Songs of Darkness, Words of Light

The “dark sequel” is a common theme found in Hollywood movies with the second installments in popular series such as Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and Harry Potter all being noted for being considerably darker. Although all these movies succeed in creating something more mature and grim, by doing this they often lose a bit of the heart that made their precursor such an amazing achievement. How does this relate to a band that has always been as shadowy as My Dying Bride? Well, their 8th album “Songs of Darkness, Words of Light” serves as that sort of dark sequel.

“Songs of Darkness..,” essentially takes the sound found in the already gloomy masterpiece “ The Dreadful Hours” and tweaks it in a few minor ways to have a sound so dark that it makes you think the band may not have seen the sun in a few years.

The first and most notable tweak found on the album would be on the vocals. While “The Dreadful Hours had a dominance of clean vocals, with harshes used mainly to enhance small sections of the song, “Songs of Darkness” sees about a 50/50 split. This thrown at you right of the bat, with the opener "The Wreckage of My Flesh," being one of the most vocally impressive tracks of My Dying Bride's career. Aaron’s gutturals on the album are some of his best and really add to the sinister mood of the album, while his cleans at times sound so emotional that he may burst out into tears at any section. Although his cleans may be a bit to dramatic for some, they fit the music so perfectly it’s hard to fault him. Along with these styles, the feared “whispered” vocals are used here, but strangely never get as annoying as they do on most albums.

Another notable tweak can be found in the keys, which are give a much larger importance than they were on their previous album. Don’t worry though; the keys resemble a funeral organ more than they do a fluffy power metal band. The use of keyboard in the album can be seen at its best in the very creepy intro to “And My Fury Stands Ready”.

The album is very well produced with all the instruments being put the highest in the mix when they are meant to be listened to. The production on the guitars is especially good, with all the riffs sounding very sinister and ominous.

While the album may sound close to perfection, it does suffer from one very minor fault. With its roots being being planted so firmly in their previous release “The Dreadful Hours”, comparisons between the two are hard to avoid, and although “Songs of Darkness” is a much darker, heavier and dare I say evil sounding recording than their prior release, “The Dreadful Hours” was so sad, beautiful and had so much heart to it, that the sequel just doesn’t quite live up.

Regardless of that though, “Songs of Darkness, Words of Light” proves to be another phenomenal output from the masters of all that is tragic and dark, and is easily in their top tier of their discography. Quite simply, it is one of the finest pieces of doom or gothic metal that money can buy.