My last review/song breakdown presented a song whose aggression, ferocity and caustic lyrics were the basis of its appeal. So now for something completely different!
Today’s band of interest is pretty much the jam to slayers marmite. However like marmite and jam they both have some common features; they both have the same basic features of a metal band, an iconic singer, a devoted fan base and provocative lyrics but there are some differences. Slayer has utilised a typical four man set up, two guitars, one bass/singer and one drummer. This set up allows for the guitarists to create a thick wall of complex sound which is emphasised by the bassists quick simple bass lines (not a criticism).
My Dying Bride use the same basic two guitar, singer, bass drum set up but throw in a violin and keyboard player. This allows them to create a different palette of sounds and by using the same basic components but in a different way, they can create a very different sound to slayer. The guitars lay down simple chords over which the violin/keyboards and the vocals paint an elegant picture.
For me a good introductory song to My Dying Bride has always been The Cry of Mankind. The first track on the album The Angel and The Dark River (1995) a boy does it give a good impression of what this band are about.
As soon as you start this 12 minute hulk up you hear it right there, the underlying bastion of this song, the 6 note violin part. This violin part’s simplicity allows for the guitarist and drummer to pick out some nice developmental phrases, increasing the intensity and letting the listener know how the songs progressing. This then leads into a pounding drum part almost reminiscent of a steel foundry accompanied by the angle grinder like feedback from both guitars. Finally culminating in the main crux of the song. It is this build up which lends My Dying Bride an almost electronica type quality, similarities between Orbital’s Technologicque Park and The Cry of Mankind can be effectively drawn. Suddenly the feedback stops, cut short only to be replaced by the keyboard’s fast noodling which gracefully acts as Virgil and lead’s the listeners Dante through this piece of despair and melancholy.
Then a fluid and simple guitar riff is thrown onto the spike of the song and is left there to slowly try and undo the damage that the song has wrought. The final component is then strewn upon the funeral pyre; the vocals. Being a drummer and a (bad) guitarist I don’t like to give too much credit to the vocalist. Vocals are, at the moment, the main focus of many bands and I just like to keep them on a level pegging with the rest of the band. But these vocals are so descriptive and atmospheric even I can’t help but be stunned by their beauty:
`You'll swallow his tongue of thorns,
His mouth, dripping with flies,
In his glorious kingdom of fire`
The Stainthorpe, the vocalists, lyrics leak through this quagmire of machinery and rust, flooding it with a gel that you can almost feel choking you. The guitars, while simple, are effective at what they do which is give an anchor for the lyrics to be steadied upon. Then an almost solo type guitar passage ensues. Building to a triumphant swirl with the vocals, who have leaked on to the floor and been collected in a cup only to be poured through the mix again. This song makes use through out of a natural flow and pulse which often accompanies compound time signatures (in this case 6/8).
Once more the angle grinding guitar feedback occurs, leading us into the final death throes of this song as all the components have been speared and are now weakly trying to try and right themselves in vain. This quiet passage while long almost serves as a chance for the listener to start pondering about what they have taken in over the past 6 mins. The same almost monotonous violin passage fastens cleanly onto the listener’s brain to allow the more chaotic sounds to present themselves. A dark, foghorn like sound (which I presume is made by a distorted cello) mournfully weeps over the death of the song as it slowly fades away.
Today’s band of interest is pretty much the jam to slayers marmite. However like marmite and jam they both have some common features; they both have the same basic features of a metal band, an iconic singer, a devoted fan base and provocative lyrics but there are some differences. Slayer has utilised a typical four man set up, two guitars, one bass/singer and one drummer. This set up allows for the guitarists to create a thick wall of complex sound which is emphasised by the bassists quick simple bass lines (not a criticism).
My Dying Bride use the same basic two guitar, singer, bass drum set up but throw in a violin and keyboard player. This allows them to create a different palette of sounds and by using the same basic components but in a different way, they can create a very different sound to slayer. The guitars lay down simple chords over which the violin/keyboards and the vocals paint an elegant picture.
For me a good introductory song to My Dying Bride has always been The Cry of Mankind. The first track on the album The Angel and The Dark River (1995) a boy does it give a good impression of what this band are about.
As soon as you start this 12 minute hulk up you hear it right there, the underlying bastion of this song, the 6 note violin part. This violin part’s simplicity allows for the guitarist and drummer to pick out some nice developmental phrases, increasing the intensity and letting the listener know how the songs progressing. This then leads into a pounding drum part almost reminiscent of a steel foundry accompanied by the angle grinder like feedback from both guitars. Finally culminating in the main crux of the song. It is this build up which lends My Dying Bride an almost electronica type quality, similarities between Orbital’s Technologicque Park and The Cry of Mankind can be effectively drawn. Suddenly the feedback stops, cut short only to be replaced by the keyboard’s fast noodling which gracefully acts as Virgil and lead’s the listeners Dante through this piece of despair and melancholy.
Then a fluid and simple guitar riff is thrown onto the spike of the song and is left there to slowly try and undo the damage that the song has wrought. The final component is then strewn upon the funeral pyre; the vocals. Being a drummer and a (bad) guitarist I don’t like to give too much credit to the vocalist. Vocals are, at the moment, the main focus of many bands and I just like to keep them on a level pegging with the rest of the band. But these vocals are so descriptive and atmospheric even I can’t help but be stunned by their beauty:
`You'll swallow his tongue of thorns,
His mouth, dripping with flies,
In his glorious kingdom of fire`
The Stainthorpe, the vocalists, lyrics leak through this quagmire of machinery and rust, flooding it with a gel that you can almost feel choking you. The guitars, while simple, are effective at what they do which is give an anchor for the lyrics to be steadied upon. Then an almost solo type guitar passage ensues. Building to a triumphant swirl with the vocals, who have leaked on to the floor and been collected in a cup only to be poured through the mix again. This song makes use through out of a natural flow and pulse which often accompanies compound time signatures (in this case 6/8).
Once more the angle grinding guitar feedback occurs, leading us into the final death throes of this song as all the components have been speared and are now weakly trying to try and right themselves in vain. This quiet passage while long almost serves as a chance for the listener to start pondering about what they have taken in over the past 6 mins. The same almost monotonous violin passage fastens cleanly onto the listener’s brain to allow the more chaotic sounds to present themselves. A dark, foghorn like sound (which I presume is made by a distorted cello) mournfully weeps over the death of the song as it slowly fades away.
Through these two breakdowns of songs I have, hopefully, given an insight into what metal can sound like and how diverse and far reaching it has become. I may do some more genre specific song breakdowns in the future as well as more conventional reviews. But, as with most things to do with music, it’s probably best just to see what happens.
Cheers for reading,
Shai-hu-lud slithers on
Another Good Review, but I pick Slayer any day over My dying Bride
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