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Album Details

• Artist: My Dying Bride
• Album: The Angel And The Dark River
• Label: Peaceville Records
• Year of Release: 1995
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: solitaryman on 2013-01-18

For their third full-length release, doom and gloom purveyors My Dying Bride would render their depressive aural assaults with newfound clarity in direction and a keener sense for powerful songwriting. With multi-instrumentalist Martin Powell taking a more frontal position in the sound picture, one can hear the rest of the band fall in line, more often than not, with the haunting violon and piano melodies he creates. With this as the musical driving force, and vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe's pained delivery, The Angel And The Dark River works in a very unique way.


"The Cry Of Mankind" was the first MDB track I ever heard, and it still resonates strongly with me all these years later. A simple riff constantly echoes in the backround of a rumbling monster of a track, melodically infectious and atmospherically soul-stirring. Stainthorpe's suffocated vocals add the perfect touch. The song's latter half is a mix of sound effects and plays like an extended outro, equally harrowing in it's ambience. "From Darkest Skies" is a pulsing horror movie soundtrack, flowing forward on waves of chilling violin and sharp, piercing spikes of organ. "A Sea To Suffer In" is one of the album's catchiest moments, with the accompanying elements taking a bit of a back seat to the core of the band and their driving doom metal. Stainthorpe has been quoted as saying "Two Winters Only" is his personal favorite MDB track, and it is certainly a highlight, more low-key with bare acoustic guitars and a poignant set of lyrical verses. "Your Shameful Heaven" closes the album on an unpredictably high-octane note, no doubt the album's most aggressive number.


The Angel And The Dark River is the first, and perhaps only, My Dying Bride record to fully engross me from beginning to end. It represents a pinnacle of songwriting for the band, where everything seemed to come together just right. This would continue in varying amounts into the future of their existence, but it's a fair argument that they'd never again reach the peak that this album represents.

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