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My Dying Bride: A map of all our failures

11/02/13 || gk

The last My Dying Bride album I unconditionally enjoyed was 1999’s “Light at the end of the world”. After that, the band just seemed to slip into mediocrity and became downright boring for a string of albums that all suffered from an excess of cheese. Then, in 2011 came “The barghest o’whitby”. This was one 27 minute song that borrowed from the spirit of their early albums and turned out to be a very pleasant surprise with its atmospheric doom/death. It gave me hope that the band could release something worthwhile again.

“A map of all our failures” came out in 2012 and it was something I was quite looking forward to. The album starts strong with “Kneel till doomsday” which is mournful and epic with a smooth transition to heavier death-doom sections. This is followed by “The poorest waltz” which is another melodic and somber song with a pretty cool vocal line. After this though, the album slips into some dull, pedestrian songwriting and it’s the same old My Dying Bride that has been stagnating for the last 3-4 full lengths. “A tapestry scorned” has a transition from mournful and melodic to heavier death metal riffing that just sounds forced. “Like a perpetual funeral” is a song the band has been writing since “Angel and the dark river” and in its infinite iteration sounds tired and dull. Title song “A map of all our failures” tries hard to invoke some sort of melancholy with its use of spoken word, violin and a mournful vocal line but at about the half way mark goes into a slightly heavier riff that may as well have been a different song. There’s a pretty cool lead guitar section here but not a lot else. “Hail Odysseus” has a heavier section that just sounds so forced it’s painful to listen to. At this point I had to wonder if this was the same Aaron Stainthorpe and Andrew Craighan who made albums like “Turn loose the swans” and “The light at the end of the world” which were albums that so seamlessly blended melancholic melodies with crushing riffs.

I could go on dissecting every song but honestly there’s not much point. MDB sound like a band that has run out of ideas and are simply rehashing what made them great all those years ago. Also, I have to say, Aaron Stainthorpe’s lyrics have become banal and repetitive in themes. He used to be a pretty good lyricist but like much of this album, his lyrics too seem tired and dull. Another point of irritation is the drumming. It feels like anytime Shaun Taylor-Steels is in doubt about what to play, he puts a roll in. This is just distracting and does nothing for the music.

The fans of the band will probably love this anyway but honestly, My Dying Bride sound so tired and dull that I think “The barghest o’whitby” was just a fluke. “A map of all our failures” is some dull and boring doom metal by a band that is running on mostly empty. A few sparks of inspiration are simply not enough to carry these 63 minutes of music.

Information
Released: 2012
Label: Peaceville Records
Website: My Dying Bride Facebook
Band
Aaron Stainthorpe: vocals
Andrew Craighan: guitars
Hamish Hamilton Glencross: guitars
Lena Abé: bass
Shaun Taylor-Steels: drums
Shaun Macgowan: keyboards, violin

Tracklist
01. Kneel Till Doomsday
02. The Poorest Waltz
03. A Tapestry Scorned
04. Like a Perpetual Funeral
05. A Map of All Our Failures
06. Hail Odysseus
07. Within the Presence of Absence
08. Abandoned as Christ

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