METALLIAN - My Dying Bride

As The Flower Withers – 1992 – Peaceville
Turn Loose The Swans – 1993 – Peaceville
The Angel And The Dark River – 1995 – Peaceville
Like Gods of The Sun – 1996 – Peaceville
34.788%... Complete – 1998 – Peaceville
The Light At The End of The World – 1999 – Peaceville
The Dreadful Hours – 2001 – Peaceville
The Voice Of The Wretched – 2002 – Peaceville
Songs Of Darkness, Words Of light – 2004 – Peaceville
A Line Of Deathless Kings – 2006 – Peaceville
For Lies I Sire – 2009 – Peaceville
Evinta – 2011 – Peaceville
A Map Of All Our Failures – 2012 – Peaceville
Feel The Misery – 2015 - Peaceville
The Ghost Of Orion - 2020 – Nuclear Blast
For Darkest Eyes (Live In Krakow) - 2022 - Peaceville
A Mortal Binding - 2024 - Nuclear Blast

Members

Vocals

AARON STAINTHORPE

Guitar

Abiosis>>ANDY CRAIGHAN – Calvin Robertshaw>>Many Suffer – Solstice, Seer's Tear>>Hamish Glenncross>>Vallenfyre, Godthrymm – Garden Of Remembrance, The Aftermath, Valafar>>NEIL BLANCHETT>>Valafar

Bass

Kastrator, Thok>>Adrian Jackson – Severed Heaven>>LENA ABE>>Severed Heaven

Drum

Abiosis, Khang>>Rick Miah>>Khang – Blasphemer, Dominion>>Bill Law - Anathema, Ironside, Vagrant God>>Shaun Taylor-Steels>>Solstice, Vagrant God, Severed Heaven, Vestige Of Virtue, Godthrymm – Epitaph, Bal-Sagoth, An Axis Of Perdition, Code, Thine, Mine[thorn]>>Dan “Storm” Mullins>>Thine, Mine[thorn], Code, Code, An Axis Of Perdition, Blasphemer, Morte Lune, Written In Torment – Blaze, Paradise Lost, City Of God, Soldierfield, Kill II This>>Jeff Singer>>Soldierfield, Kill II This - Epitaph, Bal-Sagoth, Code, An Axis Of Perdition, Thine, Mine[thorn], An Axis Of Perdition, Blasphemer, Morte Lune, Written In Torment>>DAN MULLINS>>An Axis Of Perdition, Blasphemer, Morte Lune, Written In Torment

Keyboard

Martin Powell>>Anathema, Cradle Of Filth, Sarah Jezebel Deva, Cryptal Darkness, Tiamat, Leafblade – Necrotic Death, Nightshadows Lament, Ustkara Ghost>>SHAUN MACGOWAN>>Nightshadows Lament, Ustkara Ghost

Violin

Martin Powell>>Anathema, Cradle Of Filth, Tiamat, Deezl - Necrotic Death, Nightshadows Lament, Ustkara Ghost>>SHAUN MACGOWAN>>Nightshadows Lament, Ustkara Ghost

History & Biography

Halifax/Bradford, England’s My Dying Bride rose from the ashes of Abiosis as a death/doom band before turning to romanticism and an affected gothic sound. Aside from former Abiosis members Rick Miah and Andrew Craighan, the formative line-up also featured Aaron Stainthorpe and guitarist Calvin Robertshaw. The band initially shared a sound and label with fellow Midlands’ band Anathema and ended up wifeswapping with that band as well as Bal-Sagoth, Paradise Lost, Solstice and others.

The group soon issued the Towards The Sinister demo in 1990. Listenable Records of France picked the band up for its God Is Alone single, but the group signed with Peaceville Records and issued the 1992 one-track EP Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium. Ade Jackson was on bass as of the summer of 1991 whereas Andy had recorded the four strings before. The demo had no bass parts. The band would soon make it to MTV. Signed to Peaceville the band would begin recording at the label’s Yorkshire studio and use label proprietor Hammy as producer. The 1993 EP The Thrash Of Naked Limbs was well received, but Miah would damage his hand and the band cancelled more touring including dates with G.G.F.H. The band recruited Martin Powell for 1993’s Turn Loose The Swans. The group conducted more European touring. The band supported Iron Maiden in 1995. All the time the band was becoming more gothic and less metal. In tandem, the band dropped its logo and changed to a standard typeset for The Angel And The Dark River. The band, nonetheless, played at the Dynamo Festival in The Netherlands. Miah left in 1997 and was replaced by Mike Unsworth (Year Zero) who was replaced by Bill Law. Ex-My Dying Bride violinist/keyboardist Martin Powell moved to Australia and joined Cryptal Darkness, which had a new album called They whispered You Had Risen. Calvin Robertshaw departed in 1999, but would return in 2014. The old logo made a return for The Light At The End Of The World. The late 2001 album The Dreadful Hours featured a self-cover version of The Return Of The Beautiful from the band’s debut record, but was now called Return To The Beautiful. The album was dedicated to the memory of Darren Dickinson singer of Abiosis. Hamish Glencross and Andrew Craighan launched a record company. John Bennett of The Prophecy was recruited when Shaun Steels injured his ankle canoeing. Jackson left in 2007 supposedly moving to the USA. For Lies I Sire featured Katie Stone on keyboards as Sarah Stanton was pregnant. 2011’s Evinta featured several previous My Dying Bride tracks re-imagined and reinterpretation as neo-classical and ambient self-cover versions as the band was commemorating its twentieth anniversary. The band played the 2014 Maryland Deathfest following which it fired Hamish Glenncross. Calvin Robertshaw was now back. In late 2016, Peaceville Records was commemorating the 25th anniversary of the band with a 92-page hard cover book and demo and rare material in one package called A Harvest Of Dread.

My Dying Bride's 2015 album, Feel The Misery, would be released on September 18th through Peaceville. The boys signed a deal with Nuclear Blast in 2017. A new album was due that year. Venom, My Dying Bride, Ghaals Wyrd, Darkane, The Great Old Ones, Diabolical, Balfor, Mortal Strike and Haunted were added to the line-up of Eindhoven Metal Meeting 2017. The ninth edition would take place on Friday 15 & Saturday 16th of December. Due to illness in singer Aaron Stainthorpe’s family the band canceled shows at festivals in Europe in 2017 including Aalborg Metal Festival in Denmark, Eindhoven Metal Meeting, Madrid Is The Dark in Spain and HRH Doom vs. HRH Stoner in the UK. The band also cancelled its appearance at Maryland Death Fest in 2018 and was replaced by Godflesh. My Dying Bride booted drummer Shaun Steels "due to unresolvable drumming issues" in late 2018. He was replaced by Jeff Singer (Paradise Lost). Singer was drumming on the next My Dying Bride album. My Dying Bride released a new album, entitled The Ghost Of Orion, through Nuclear Blast in March 2020. My Dying Bride had an EP called Macabre Cabaret through Nuclear Blast in November 2020. For Darkest Eyes (Live In Krakow) was the audio companion to an earlier video and was issued in 2022, but stemmed from 1996. The band was booked for UK’s Manorefest 2023, but the lack of ticket sales ended that plan. Dread Records was re-releasing the Towards The Sinister demo on cassette for the first time in 30 years. The band was booked for Prophecy Fest for September 2023, which was taking place in a cave, Hammer Of Doom in November 2023 and 70000tons 2024. My Dying Bride was working on a new album. The group was using the Embers Of Europe monicker to tour Europe with Paradise Lost in December 2023. Dan Mullins had rejoined on drums after being the live drummer for a year. My Dying Bride released an album called A Mortal Binding through Nuclear Blast Records on 19.04.2024. There was an advance single and video called Thornwyck Hymn, which referred to a Yorkshire village. The album was produced by Mark Mynett at Mynetaur Productions. The band surprised many by announcing "a very special guest" on vocals, namely Mikko Kotamäki from Swallow The Sun for its forthcoming concerts at the end of 2024.

Reviews

MY DYING BRIDE - A LINE OF DEATHLESS KINGS - PEACEVILLE
As much as My Dying Bride is an easy target for ridicule and loathing A Line Of Deathless Kings is a good album with a genuine feel and style. The British melancholics are still pompous, pretentious and preposterous, but the new album - whose cover art depicting the apparition of past kings reminds one of Lord Of The Rings - is probably the band’s best. The band has gone back to early producer Mags for this album, but anyone who imagined a return to the growling early vocals by Aaron Stainthorpe would be disappointed. Instead, My Dying Bride has assembled quite a few good doom riffs that border on Candlemass at times. The relaxed flow of the songs, the morose vocals of and the clear drumming have turned out to be effective and heavy. Riff after riff is dark and sorrowful. The group has clearly pulled back from the brink of popdom in favour of a genuine doom metal approach. To Remain Tombless, I Cannot Be Loved, One Of Beauty’s Daughters and clearly The Blood, The Wine, The Roses are affected, although that would mean the band is consistent if anything. Moreover, the keyboards have largely been banished and replaced by heavy doom riffing. As for the growling, if a little is better than nothing for some, the dying minutes of the album remind the listener that they are still doable if only Aaron wanted them. - Anna Tergel

Interviews

My Dying Bride