MY DYING BRIDE : FOR LIES I SIRE
Peaceville
Okay, I won’t bullshit you… I am an unashamedly HUGE and veteran MDB fan – following them since almost day one, all the way back to 1991/92 in fact. So as much as I’m trying to be objective, having lived with this master work for a couple of weeks, I am thrilled to be able to report that (just as was certain it would be) it’s an absolute monster! Here is THE most hardcore doom band of them all, never coming close to selling out, remaining resolutely morose, crushingly depressing, and atmospherically devastating through thick and thin.
Aaron’s beautiful and emotive lyrics are, as always, the lynchpin to the magical mystery that is MDB, and his haunting, evocative and emotionally magnificent, eerily sonorous vocal delivery set MDB apart from every, and any, other band out there. The guitars of Hamish and Andrew are at once moltenly and excruciatingly heavy, yet diametrically venomously delicate, and when combined, tear and sting with corrosively melodious sensibility. A quite masterful performance from this seasoned pairing.
Magnificently powered along by Lena (bass guitars) and Dan (drums), who are still a comparatively new component, yet sound perfectly gelled and immaculately synched, all nine new, perfect songs are massively epic and intensely emotionally overwhelming. Topped off by Katie’s sweepingly evocative and exquisitely melancholic violin work – this is in many ways a ‘return’ to the venerated sound of the MDB so beloved by their legions of fans… though I’m not sure the band would agree with my sentiments.
As ever, produced by the omnipresent ‘Mags’, the band still sound moodily invigorated and morosely potent, from opener “My Body, A Funeral”, through to “Echoes From A Hollow Soul”, and from “Santuario Di Sangue” through to the remarkable closing classic “Death Triumphant”, it is, indeed, a triumphant return of a timeless band who simply don’t understand the suggestion of subverting musical integrity for the lure of commercial compromise, and so remain pure in intent and devastating in delivery. We used to know and use this term ‘back in the day’… BUY OR DIE!
95/100
SATANIC MUTTLEY
