My Dying Bride are an English Doom/Death Metal (early)/Gothic/Doom Metal (later) band formed in Bradford in 1990. Along with Anathema and Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride were a forerunner of the British death doom and gothic metal genres during the early 1990s. Aaron Stainthorpe (vocals) and Andrew Craighan (guitars) are the two original members remaining.
It feels like a great occasion for an album from My Dying Bride as we live this moment of a virus outbreak, financial crisis and horrible gray weather. It can't get much 'more doom' than that! The Ghost of Orion is the sextet 13th studio album. It comes after a turbulent period with Aaron’s daughter being diagnosed with cancer (thankfully recovered in the meantime) and one guitar player and drummer leaving the band. Given those circumstances, Andrew wrote the album by himself and it is the band's longest gap (5 years) between studio albums to date. Despite all of that, it's interesting that the tone and mood of the album is not as dark or depressive as I was expecting. Don't get me wrong, it's still intensively depressing and heavy but also catchy and accessible at moments. The album features 6 proper long songs. There are also two short songs: the title track, a pseudo instrumental song without any drums (we can barely hear the whispering lyrics) and closer "Your Woven Shore" (a church choir vibe).
I was not familiar with the band's sound so I can't compare The Ghost of Orion to their past records. But I was intrigued by the album's first single, "Your Broken Shore" and decide to give it a try. This beautiful track has it all and exemplify the record: Guitar riff driven music, mid-tempo layered with sorrowful violins and keyboards by Shaun Macgowan, melancholic instrumental breaks intertwined with heavy drum fills and the impressive vocal performance of Aaron. He manages to go seamlessly from beautiful clean singing to deep death growls. Overall the album relies heavily on the clean vocals and beautiful catchy melodies. Songs like "To Outlive the Gods" and the second single "Tired of Tears" are perfect examples. They represent the more accessible side of the record: no death growls, around 8 min, catchy choruses and overall just great songs. By the way how great is the title "Tired of Tears"? Then, we must talk about the track "The Solace" because it is very unique due to the female vocals by Lindy Fay Hella (Wardruna) sang over guitar riffs. The whole song goes like this and transmit a folk vibe. It also serves as a watershed in the album. The second half is "less accessible" (yet also great) and features two epic songs. The 10-min tracks have again death growls and long instrumental passages. "The Old Earth" being the heaviest song on the album. Some small moments reveal the fantastic song writing and attention to details. For example: The instrumental interlude on "The Long Black Land" where we have this moving guitar arpeggios with violin and a choir setting the tone, but broken three times by some very solid drum riffs before the whole band joins back in. Genius.
I love the production values on The Ghost Of Orion. First of all, it's very dynamic. Then, the guitars sound thick and heavy which goes very well with the excellent low and thick drumming sound. I also appreciate that the keys are low in the mix to support the harmony and rarely taking the emphasis. This choice not only gives the album this old school doom sound but also let the violin shine in great contrast with the heavy guitars and drums. Finally the artwork resembling a Baroque style painting such as Rembrandt's work is beautiful and memorable.
Overall The Ghost Of Orion is a very good album from a legendary band that went though a lot and almost didn't make it. However, the commitment of Aaron and Andrew kept the fire alive and we can only be thankful for that. This display of heaviness under an intensively depressing atmosphere delivers many shades of the doom color pallet. I am looking forward to visiting My Dying Bride'a discography.
SCORE: 82/100
Genre: Gothic Doom Metal
Released by Nuclear Blast Records on March 6th, 2020
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Rating System
96 - 100 Perfect
88 - 95 Excellent
84 - 87 Great
80 - 83 Very Good
75 - 79 Good
69 - 74 Mixed
58 - 68 Bad
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