Hollow Cathedra

Disclaimer:
My Dying Bride is my all-time favorite band.


I purchased the issue of Decibel Magazine solely for "Hollow Cathedra", a brand-new My Dying Bride track that will not appear on the forthcoming twelfth studio album Feel the Misery. I was curious what direction the band would take on this little musical adventure, as they prefer to keep some of their oddities for EPs and singles (even though, in some cases, those tracks are so good they deserve a place on a full album, such as "I Am the Bloody Earth", "Gather Me Up Forever" and "The Child of Eternity" - granted, they have also done some filler stuff besides the 'proper' releases). What kind of My Dying Bride flavor would I get with "Hollow Cathedra"?

As usual, I was surprised at first. Somehow the band always manage to do something just a little differently than what I expect, yet before the song is over I am completely beholden to the musical ideas presented. Sometimes, they go brutal, at other times, soft. Sometimes they experiment with a new kind of instrument, or a new song structure, or a different shade of doom. I guess if you're not into this band, that a lot of their material can sound a little samey (it's almost always mournful and plaintive), but there are a lot of subtle nuances, which is one of the reasons I adore this band so much.

"Hollow Cathedra", then, is a song written exclusively for Decibel Magazine, and the band opted for an approach that I can best describe as somewhat romantic, in the tristesse-kind of way, merging melodies and rhythms that take my mind into classical music with heavy guitars. While the band usually employs a 4/4 beat, "Hollow Cathedra" is a song that employs a 3/4 beat, the first sign that this song will be a little different from what we can expect on Feel the Misery. While the rumors suggest that most of the upcoming album will have an even distribution between death metal vocals and clean vocals, Aaron Stainthorpe employs clean vocals only here, and it is a better song for it. The melodies, the violin, the mood, the slow tempo all contribute to a song of profound sorrow, stylistically placing it somewhere close to the first Anathema efforts (in terms of how grief-stricken the music sounds), but becoming something entirely different due to Aaron's vocal approach.

As evidenced on the previously band-approved leak of "And My Father Left Forever", Aaron sings more this time around, as if he has renewed confidence in his own voice, leading to more interesting vocal lines. "Hollow Cathedra", too, has some heart-wrenching, soaring vocals (yet absolutely, recognizably Aaron Stainthorpe), bleak yet touching, mournful yet somehow uplifting.

As can be expected from a quickly cobbled together production for a magazine, the production isn't of the quality heard on their studio albums. The vocals are a little too loud in the mix, and the drums perhaps a tad too low, and the bass could have been more prominent.

What more can I say about it? I love the imagery the lyrics evoke, short but powerful lines that make me suspect this is written from the point of view of someone who belongs to a religion which strives to keep women subservient to men, but that's just speculation on my part, of course; the dual guitars are well and truly 'my-dying-bridal', the violin just begs you to shed a tear or sob just a little, gods this band can create some truly glorious, doleful music for the ages.

When the best comparison I can come up with for "Hollow Cathedra" is Ludwig van Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata"...

I'm left speechless at the raw emotions this song evokes. This is not metal in the traditional sense. This is not "Bang Your Head Against the Wall and Do the Toxic Waltz"-metal (although I love that kind of metal, too). If I have to compare it to previous My Dying Bride songs, I'd say that it strays closest to slow, melancholy songs like "Sear Me III" or "My Faults are Your Reward" - but not quite.

This is the metal of the meadows, of the dreary moorlands, of the crumbling ruins of a lonely chapel, the metal of, indeed, a moonlit night - and yet, this is also the band that can go all raw and ugly and hateful, which I hope to also hear from them on the upcoming album. I love most, if not all, aspects of My Dying Bride, but this is another stylistic sidetrek and in this case, I totally love what I'm hearing, despite the production. It's ethereal and it's magical, dismal and soaring at the same time.

Decibel Magazine readers who hear the band for the first time with "Hollow Cathedra" will be surprised when they check out the back catalogue and discover that there are many sides to My Dying Bride, but I am convinced the song will draw in new blood.