My Dying Bride : The Dreadful Hours

[AzureWolf]

Upon seeing a recommendation by Aviendha of some bands, namely Morbid Angel and My Dying Bride, I listened to a few of their tracks and decided to buy a cd of My dying bride. Straight home and into my cd player it went, surprisingly it was quite medolic and hasnt left my cd player since I got it, around about 5 days ago. The cd I got was "The dreadful hours", my question was for anyone who knows anything about them are their other cd's like this? And are there any other similar bands along the same lines you would recommend?
Some of the harsher death metal is bloody good too, but when the ears need to hear something relaxing this is great for it [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Iluvatar Oakenshield]

You have hit the bullseye my friend! My Dying Bride is the best metalband ever in my opinion. Their music is sheer brilliance. All of their albums, but one, are classics imo. I suggest you buy them all. really I do, if you love this kind of music, it just doesn't get better.

Their Discography:

- As the flower whiters -> Their first full-length album, Very dark, dramatic, sad and aggresive. A lot of latin lyrics and a really good atmosphere. This one is mainly Old Death Metal with melodic influences. Vocals are only Grunts.

- Turn loose the swans -> This is by most fans seen as their best album (I think this is the best album ever recorded by any band) The lyrics are very very good, they really keep you reading and reading it again and they seem to just fit into my personal live like I'd have written them myself. (dream on Iluvatar ) Very poetic also. The music is the best combination of Death and Melodic slow metal. It's 50-50 just like the vocals, part grunts and part "clean".

- The angel and the dark river -> Also very good, probably their most melancholic album. Very long songs and no grunts only the clean sad vocals.

- Like Gods of the sun -> Kinda different, This one is like the old albums but with a bit op poppy influences. Shorter songs and less cryptical lyrics. Still very good though, but this one takes a few spins to appreciate it.

- 34.788 %.. complete -> This one is really different. They kicked out the violin player, which was very regretted by most fans and they started to experiment with triphop. I don't think it's bad but it just isn't as good as their other work. Also the lyrics are bad when compared to the other albums.

- The light at the end of the world -> Back to the old times. On this album they reintroduced the grunts for some parts. Still mainly clean vocals though. This one can be compared to "Turn loose the swans" Only with a less enchanting atmosphere. It was considered as a very good comeback. The lyrics are also old-style once again.

- The dreadful hours -> This really really impressed me. I didn't think they still had it in them. But they do. This is one of their darkest albums. And in my opinion they now have come full circle.

Other realeases:

Trinity -> A compilation of their first three singles. Really good also, contains the song "Symphonaire infernus et spera empyrium" Which is considered to be a cultsong by almost every metalfan.

Meisterwerk 1 -> Their first best of, containing both unreleashed material and some of their best songs from all former albums

Meisterwerk 2 -> Their second best of, like the first

Voices of the wretched -> Their first (full-lentgh) live album, should be released one of these days. I haven't heard it yet, but I am planning to buy it next tuesday.

So as you can see My Dying Bride tends to take a different approach with each album, but maintains their well-known enchanting atmosphere on all of their releases.

Once again; it just doesn't get better than this. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Azurewolf, thank you for asking your question, I love to rant about them

Have fun listening,

Cheers,
Iluvatar

PS: this is their official site: http://www.mydyingbride.org/news/index.html

Edit: Named you Azuredragon instead of Azurewolf, I'm very sorry

[ 05-03-2002, 10:49 AM: Message edited by: Iluvatar Oakenshield ]

[Melusine]

Started out with As the flower withers, then listened to some of Turn Loose the Swans and Like Gods of the Sun. Saw them live once too, quite a good band.
If you like MDB, you might also enjoy Anathema, Paradise Lost (older albums), The Sins Of Thy Beloved, Theatre Of Tragedy etc. (not that I'm a big fan of the last two, but I'm just naming bands that play similar music).
Oh, if you like Ssssssssssssssslllllllooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwww w music you might want to try out things like Cathedral and Skepticism. [img]smile.gif[/img]

If you like The Dreadful Hours then you will love Turn Loose the Swans!!!

Melusine has already listed Anathema and Paradise Lost albums that you will also love if you like My Dying Bride. Other than that, I can recommend Amorphis and Katatonia (Brave Murder Day is one of my all-time favourites).

If you want something seriously atmospheric and slow, with occasional blasting, Disembowlement's Transcendence into the Peripheral is a classic.

Hey Iluvatar Oakenshield, it's fab to find another IW member that is as crazy about My Dying Bride as I am!

Oh...and then there's Opeth!!!!! Words cannot even come close!!!!!

[Melusine]

Opeth's on a different level altogether
And I knew I'd forgotten a few there... LOL thanks for reminding me of Amorphis... now I feel old
I liked their cover of Light My Fire though, heh.

[Iluvatar Oakenshield]

Originally posted by Aviendha: Hey Iluvatar Oakenshield, it's fab to find another IW member that is as crazy about My Dying Bride as I am!

Certainly is [img]smile.gif[/img] It sounds silly but I have been to some..uumm... let's "dark periods" In my life and listening to My Dying Bride is one of the mayor things that has kept me going... So for me it's more than music, it's a way life. I WORSHIP these guys and their music.

I met them once by the way. I went to a gig in Almelo in 1997, here in The Netherlands and since I new a girl that worked at the club she arranged for me to come backstage. (I was the only one allowed ) I chatted a little with them and we drank some beers. I still have an empty bottle! I will cherish that moment forever [img]smile.gif[/img]

I'am going to see them at least twice this year; at the Graspop Festival in Belgium and at Wacken Open Air in Germany!

[AzureWolf]

Well thats enough suggestions to keep me going for awhile, but is there any one cd that I cant do without?

[Melusine]

LOL, yes, Mozart's Requiem
Well... it was worth the try [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Anyway, it's surprising you'd like the pseudo-classical mediocre "classic" influences of those bands but not the real thing... [img]tongue.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Some of the best albums in the more melodic sector, IMNSHO, are:

Therion's 'Theli' or 'A'arab Zaraq Lucid Dreaming'
Nightwish's 'Oceanborn'
or some Anathema, MDB, Paradise Lost (try Reflection, their "Greatest Hits" album so you'll immediately know whether you'll like them)
Oh and I really recommend Samael, though that's more of a black metal band (one of my favourites) and Moonspell's Wolfheart.

Chicane and Incubus are two of my favourite music groups - that's another two recommendations for you, Azure [img]tongue.gif[/img]