If deliriously dreary doom and gloom be something you wish, then drop on the deck and surrender to MY DYING BRIDE. The death-doom pioneers have been on fiery form since relighting the touchpaper on 2015’s Feel The Misery, and A Mortal Binding presents its case as the outfit’s finest moment since 2009’s For Lies I Sire.
Whilst 2020’s The Ghost Of Orion danced with depression dripping through its every note – a darkly despondent album born out of vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe’s daughter’s battle with cancer – A Mortal Binding moves through an 18th century city of dark romanticism to the groove of a chugging, industrial machine, laying waste with a metallic crunch more akin to what …And Justice For All-era METALLICA would whip up.
Opener Her Dominion delights in the drearisome, downtuned riffs of Andrew Craighan and Neil Blanchett, and the ricocheting drums rolling out underneath the murkiness. It’s here the band set out their stall once more as kings and queens of narrative pacing; Stainthorpe arrives like a predator capturing his prey, with growls that grind down the musical tapestry like the fat of an animal, before Shaun MacGowan’s solemnly sweet strings stain the track in a dim funeral dirge, followed by a violent resurrection and a melodically menacing message that lingers with you long afterwards: “Because here, here love ends, here love dies / Come the arrival of the God of all flies / Consumed by her own slow-burn, bitter fire”.
MY DYING BRIDE consciously weave tapestries of twisted horror, creating a consistent thread of grimly gothic worlds to waltz through. The 2nd Of Three Bells is a slow-burning succubus, luring you in with its singular, forlorning riff, before sucking the life out of you like a leech with tsunami-sized waves of noise washing over you. Gargantuan, gargoyle-esque growls and striking dissonance drifting across the sea from Gothenburg chimes with Stainthorpe’s macabre declaration that “I can’t find any joy in here”.
Like recent MY DYING BRIDE albums, A Mortal Binding is not a path to be trodden by the faint-hearted. Its seven tracks soak up nearly an hour at a time, yet never outstay their welcome. Closer Crushed Embers sails off to sink in the sunset, whilst the 11-minute The Apocalyptist is like running a marathon through a dozen funerals, a ceremonious, woodwind endeavour that shifts gears through the band’s many eras. It’s a physically and mentally demanding album, yet every time you return to sip from its cup, you’re rewarded for your efforts with new strands you didn’t quite see before.
Few bands find themselves clocking up 34 years together, and fewer muster up a back catalogue as consistently and creatively rich as MY DYING BRIDE. Even fewer find themselves creating career-bests this far in, yet A Mortal Binding has all the makings of a modern classic.
Rating: 9/10
A Mortal Binding is set for release on April 19th via Nuclear Blast Records.
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