My Dying Bride

Crimson Swan – Unlit Review

By Angry Metal Guy on March 15, 2015 in 2015, Doom Metal, German Metal, Gothic Metal, Quality Steel Records, Reviews, Doom Metal, Gothic Metal, 39 comments

“Crimson Swan is a German atmospheric funeral doom band from Hamburg, Germany. With one EP under their belt from 2012, Unlit marks the band’s full-length debut. Readers of this site are likely aware that funeral doom and I rarely see eye-to-eye. My case of Angry Metal Attention Deficit Disorder™ is well-documented and as a general rule records that don’t pop out speedy tracks littered with engaging virtuoso performances or progressive wankery send me out to do what Steel Druhm calls kindly ‘moss gazing.'” Can these novice German doom metallers strike that special chord in Angry Metal Guy’s heart? Or is he doomed to hours worth of moss gazing and boredom?

Apostate – Time of Terror Review

By Jean-Luc Ricard on March 3, 2015 in 2015, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Reviews, Ukrainian Metal, Death Metal, Doom Metal, 21 comments

“Apostate are one of the Ukraine’s oldest doom bands, but have only released one full-length prior to Time of Terror. Forming in 1993, they suffered a series of splits before eventually reforming this millennium to release 2010’s Trapped in a Sleep.” Old band, new lineup, no producer?

Yer Metal is Olde: My Dying Bride – The Angel and the Dark River

By Grymm on February 14, 2015 in Doom Metal, English Metal, Peaceville, Yer Metal Is Olde, Doom Metal, 30 comments

“Once upon a time in 1995, yours truly, then a long-haired kid with patchy facial hair, baggy cargo pants, and numerous black t-shirts featuring whoever was on Century Media Records at the time, was first getting into doom metal via word-of-mouth and the late, great Metal Maniacs magazine (RIP Katherine Ludwig). One of those bands I was told to check out was England’s gloomy sextet, My Dying Bride.” Doom is its own reward.

Mourning Mist – Mourning Mist Review

By Grymm on February 9, 2015 in 2015, Avante Garde, Black Metal, Doom Metal, Forever Plagued Records, Italian Metal, Reviews, Black Metal, Doom Metal, 19 comments

“This was a bear of an album to review. Let me elaborate a bit for clarification… it’s not just because Italy’s Mourning Mist are a new band with precious little background besides having bassist/vocalist Kvasir (also of Profezia and Abhor) in their ranks, as well as a violinist. Hell, violins in metal ain’t nothing new, right?” Not at all, but when will someone incorporate some balalaika?

Ghoulgotha – The Deathmass Cloak Review

By Grymm on January 8, 2015 in 2015, American Metal, Dark Descent Records, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Reviews, Death Metal, Doom Metal, 118 comments

“As someone who writes music reviews, I take pride in being able to craft together a 450-550 word essay on why you should pick up an album, or why you should avoid it entirely. Keeping the reader on their tippy-toes while painting a vivid picture for your eyes and ears to digest is a great joy of mine. However, as the world aged by a year this week, I too have added another year to my existence. In doing so, I’ve realized that there comes a time where you have to dispense with the hyperbolic bullshit and just call it as it is.” Such a comment is rarely the prelude to something positive.

Madam X’s Top Ten(ish) of 2014

By Madam X on December 30, 2014 in Blog Posts, 52 comments

“As 2015 makes her grand and stately entrance, bear with and support me as I try to hunt down even more new blackened death metal albums that sound exactly like Septicflesh.” Madam X has her foibles, but she also has plenty of quirks. Join her as she unveils a Top Ten(ish) list sure to bumfuzzle and befuddle.

Dreamgrave – Presentiment Review

By Angry Metal Guy on November 22, 2014 in 2014, Death Metal, Epic Metal, Hungarian Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Death Metal, Progressive Metal, 26 comments

“Metal has been extremely retro in the last 5 years. From rethrash to retro death metal, the whole scene has crawled into its proverbial ass in order to wallow in the digested remnants of metal music that is just plain better. Rethrash celebrates the 2.5 years when thrash was the heaviest and most exciting music on the planet. Retro death celebrates a time when bands would scrape together their last Swedish kronor to put a record together that would still sound like total shit. All the bands who wish they were Black Sabbath celebrate a time when amplifiers didn’t actually have overdrive. But all of these celebrated sounds appeal to us because they were authentic: times when newness and creativity gave the world something exciting and special. One such scene for me is the melodic death and black metal scenes of the Scandinavian 1990s. It’s an era when metal was heavy, engaging, abstract, and yet melodic—it felt exciting and new. While not all of the best ideas from this era were executed perfectly at the time, it laid the groundwork for the late ’90s and the early aughts when great metal bands produced great music.” What the hell does this have to do with anything? Click and find out!

Autumnal – The End of the Third Day Review

By Steel Druhm on October 17, 2014 in 2014, Cyclone Empire, Doom Metal, Gothic Metal, Reviews, Spanish Metal, Doom Metal, 24 comments

“Kindly overlook the album cover you see to the left. Not only does it lack the good grace to include some kind of cool spherical object, but it also resembles something from a Christian new age rock group (the kind they play at inoffensive volumes in Christian, new age-y coffee joints). Worse still, it doesn’t give the slightest indication that Autumnal is a winningly morose, melodic doom act from Spain, or that The End of the Third Day is destined to be one of the sleeper hits of 2014.” Are you ready to feel those gloriously sad feels?

Ophis – Abhorrence in Opulence Review

By Diabolus in Muzaka on September 16, 2014 in 2014, Cyclone Empire, Death Metal, Doom Metal, German Metal, Reviews, Death Metal, Doom Metal, 4 comments

“Five doom/death songs comprising sixty minutes of music is a risky proposition that lives and dies by one thing: riffs. If you’re going to write songs that average out to twelve minutes in length, the riffs contained within had better be interesting, dynamic, and, of course, crushing.” That means some long, potentially ADHD offending tunes. Can Ophis hold the interest of the busy metaller?

Décembre Noir – A Discouraged Believer Review

By Madam X on May 16, 2014 in 2014, Death Metal, Doom Metal, FDA Rekotz, German Metal, Reviews, Uncategorized, 3 comments

“The driving force behind any band is their desire to create, to share the inner workings of their collective minds and to leave behind a part of themselves when they cease to exist. Some artists within only a few years manage to fill pages and pages on Encyclopaedia Metallum with thick, extensive and mightily impressive discographies. Décembre Noir wandered a different path and although being around for a fair few years, they’re only now releasing A Discouraged Believer, launching the bands death-doom approach and setting you on a journey that feels oddly spiritual in its lament.” Not the most prolific act out there, but better late than never, eh?