it has always been a disjointed listen as a result, in my opinion. Angel and the Dark River is a better album, and Dreadful Hours is their peak, to me.
I obviously can't speak for everybody but I think I think of the entire album fondly mostly because Your River is such an amazing banger of a song I always come back to. Except I come back to this one song, usually not the entire album. Whereas as you correctly mention, I am much more likely to listen to something like say, Like gods of the sun, I can just keep coming back for if not the full length of the album, many different songs I rather enjoy. Since we're talking 20 to 30 years since I first listened to these albums in full I just think it's normal to do this a lot: you remember maybe 1 or 2 songs that are great on albums that are honestly not as strong as you remember overall and it kinda colors your opinion a bit.
Everyone has different taste and emotion. This album what You like or not, made for 30 years ago, and it still stands. That era of MDB was full of innovation. this whole genre tries to building from they footsteps. This is only my opinion of course. MDB's and the genre's most perfect track is the opening title of I Am The Bloody Earth.
I think part of it is that is the album which contains every element of their early sound. It is the first full album with clean vocals, but still retains the death metal vocals which then get dropped on the next few albums. By the time the death metal vocals come back the violin is gone, and all those elements don't really return until the mid 2000s. I do agree it isn't their high point, but maybe it is the album with the most distilled version of their sound.
@@OrthodoxGoregod I do love I Am The Bloody Earth! I think TLTS is maybe a “you had to be there” kind of album for me. I didn’t get into the band until a few years after its release and I’m going back into their discography I found that the very early releases, AaTDR, and most of the the albums from Light At The End Of The World and after just connect with me more for whatever reason.
As usual, I can't speak for everyone, but I rather like awkward, transitional albums of all sorts. They aren't perfect - what is? - but there's always something kinda fresh, formula-defying, weird, and unpredictable about them, you never quite know what you might get out of them, and chances are you've never heard its like before, and aren't going to hear anything quite like it again. It also happened to be one of those right-albums-at-the-right-time things: the early '90s had a number of these sorts of weird, awkward little experiments, and they were just the right thing after a glut of generic death metal following on a glut of generic thrash metal in the years before, followed by years of generic alternative, grunge, and pop-punk as the metal balloon deflated in the '90s... for those of us looking for something fresh and new without having to jump the metal ship completely, bands like My Dying Bride really scratched the right itch! The band would put out some excellent and quite consistent albums afterward, but very little that was quite as fresh, weird, and unique as this one, and this one really stood out from the crowd when it was released and almost all the "cool kids" were more likely to be listening to something that sounded like Cannibal Corpse and Napalm Death in a well-polished technical death blender....
It must be said, a few of the things you are reacting negatively to in these 90's doom and gothic metal reactions are their actual trademark styles and what fans appreciate the most with them. This might not be strange since you have in other videos mentioned you come from the "core"-genres and emo, which kind of handle themes, atmosphere and emotion in kind of the opposite way. It was extremely typical of these type of bands to work with contrasts to evoke emotional reactions (what you label mismatches or dissonance... which is fair enough ofc). They also apply emotional pressure by the absence of gratification to some point. This are the times you think the bands should have gone up instead of down (Or as I tend to think of it: taking the easy and cheap route to emotional reactions... like jumpscares in a movie). It's all about a certain way of build up of bent emotions. You'll find this in many other pioneering 90's band within the same genres. Look up legendary bands like Tiamat, Katatonia or Theatre of Tragedy for example from the same period.
Yeah, that's something that comes up often. I'm still barely dipping my toes into doom/gothic metal so I haven't quite internalized the similarities but a similar thing happened when I did some deep dives into Black Metal and I found myself criticizing the same things across multiple bands. It's through the experience that I begin to understand the goal of a genre and adapt an appreciation for their exploration of sound even if I don't personally like it. But it's hard to do that before I get the bigger picture. Thanks for adding some context to this type of music. It helps speed up that journey.
@@CriticalReactions Haven't checked enough of your portolio here on YT to know if you've covered them yet. But I think the true masters of this style using disharmony and dissonance is my fellow countrymen in Opeth. They sneak it in a lot more organically I'd say, and a bit more sparingly. Anyway, thanks for some great content and insights. Always fun to hear about a professionals view on "classic" music you yourself grew up with and kind of take for granted.
@@Eirath I've done quite a bit of Opeth, both their older style and some newer stuff. I'm pretty sure I've hit all the big songs by now -- Blackwater Park, Drapery Falls, Deliverance.
@@CriticalReactions Oh. Well, those are major. But only representative of their mid period. Early songs like Harvest or mid songs like Ghost of Perdition, Windowpane are by most fans considered crucial Opeth tracks too. At least check out Windowpane. And if you're curious you really should check out later Opeth too, where the growls have been permanently put aside for more cleaner vocals. Songs like Burden, Sorceress and Cusp of Eternity. Edit: Oh, and I have to check those you did out ofc :)
Absolutely love My Dying Bride... several brides of mine have been dying, I loved'em all. Jokes aside, Black God is taken from a poem "Ah! The Poor Shepherd's Mournful Fate" .. superb version here - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-scx1px14LK8.html
