Valkyrian Music

My Dying Bride
Feel the Misery
Released 18th September 2015
Gothic Doom Metal
Released via Peaceville Records

‘Feel the Misery’ is the latest album from the British gothic doom metallers My Dying Bride. It is the follow up to ‘A Map of All Our Failures’ and ‘The Manuscript’ EP. This release marks the 25th anniversary since the formation of the band as well as the return of their original guitarist Calvin Robertshaw.

First up is the sombre, doom metal ballad ‘And My Father Left Forever‘ which highlights all the elements that make My Dying Bride such a great band. Everything from the heavy, death metal -style guitar riffs, Gothic metal keyboards, the beautiful and melancholic sound of the violin down to Aaron Stainthorpe’s haunting and wonderfully melodic vocals can be found in this song. Similar things can be said about the title track.

Yet as usual with this band, there’s always a balance between the harsh and the soft melodic sounds. For those who are craving to hear some of that harsh, death metal -style growling can rest assured that there is plenty of it to be found on this album, for example on the tracks ‘A Cold New Curse‘ and ‘Within A Sleeping Forest‘.

Another thing which makes this release fairly typical for My Dying Bride is the complex structure and the long duration of the songs. As with many of their albums, this one requires a lot of patience from the listener. Then again, if you’ve been listening to them for as long as I have, you’re probably accustomed to such lengthy ballads. Based on my experience, their music sounds best on a cold and stormy autumn night when you’re sat down with a good book and either a glass of red wine or a hot beverage of your choice.

In summary, ‘Feel the Misery’ is every bit as good as its predecessor ‘A Map of All Our Failures’. It’s a fantastic way for the band to celebrate 25 years of Gothic doom metal. I can safely say that this is easily one of my favourite releases of 2015. As a long-time fan of their music, I’d like to add that it’s one of the best My Dying Bride albums along with ‘The Dreadful Hours’ and ‘Songs of Darkness, Words of Light’.

4.5/5

Iza Raittila

This entry was posted on 6th August 2015 at 10:06 pm and is filed under Uncategorized with tags my dying bride. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.