From Nuclear Blast: British death-doom legends, My Dying Bride, are proud to announce their 15th studio album, A Mortal Binding, set to be released on 19th April via Nuclear Blast Records. Today's news is accompanied by the release of tempestuous, heart-wrenching new single 'Thornwyck Hymn'. The track comes with a stunning video directed by Daniel Gray, depicting a maritime story of unfolding desire and tragedy.



Pre-Save/Pre-Order A Mortal Binding: https://mydyingbride.bfan.link/a-mortal-binding

Track Listing:

1. Her Dominion
2. Thornwyck Hymn
3. The 2nd of Three Bells
4. Unthroned Creed
5. The Apocalyptist
6. A Starving Heart
7. Crushed Embers

Cover (hey, we've got loosed swans):


This first single reinforces everything we all love about the band, I think (sans the death metal elements but oh well, that should appear elsewhere on the album). The melancholic grandeur of old(e) is still intact. Looking forward to this. Cool video too.

Love it. My Dying Bride are one of those bands that has always been at least reliable to make good stuff, and at best one of the best doom bands of all time. The Ghost of Orion was my personal favorite album of 2020, and this being a general continuation of that sound makes me happy.

Doesn't do it for me, but then again, basically every MDB album features a few so-so tracks here and there.

Single is decent. Though I'm generally more into their early death/doom stuff, their last few albums have been surprisingly good, so I think I'll check this one out too.

New Chelsea Wolfe is out today too btw and it is sounding super gothic!

Obviously those are not swans. Rather some type of heron, can't say exactly which.

Oddly enough, the entire album is already floating out there in the InterNets on the same day it was announced. Is someone getting fired at Nuclear Blast?

Aw, dang it!



Should have stayed with Peaceville. Nuclear Blast stays sloppy as per usual.



Surprisingly good??

Hm, let's review. They seemed to move into a more restrained sound with the doom becoming more drawn out and elegiac as opposed to romantic and her breasts and all that. Aaron sounds just weary and worn these days but it is all very characteristic and the guitars more in command and more funereal. A Map Of All Our Failures is where I start to count their "more recent" work and that album is about 9/10 for me. The last two are hefty statements with The Ghost of Orion being especially great. So, I'd say they're as consistent as ever.

I'm way behind on these guys, but The Dreadful Hours and Turn Loose the Swans were some of my favorite albums growing up. Looks like they've put out 7 albums since I last tuned in, damn.

I loved "The Ghost of Orion" so I'm 100% on board with this. The new single is pretty damn good too.

The Dreadful Hours is a gem but the successor Songs of Darkness, Words of Light was even better with career highlights like "Catherine Blake" and "My Wine In Silence".

Agreed.
"Songs of Darkness" is a masterpiece. "A Doomed Lover" is one of the band's - and the genre's - highwater marks.
They've never released a bad album.

Just picked up Turn Loose the Swans on vinyl. These guys are one of my fav bands despite the fact they're basically the AC/DC of Doom at this point. The posted song is decent.

Wasn't too much into the new track. Felt like a thoroughly adequate, but ultimately underwhelming MDB song.



I haven't heard all of their recent stuff, but be sure to check out Feel the Misery-- it has no right being as good as it is for a band releasing it 25 years into their career. If I'm being honest, I actually dig it more than The Dreadful Hours.

The last 3 albums sounded pretty distinctive from each other. I have no idea where you get that AC/DC comment from.

I absolutely love the guitar sound on the new tune. I think this’ll be a grower but it’s very consistent. Surprised no growls on the single but I’m sure they’ll be there.

I know they are always consistent, I don't expect disappointment from them. The vocal delivery, the guitar tone, the asthetic...
It just ticks all the boxes. I hope I can check them live this tour.

Calvin Robertshaw's departure from the band is something that has always intrigued me: How might they have evolved since 2018 if he had stayed in the band?

I don't know if they would have made another Return To The Beautiful or anything like that. They seem to favor restraint more these days and didn't he leave because he wasn't geling well with them? Anyway, he has his own project now called Many Suffer but it is closer to Winterfylleth/Panopticon than Bride:


https://manysuffer.bandcamp.com/album/t ... -of-beasts

I'm not sure - Calvin was mostly responsible for the way the 34.788% Complete album turned out. The rehearsal demos of those songs were pretty typical doomy MDB tracks, but Calvin took control of them in the studio and changed them to what came out on the album. Not that I hate that album, but it's definitely the weirdest MDB album and sounds the least like them, so I'm glad it was a one-off.

That being said, Calvin didn't get a chance to write anything when he came back to the band in 2014 so we'll never know what his songwriting would have been like if given the chance. Obviously he was around in the beginning of the band and contributed to their early work, which is all classic MDB, so it's possible he could have done some great things in terms of writing.

I was extremely disappointed when Calvin left the band in 2018, so I reached out to him to find out why. It was definitely due to creative differences. Calvin wanted much more diversity, a better balance between melancholy and aggression, and he mentioned a distinct lack of dynamics several times (when referencing the material Andy was writing for the Ghost of Orion). So it would have been markedly different with Calvin’s input. And I have to agree with Calvin, the Ghost of Orion is easily the least dynamic MDB record. It has about 880 user ratings on Rate Your Music and is tied for the lowest rated full length MDB album at 3.23 (with For Lies I Sire), and I completely agree with that rating.

BTW….there are plenty of death growls on the new album, but there really isn’t much death metal in the guitar riffs or drumming. Same lack of dynamics as the previous album, same tempo throughout every song, nothing remotely close to the aggressive sections heard on The Dreadful Hours or some of their other older material. The guitar riffs have become predictable - just about everything is single note melodies, harmonies or chords played in a standard melodic scale, and there just isn’t much darkness or wickedness in the riffs anymore. The cryptic and sinister atmosphere and the serpentine riffs that would twist and turn in unexpected directions, that were so critical to what made MDB special, are largely no more.

It’s unfortunate as I thought MDB was often more convincing when their music was more diverse, deathly and dynamic, which has been lacking across their recent albums (with Feel the Misery being the lone exception in my opinion). There are exceptions: The Angel and the Dark River and A Line of Deathless Kings are largely excellent (with almost a complete lack of death metal), but these last few albums just don’t do it for me. I listened to The Ghost of Orion and The Dreadful Hours back to back recently, and the difference between the two (when considering dynamics in particular) was absolutely striking.

Stuff like this happened with Calvin's return to the band and does indeed strike a balance between melancholy and aggression:



That said, A Map Of All Our Failures which happened with Hamish Glencross is such a grand record of uber-despair and towering doom that served as a reminder that MDB were top of the heap of dark doom bands. I also thoroughly enjoyed The Ghost Of Orion and welcomed their more introspective restrained style.



I guess I'll wait and see. They've always had more going for them than just cryptic and sinister vibes. They could also be lush and layered as on "My Hope, the Destroyer" or that recent EP, Macabre Cabaret. Of the Peaceville Three, they were the ones who stuck out longest with the death metal elements and if they think they've finally outgrown them, they can easily lean into other stuff in their extensive palette. MDB are very varied (which is why whoever posted they were the AC/DC of doom needs a knock on the head).

Gave the album a shot yesterday and it was hard to sit through. Like ElfJuice said, the new album features plenty of growls (which sound fantastic; Aaron must be immortal or has used some black magic), but otherwise the songs are pretty predictable, the guitar riffs sound way too stale for my taste and on an emotional level, things fail to impress. 'A Starving Heart' sounds pretty dope though and here's hoping that my opinion will change for the best, but I'm skeptical.

I also thought that The Ghost of Orion felt too comfortable, whereas Feel the Misery sounded fresh and inspiring.

After your besmirching reviews of The Dreadful Hours and Songs of Darkness, Words of Light (two of the band's finest hours IMO), I'll take your thoughts on what a good modern MDB album is with a sack of salt.

Don't worry: no negative review incoming for this new one.

Yes, the material on Feel the Misery largely struck a good balance between the doom and aggression, although Calvin’s return did not impact that as Andy wrote all of the material. Andy just happened to write more aggressive and dynamic material for that album (compared to The Ghost of Orion).

Sure, the band has always had more going for them than just the cryptic and sinister death metal elements. For me, regardless of the style they are playing, it comes down to the quality of the guitar riffs and vocal melodies, which is totally in the eye of the beholder. For example: despite being a die hard metalhead, I prefer late 90’s Anathema to their older material with growls, simply because I have a stronger emotional reaction to it. Musical style be damned. I don’t feel that 34% or The Ghost of Orion are among the weaker MDB albums solely because they are different or lack death metal riffs (although I do think MDB is at their best when using all of the tools at their disposal) - to my ears, the riffs just aren’t as good or convincing. My emotional response is somewhat muted when compared to the best material on many of their other records.

I would actually use “My Hope the Destroyer” as a perfect example of a song with excellent dynamics. You have the lush orchestral instrumental beginning, the galloping up-tempo metal riff, a drastic shift in tempo when the slow, epic doom riff enters, and another notable shift into the choppy and gritty death metal mid-section (followed by some gorgeous guitar harmonies). It’s very diverse and the dynamics keep the listener engaged, which exacerbates the lack of these qualities on The Ghost of Orion. You can’t predict what’s coming next, whereas the Ghost of Orion is so restrained that it’s almost always predictable - you know the next riff will be the same tempo, in the same general melodic scale as most everything else on the record. Quite often, I knew where a riff was going, what notes Andy was going to play next, before it was even completed. For me, that dulls the edges and the listening experience. The Angel and the Dark River is somewhat restrained as well, but it sounds more fresh and inspired to me. I like The Ghost of Orion more than I did at first (The Old Earth is a monster of a song), but there is usually a section or two in every song that prevents it from reaching the heights of the bands best material.

The AC/DC comment is off base, but - the new record is very similar to the last one. Regardless, I’m more concerned with how the music hits emotionally (as opposed to how similar it is to other MDB records). A Mortal Binding is growing on me. If you look at the bands’ growth and constant evolution from the early Lp’s to 34%, with each album being quite different, I would not disagree if someone said that there was some level of stagnation between The Light at the End of the World and Songs of Darkness. I would also argue that there are no vast differences during the run of LP’s from A Line of Deathless Kings to A Map of All Our Failures. Then again, I have listened to these records so many times that I could probably write a short novel detailing the differences and similarities!

One of the few classic bands that I haven't checked out, Iam going to listen to their classic material first to wait for the next album.

I'm getting more of an epic doom influence on this track, which is cool. I'm also glad that Aaron is using the layered vocals more sparingly than on The Ghost of Orion, which is a great album, I just found that the layered vocal approach became a bit monotonous after a while.

Haven't been happy with most of their output for the longest time. Will give this a few spins as a diehard fan regardless.

I've been a fan of MDB for 2/3 of my life and know them from the start, but this first released videoclip is the biggest kitsch I have ever heard or seen from them. It belongs more in the hairstyle fashionmaker influincer region. So EMO!!! Also a poorly written song which is about 3 times as long as it should be. Repetitive on the same boring melody. Worst I ever heard from the band. I pre-ordered the vinyl because I collect all MDB on vinyl, and afterwards I read here that the full album had already leaked. So I downloaded it and checked it. I'm relieved to conclude that it's a solid album with many ingredients that I have always loved about MDB. Nice songwriting. Too bad they chose this song as a peak preview. In the whole context of the album it is not bad at all, but taken by itself to shape expectations for the upcoming release, it is creating false expectations in a negative sense for me. Glad that I ordered the green vinyl. Would have been a pity to discover some years later that I skipped it without giving it a chance!

The song's fine. It will work better in the context of the album, I'm sure. My Dying Bride have been solid and consistent for years. They landed on a style that they can continue to mine for gold far into the future; that dramatic premise they have for each song/album can be used to write all manner of tense riffs and transitions that develop into heartfelt melancholic melodies.

34.788%... Complete remains their strangest record because it did not utilize that good formula. I don't hate it but I also don't think it has aged well as an experiment...maybe Evinta will age better, but that one's a bit of a slog.

Here's the second single:

Two tracks so far sound ok and serviceable. Their last great album was The Dreadful Hours. Songs of Darkness was good too. Since 2004 they've been on autopilot.

That was killer. Song plays to all their strengths - riffy, melodic, dramatic, morose. Aaron sounds so good and moves skillfully through the transitions - chills when he started growling out of nowhere lol.

It's too early to say anything specific but there are plenty of growls and I like it way more than "The Ghost of Orion". There's an ominous atmosphere of impending cobwebs-in-the-dark-at-face-height and a real "album feel".

One listen in and this is their most “riff heavy”, guitar focused album in years. A huge boost in energy.

ALBUM OF THE MOTHERFUCKING GODDAMN YEAR FUCK!!!!!!

It's a fantastic release. Really loving it after 4 listens.

It’s way too predictable, and not dynamic enough. Andy has really limited himself by strictly playing melodic scales on the guitar, I just know what’s coming far too often. It’s certainly not a bad album (I don’t think the band has ever released anything I would remotely describe as bad), but it’s nowhere near the brilliance of Turn Loose the Swans or The Dreadful Hours. I am loving The 2nd of 3 Bells and The Apocalyptist the most, due to the consistent quality of the riffs (and the complex and surprising song structure of the latter). Most of the other songs are hit and miss, and the lack of consistency and dynamics, coupled with the predictability, dulls the edges for me.

Well, they're certainly not doing progressive doom as they were during the "Swans" and "Dark Angel" era. Those releases remain in a league of their own. Heck, they're practically in their own subgenre.