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Album Details

• Artist: My Dying Bride
• EP:
Bring Me Victory
• Label: Peaceville Records
• Year of Release: 2009
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: solitaryman on 2013-03-18

Not too long after releasing For Lies I Sire, My Dying Bride would slap together this EP as a follow-up and stop-gap release between LPs. Bring Me Victory is rather short at 4 tracks but runs about 1/2 hour. Featuring one song from For Lies I Sire, a couple of interesting covers and one classic live track, there is just enough here to keep one's appetite for doom and gloom sated.


The title track leads things off, and as far as the band goes, "Bring Me Victory" is a real departure. Rare in the pantheon of MDB songs could one use the words "upbeat", "empowering" or "positive", but this is most certainly one of the very few. A different approach is taken both musically and vocally, and lyrically it basically sums up as redemption from the depths of despair. Keyword here (and across the EP, in fact): refreshing. Knowing vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe's love for poetry, verse and the like, hearing him weave his own ideas into the classic British ballad "Scarborough Fair" isn't all that surprising. The combination of a speculatively doom-laden piece of historical music, and an obviously doom-laden band creates a very bleak and totally enjoyable song. As good as it is, however, nothing could really compare to the band's cover of one of my all-time favorite depressing musical moments, Swans' "Failure". I can think of very few bands who could do this absolutely bitter and hopeless track justice, and My Dying Bride come close to nailing it on par with the original. They add a good amount of instrumentation to the original, but Stainthorpe's vocals are both reminiscent of Michael Gira's and also add a layer of sorrow and self-loathing. Definitely worth the price of admission for me. Lastly, a recent live version of one of their very early songs, "Vast Choirs" shows how aggressive the band can still be, and how this better translates in a live setting. A nice choice to wrap up the EP.

Each track is worth including, and makes Bring Me Victory a wonderful sum of its parts, which is typically what an EP is supposed to be. "Scarborough Fair" and "Failure" are the highlights, and make ownership of the disc an absolute must for their fanbase.

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